Comparing Erich Fromm's Disobedience As A Psychological And Moral Problem

Fromm starts off with his negative view of certain types of obedience and his view that disobedience is needed in order to have freedom. Fromm shows how

Human beings possess several virtues that differentiate them from other creatures and can use them in ways that represent their perceptions of social order. Surprisingly, Oscar Wilde believes that disobedience is an original virtue of every human and that it is responsible for progress and development. While Wilde’s claim is not entirely accurate, it is largely valid as evidenced by the recent events across the world, including the US, that have led to positive outcomes in spite of being termed and perceived as acts of disobedience.

In "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem," Erich Fromm (1963) argues that society will self-destruct without achieving freedom through disobedience. Fromm begins with analogies of Hebrew and Greek mythology showing how disobedience to a god freed humans. Using this correlation, Fromm shows freedom as a condition for disobedience, and vice- versa. Therefore, Fromm proclaims that without disobedience the human race could destroy itself within a generation.

Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay entitled Civil Disobedience that was published in 1854 in the collection of essays called Walden; or Life in the Woods. Thoreau first wrote of civil disobedience in opposition

Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience, which is about him trying to persuade citizens that their obligation is to contravene and correct the unfair laws of the government. Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience with the view point “That government is best which governs least”

Fromm initiates his article by addressing the commonly held belief that obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice. Fromm mentions that this is not the case, as “human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience”(Fromm 227). Man began human history through Adam and Eve eating the apple in the garden of Eden. Additionally, Prometheus stealing fire from the Greek Gods

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” Henry David Thoreau, a well known essayist, wrote: Walden. Thoreau supports Wilde’s claim of disobedience promoting social progress. He mentions that people who live in obedience are not living at all. Progress is defined as a forward or onward movement toward a destination. The only way society can progress is through evolution, as people grow from a simple neanderthal to complex modern humans like us. And in order to evolve, there must be a break in pattern: disobedience-failure or refusal to obey rules in authority. There is no development if everyone is a collective mind. Examples are seen in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 with the protagonist, Montag,

Thoreau, Milgram and King all consider the difficulties of resisting majority rule, standing up to authority, and protesting against the established rules and laws. Henry Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience” to focus on the relationship of individuals to the state that focused on why people obey the laws of the government even if they

The author exemplifies the ways that disobedience helps the society and its contribution to furthering the human race but notes on the fact that blind obedience may eventually account for the end of civilization.

“A very few—as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men—serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it,” Henry Thoreau claimed in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Martin Luther King Jr. indisputably served the people of the state by his own conscience and was definitely treated as an enemy. “We want to be free!” King cried out during his “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It didn't matter that it was seen as an evil act against the men in charge to him. “Civil disobedience” immensely impacted Martin Luther King and supported his views and drive that lead to the Civil Rights Movement.

In society, obedience to authority is ingrained in humanity from an early age, causing some individuals to blindly obey orders without contemplating the credibility of the source. In psychoanalyst Erich Fromm’s article “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” he explains that throughout human history obedience has been associated with virtue and disobedience with sin (Fromm 127). Fromm suggests that our conscience is an internalized voice of authority (126). Fromm claims individuals need to distinguish the difference between rational and irrational authority because obedience is effective when individuals want to obey, instead of fearing to disobey (127). Two other authors who examine obedience are Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee

The political concepts of justice and how a society should be governed have dominated literature through out human history. The concept of peacefully resisting laws set by a governing force can be first be depicted in the world of the Ancient Greeks in the works of Sophocles and actions of Socrates. This popular idea has developed over the centuries and is commonly known today as civil disobedience. Due to the works of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. civil disobedience is a well-known political action to Americans; first in the application against slavery and second in the application against segregation. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” and King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are the leading arguments in defining

In his book Escape From Freedom, Erich Fromm asserts that “the right to express our own thoughts… means something only if we are able to have thoughts on our own” (240). By this statement, he means that having the freedom of individual thought is only relevant if individuals can actually form thoughts on their own (i.e. without outside influence). He supports this by pointing to the suppression of spontaneous emotions in our culture, our education system’s focus on facts rather than thinking, and an emphasis on truth being relative. Fromm says that the suppression of spontaneity begins as a child: when children ‘act up’ and display hostility towards another person or situation, parents employ many methods to try to get the child to stop. Eventually, “the child starts with giving up the expression of his feeling and eventually gives up the very feeling itself” (242).

The incompetence of humans is most prevalent through our reliance on desire, rather than focusing on what is essential. This factor of human nature consistently propels us towards our own ignorance. The mantra of humans is to depend on what we covet, instead of asking ourselves what we truly need. Most often, humans want constant safety and a feeling of belonging. Any thought of what we actually require to be a modern and civilized society is alarming. Change is necessary, but what is necessary is often frightening. This fear propels us to be ignorant; humans would rather ignore prospects for change if it means stability and safety. However, if we constantly cling to consistency, humans fall generations behind. Time is fleeting, yet the way humans behave is transcendent of eras. Human nature is constant, causing humans to act the same era after era, allowing time to become generations ahead of human behavior. The only savior for compliance with our own conduct is a single person’s ability to recognize the necessity for change. However, we fear this person’s epiphany just as much as we fear change itself. The beliefs of the person who understands the requirement for modification is so absurd to most people that they are shunned. This single person is disobedient to the consistency of human nature and reliance on desire. Refusing to blindly agree with the behavior of society is ludicrous to the majority of humans, yet highly necessary. Disobedience does not necessarily have to be blatantly defying rules or laws. It can rather take the form of disapproval or questioning of how current society behaves. Refusal to conduct oneself precisely the same as what society believes to be correct is disobedient. Without this disapproval or refusal, change never occurs. This leaves humans content to falling behind to the passage of time. If nobody ever challenges human behavior, progress is impossible. Consequently, societal progress is solely dependent on disobedience to the consistency of human behavior.

Often, one embarks on what is termed as a spiritual journey. In this journey, one would aim to find out one is, what one’s problems are in one’s life, and how to come to peace with the world. The primary purpose is rarely to find one answer; rather it is a process of continually asking questions. The novel Disobedience describes a spiritual journey of several fictitious characters, one being Ronit Krushka. Ronit is the lesbian daughter of an Orthodox Jew, Rabi Rav. Until the age of sixteen, Ronit and her father live together in a London suburb. It should be recognized that Ronit’s mother passed away when she was young, and at times it seems that she blames her father for this. After a serious dispute, Ronit flees to America in hopes of finding freedom from her father and his strict Orthodox ways. It is not until after his death during her adulthood that Ronit truly embarks on her own spiritual journey and begins to understand her father more clearly. Throughout this essay, I will describe my personal spiritual journey while reflecting upon the spiritual experiences and religious worldviews detailed in the novel.