Fromm's Free Thought Research

Erich Fromm,who was an important representative of Western Humanistic Marxism,linked Freud and Marx's theory and set up his unique social psychology with the unity of the macro social investigation and the micro psychoanalysis,the combination of empirical study and value judgments.On this basis,Fromm profoundly analyzed the paradox of freedom in the modern society,and distinguished negative freedom and positive freedom,forming his relatively unique theory of human freedom,which gave him an important place in the history of human freedom.Freedom is not only the core category of Fromm's theory,but also the highest value goal.Therefore,it is very important and significant to make comprehensive and systematic integration of Fromm's theory with freedom as a thread.Fromm's exploration of human freedom reflected his strong critique on the modern industrial society,and demonstrated the value of humanistic concern,both of which have important theoretical and practical significance for us to think and solve the human and social development issues in the process of modernization.Although Fromm has been regarded as the idol of thought and the focus of theoretical research for domestic scholars,theoretical and practical value of his theory on human freedom remains to be explored and studied,especially in the critical period of social transformation for the deepening of China's reform and opening up and the continuous development of market economy.Due to his unique life experiences and reality situation,especially the Jewish tradition as well as the two world wars,Fromm formed a strong critical spirit and salvation feelings,which ran through his theory and was reflected in the dual dimension of social criticism and humanistic concern.At the same time,the two kinds of spirit had become an important basis for him to integrate Freud and Marx,as well as other humanitarian ideas.Absorbing from different areas and different disciplines,researching the reality and longing for freedom formed his theoretical characteristics of the unity of experience and normativity,the unity of critique and construction.The understanding of human constituted the main content and it was the important foundation for Fromm's theory of freedom.Freedom and humanity for Fromm were the same level categories.Fromm's theory is in essential a kind of value judgment of"human freedom".His understanding of human nature of contradictions,of human needs and of human social nature,determined directly the basic meaning of freedom.Fromm regarded human freedom as a measure of value for judging social development,and he preset humanistic value for his analysis of freedom paradox of the modern society.He did not only expose the psychological mechanisms and personality structure of "escaping from freedom" from the perspective of social psychology,but also explored the social causes.On this basis,Fromm distinguished negative freedom and positive freedom.Negative freedom meant people were protected against external,but it didn't mean human's own strength could achieve genuine development.Only negative freedom might also cause people to escape from freedom.Fromm believed that freedom was not only to get rid of the connotation of external constraints,but also the elimination of the inherent constraints.Freedom meant the spontaneous activity of perfect personality and human self-realization.So Fromm thought positive freedom was human genuine freedom.Fromm's distinction of two kinds of freedom and his opinion on positive freedom contained profound ethical and political significance,such as the relationship between the good and evil human nature and human's independent choice,people's fully participation in democracy,and human and social development.Moreover,his distinction of two kinds of freedom reflected the dual dimensions of social criticism and humanistic concern.His denial of negative freedom was his critique on human alienation in the modern industrial society,and it was his reflection on modernization,reflecting in his criticizing "anonymous authority" and "technology inhumane";his advocating of positive freedom was his opinion of the existence mode of living and his ideal plan for the new people and new society at the same time.In order to achieve positive freedom,Fromm not only offered to conduct a comprehensive social reform to build a healthy society,but also advocated the establishment of a kind of humanitarian ethics.He assumed that through human productive love,reason and work human could achieve the combination of human transformation and social reform.Fromm's thought of freedom had very important theoretical value,which not only responded and transcended Western liberalism,but also inherited and developed Marx's theory of freedom.The two kinds of freedom,especially positive freedom he advocated effectively answered the question of the inherent controversy of freedom.The two kinds of freedom are not logically inseparable and condition each other,which in essence is a dispute between formal freedom and substantive freedom.Meanwhile,Fromm's thought of freedom had much common value with Marx's in the theoretical meaning,objectives and characteristics.Fromm complemented and enriched Marx's historical materialism,developed the thought of materialistic dialectics,and deepened the understanding of the contemporary capitalism and modernity.However,due to departure the ontology foundation of human's realistic practice,there is a huge gap between Fromm and Marx,which means Fromm's thought of freedom has its own limitations.Through comparative analysis we can make an overall evaluation on Fromm's thought of freedom,highlighting the value and revealing deficiencies,which help us discover its reference significance and value for China's socialist modernization and solving the problems of human and social development.Although it is difficult to say Fromm's thought of freedom is very systematic,comprehensive and profound,the theoretical discourse he created and the sense of reality in his theory make it have an irreplaceable value and status.