Rainer Funk

It was Erich Fromm's conviction that psychoanalysis needs to retain Freud's essential insight into the unconscious while replacing his mechanistic-materialistic philosophy with a humanistic one. In this book, never before published in English, Fromm presents such a revision of psychoanalysis, one that is both humanistic and dialectical. The Revision of Psychoanalysis is Fromm's long-expected account of his own personal way of understanding and practicing psychoanalysis. Of special interest to today's readers are his continuing efforts to understand the meaning of sexuality, his critique of Herbert Marcuse's vision of psychoanalysis, and the implications of a Freudian analytical social psychology for the reform of social arrangements. This book is essential reading for psychologists and for social and political theorists in many disciplines. For psychoanalysts, it provides Fromm's most provocative and unique recommendations for the revision of psychoanalysis.

'It is a beautiful book to read; it is not about psychoanalytic technique, but evidence of his warm empathy and humanistic view of his patients' Betty Gould, Self & SocietyThough thought of as a brilliant social commentator, Erich Fromm was first and foremost one of the great psychoanalysts of our time. These posthumous writings combine two aspects of Fromm's thinking, showing how he built on Freudian theory and also modified it with his own humanist point of view. For Fromm, the essence of psychological health evolved from the complex interplay and conflict engendered by the meeting of the irrational and rational parts of the personality. In his writing, he was often critical of psychoanalysis but was keen to stress that this was only to stop the practice of psychoanalysis from deteriorating. He strongly believed that analysis existed 'not to cure illness but to help the inner freedom of a person'. This edition, commemorating thirty years since the first English publication of The Art of Listening, redirects attention to Fromm as analyst and master of the art of listening, and features an updated introduction from editor Rainer Funk.

In 1965 Erich Fromm became professor emeritus of psychoanalysis at the National Autonomous University of Mexico City. In the same year he finished his field research on the social character of the Mexican peasant village Chiconcuac. Released from his obligations at the university and free for a new project, he applied to various funding organizations for money to undertake a "Systematic Work on Humanistic Psychoanalysis," which he had decided to write in the course of the next few years. It was conceived as a work of three to four volumes that would deal with the complete range of psychoanalytic theory and practice. He intended nothing less than a dialectic revision.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the YearErich Fromm (1900-1980) is known to most readers as the author of the international bestseller The Art of Loving (1956). What may be less widely known is that Fromm was a social psychoanalyst whose psychoanalytic theories, developed around a humanistic concept of man and society, have had a profound impact on many fields and disciplines: on social life and societal organization, on politics, on religion, on psychotherapy and, last but not least, on the practice of mindfulness. Rainer Funk was Erich Fromm’s last assistant. He wrote his dissertation about Fromm, was designated by Fromm's last will to be his sole literary executor, and is the editor of Fromm's writings. From his very intimate knowledge of Fromm's life and ideas, and his access to an archive that includes 6,000 letters, Funk introduces Fromm's central concepts and examines them in relation to Fromm's lived experiences and to his idea that life itself is an art. The question of "the art of living" runs through all of the chapters, from the Introduction, in which Funk describes meeting Fromm for the first time in 1972, to the last chapter, in which Funk reflects on the impact of Fromm's social-psychoanalytic writings and his efforts to live well.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the YearErich Fromm (1900-1980) is known to most readers as the author of the international bestseller The Art of Loving (1956). What may be less widely known is that Fromm was a social psychoanalyst whose psychoanalytic theories, developed around a humanistic concept of man and society, have had a profound impact on many fields and disciplines: on social life and societal organization, on politics, on religion, on psychotherapy and, last but not least, on the practice of mindfulness. Rainer Funk was Erich Fromm’s last assistant. He wrote his dissertation about Fromm, was designated by Fromm's last will to be his sole literary executor, and is the editor of Fromm's writings. From his very intimate knowledge of Fromm's life and ideas, and his access to an archive that includes 6,000 letters, Funk introduces Fromm's central concepts and examines them in relation to Fromm's lived experiences and to his idea that life itself is an art. The question of "the art of living" runs through all of the chapters, from the Introduction, in which Funk describes meeting Fromm for the first time in 1972, to the last chapter, in which Funk reflects on the impact of Fromm's social-psychoanalytic writings and his efforts to live well.

Though thought of as a social commentator, Erich Fromm was first and foremost a psychoanalyst of our time. These writings combine two aspects of his thinking, showing how he builds on Freudian theory and also modifies it with his own humanist point of view.