To obey or not obey
Ira Turner
Professor Robert Spencer
English 101-E111
18 September 2014
To obey or not obey, that is the question?
A summary of a piece written by Erich Fromm Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a noted psychoanalyst, philosopher, historian, and sociologist that lived a long life over some very troubled times in the history of the world. He authored more than 30 books and was a studier of Freud and Marx, both offering different insights on the subject matter of Fromm’s piece “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem.” Mr. Fromm wrote this piece during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1963) when tensions were not only high between the United States and Soviet Union, but also within other locations throughout the world, believing that the acts of the few might destroy the many, i.e. mankind as a whole. Though the essay was written some time ago it is still relevant today in that the same fears that Fromm had at that point in human history still exist in today’s world.
Fromm offered this piece to help us understand and think for ourselves why it is that people obey and disobey and how the actions of either could relate to our current condition. In the first paragraph Fromm states that “obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice”, followed by this interjection, “Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.” This comparison of obey or disobey, virtue or vice, good versus evil has played out down throughout history. Since the beginning of recorded history, the decision to obey or disobey came down to a single thought process, a singular decision of what’s right or wrong in the person’s own mind. History records many different times when man has made the wrong choice, the results that followed were a form of punishment as well as a learning experience, though sometimes the latter proved to be more the case. As Fromm has related to us Adam and Eve had to leave the
Professor Robert Spencer
English 101-E111
18 September 2014
To obey or not obey, that is the question?
A summary of a piece written by Erich Fromm Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a noted psychoanalyst, philosopher, historian, and sociologist that lived a long life over some very troubled times in the history of the world. He authored more than 30 books and was a studier of Freud and Marx, both offering different insights on the subject matter of Fromm’s piece “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem.” Mr. Fromm wrote this piece during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1963) when tensions were not only high between the United States and Soviet Union, but also within other locations throughout the world, believing that the acts of the few might destroy the many, i.e. mankind as a whole. Though the essay was written some time ago it is still relevant today in that the same fears that Fromm had at that point in human history still exist in today’s world.
Fromm offered this piece to help us understand and think for ourselves why it is that people obey and disobey and how the actions of either could relate to our current condition. In the first paragraph Fromm states that “obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice”, followed by this interjection, “Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.” This comparison of obey or disobey, virtue or vice, good versus evil has played out down throughout history. Since the beginning of recorded history, the decision to obey or disobey came down to a single thought process, a singular decision of what’s right or wrong in the person’s own mind. History records many different times when man has made the wrong choice, the results that followed were a form of punishment as well as a learning experience, though sometimes the latter proved to be more the case. As Fromm has related to us Adam and Eve had to leave the