Life Itself Is an Art

Rainer Funk is Director of the Erich Fromm Institute Tuebingen, Co-Director of the Erich Fromm Study Center at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) in Berlin, and a practicing psychoanalyst based in Tuebingen, Germany. He is Erich Fromm’s sole Literary Executor and among his publications are the 10-volume German edition of Erich Fromm Collected Works (1980 and 1981; expanded to 12-volumes in 1999).

To borrow a phrase from Rainer Funk’s penetrating study, it is an 'exhilarating experience' to follow the course of Erich Fromm's thinking as he developed his intriguing ideas on sociopsychology and the intricate web of personal interactions and social conditions that enter into the 'art of living' – the guiding concern of his remarkable life and work.

• List of FiguresPrefaceIntroduction: Direct EncounterFace to Face Letting Someone Sense: “This is You”An Exhilarating ExperienceEncountering the StrangerThe Art of Living as Direct Encounter1 Roads to the UnconsciousFromm’s Road to PsychoanalysisThe Unconscious as Repressed The Power of Rationalization Indicators of the UnconsciousDefensive Strategies against Becoming Conscious of the UnconsciousUnderstanding the UnconsciousThe Dream as a Road to the Unconscious Free Association as a Road to the UnconsciousParapraxis as a Road to the UnconsciousTransference as a Road to the Unconscious2 The Individual as a Social BeingErich Fromm – An Only Child Becomes a Psychoanalyst of SocietyWhat Makes a Father Beat His Children?The Individual as Socialized BeingThe Meaning of Character FormationsSociety within the Individual – the Social Character3 How Man SucceedsLove in the Life of Erich FrommWhat is Good for ManThe Primary Tendency to GrowThe Growth Orientation of One’s Own PowersConceptual ApproachesThe Productive OrientationThe Capacity for Growth at the Crossroads4 How Society Succeeds at the Expense of ManErich Fromm’s Suffering in SocietyThe Authoritarian Character – at the Expense of AutonomyThe Marketing Orientation – at the Expense of a Sense of IdentityThe Narcissistic Character – at the Expense of Interest in the OtherThe Ego Orientation – at the Expense of Ego Strength5 Ways toward Direct EncounterFromm’s Guides on the Way toward Direct EncounterPreconditions for an Encounter with One’s Own SelfCapacity for Critique and Readiness for Dis-IllusionmentPreparatory ExercisesSelf-Analysis as a Way of EncounterEncounters and Their Effects BibliographyIndex