Erich Fromm
“Disobedience as a Physiological and Moral Problem,” ,” is written by Erich Fromm and in his 1963 essay Fromm argues that obedience is the virtue and disobedience the vice. (Fromm 403). Fromm sees disobedience as a vital to our society and that blind obedience is bad, and he uses many examples to try to convince us of this belief. I believe that Fromm has some very good points and makes a strong argument. I agree with many of the main points he makes and his appeal to those are used great in his passage. Although Fromm wrote this essay just after the Cuban missile crisis, so many of the hasty generalizations and false analogies he uses is because of the time period he wrote it in. Although after the 9/11 attack, the threat of terrorists acquiring
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What matters, is if they are doing the right thing.
Fromm explains his views by first examining the fact that across many different cultures, there is a common belief that human life as we know it began with an act of disobedience. He cites the examples of Adam and Eve and the Original Sin, and Prometheus theft of fire from the gods of ancient Greek mythology (Fromm 402, 403). He also thinks that human development advanced through acts of disobedience. Fromm says, “intellectual development was dependant on the capacity for being disobedient to authorities that tried to muzzle new thoughts and to the authority of long established opinions which declared change to be nonsense,” (Fromm 403.) He uses this evidence to state his view that if human history started with and evolved through acts of disobedience; it may very well end because of an act of …show more content…
He lists a number of convincing factors. He reasons that while one is under the authority of a power, this obedience carries with it a feeling of safety and protection and a sense of being a part of something much bigger. Fromm clarifies “I can make no error, since it decides for me; I cannot be alone, because it watches over me; I cannot commit a sin, because it does not let me do so.” (Fromm 405). Also, because obedience has been considered a virtue for so long, it is essentially associated with being good. Disobedience becomes a sin and can be universally rejected (Fromm
What matters, is if they are doing the right thing.
Fromm explains his views by first examining the fact that across many different cultures, there is a common belief that human life as we know it began with an act of disobedience. He cites the examples of Adam and Eve and the Original Sin, and Prometheus theft of fire from the gods of ancient Greek mythology (Fromm 402, 403). He also thinks that human development advanced through acts of disobedience. Fromm says, “intellectual development was dependant on the capacity for being disobedient to authorities that tried to muzzle new thoughts and to the authority of long established opinions which declared change to be nonsense,” (Fromm 403.) He uses this evidence to state his view that if human history started with and evolved through acts of disobedience; it may very well end because of an act of …show more content…
He lists a number of convincing factors. He reasons that while one is under the authority of a power, this obedience carries with it a feeling of safety and protection and a sense of being a part of something much bigger. Fromm clarifies “I can make no error, since it decides for me; I cannot be alone, because it watches over me; I cannot commit a sin, because it does not let me do so.” (Fromm 405). Also, because obedience has been considered a virtue for so long, it is essentially associated with being good. Disobedience becomes a sin and can be universally rejected (Fromm