Time and Place:New York at Kaufman Concert Hall on April 11, 1963

Abstract: Erich Fromm’s book The Heart of Man (1964) contains three chapters dealing with the origins of human aggression and destructiveness. The three-part lecture series „The Psychological Roots of War and Destruction” that Fromm gave at the invitation of the New York Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association in April 1963, are based on the manuscript for the book The Heart of Man. The second lecture introduces in Fromm’s concept of necrophilia – a specific type of human destructiveness that is attracted by destruction and by all that is not alive. He presents traits of a necrophilous person and of a machine minded culture and contrasts necrophilia with biophilia, the love of life. Finally, he discusses the difference between necrophilia and Freud’s concept of the death instinct.  – In his book The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973) Fromm analyzes necrophilia in detail and in a more differentiated way. – The lecture (57’) is followed by Fromm’s answers (15’) 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/): 1963q-eng