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The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
Abstract
In a world in which violence in every form seems to be increasing, Erich Fromm has treated this problem with deep perception in the most original and far-reaching work of his brilliant career. Fromm asks: what is there in the conditions of human existence to lead man to the orgies of destruction and violence in which he has indulged? By drawing on the findings of anthropology, palaeontogy, psychology and history; and including striking character analyses of Stalin, Hitler and Himmler, he shows how the failure to use our capacity for love and reason results in the development of the reverse: we wish to control life absolutely, or to destroy it.
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Citations
Cited by
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Cichocka, A. (2016) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463283.2016.1252530 · Cited by 278
Emotional Attachments in Abusive Relationships: A Test of Traumatic Bonding Theory
Dutton, D. G., & Painter, S. (1993) · Violence and Victims · doi:10.1891/0886-6708.8.2.105 · Cited by 254
In search of meaningfulness: Nostalgia as an antidote to boredom
van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., & Sedikides, C. (2013) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0030442 · Cited by 236
Why Tyrants Go Too Far: Malignant Narcissism and Absolute Power
Glad, B. (2002) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/0162-895x.00268 · Cited by 223
Metadata
- Authors
- Davis, R., & Fromm, E.
- Venue
- Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 1974-06
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 240
- ISSN
- 0021-8294 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2034763713
- Cited by
- 1,447
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 766.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
