Time and Place:New York at Kaufman Concert Hall on April 18, 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” was given by Fromm at the invitation of the New York Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association in April 1963. All three lectures are based on the manuscript for the book The Heart of Man. After some more reflections on the topic of the second lecture, the necrophilous destructiveness, Fromm presents in the third lecture his concept of narcissism and particularly of group narcissism. A special focus is on the pathology of narcissism: If groups or individuals get wounded in their narcissism the reaction is depression or rage which then is expressed in violence and furious destructiveness. – The lecture (60’) is followed by Fromm’s answers (20’) 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/): 1963r-eng