Time and Place: New York at Kaufman Concert Hall on May 6, 1965

Abstract: Forth lecture of the Humanist Psychoanalysis series, given by Erich Fromm on the invitation of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association on May 6, 1965, at Kaufman Concert Hall in New York.

In this lecture, Fromm examines Freudian and humanistic theories about passionate strivings for human behavior. Freud theorized that humans are fearful, isolated machines governed by the “pleasure principle,” which causes them to act in ways to gain satisfaction for themselves. For Fromm humans are primarily related to the world, to others and to themselves, and frustration and suffering arise when humans are unable to achieve this being related by reason and love. The lecture (62’) is followed by Fromm’s answers (29’) to questions from the audience.

The text of the lecture and discussion can be downloaded as a PDF file.

ID in the directory of Erich Fromm’s works (https://fromm-online.org/en/works/original-writings/): 1965t-eng