Erich Fromm was an influential German psychoanalyst and philosopher in the 20th Century. One of his most important works is the text, “To Have or to Be?” This book highlights Fromm’s opinion of the difference of “having” and “being” and why they are both important aspects to one’s life. The two different concepts have been widely debated between philosophers and analysts throughout the years. The term “having” seems to be the easier mode to define, while “being” becomes more complicated to outline.
Erich Fromm described the concept of having as dealing with the body and mind wanting to possess another object or feeling. Humans desire material items and feelings such as happiness or love. The mode of having causes a person to want to acquire
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These modes can influence people on subjects from learning, to exercising authority, to faith and love. For example, these modes influence is through education and the way our current generation learns. As said before, "Because the society we live in is devoted to acquiring property and making a profit, we rarely see any evidence of the being mode of existence and most people see the having mode as the most natural mode of existence, even the only acceptable way of life" (Fromm 25). Materialistic minds are the norm today and many millennials do not know a different way of life, which tends to affect their education in school. Most students tend to be in the having mode of existence while being educated. These types of students hear the lectures, write down every word they can from the lecture, and then memorize the material for a future exam. These students do not fully absorb and comprehend the class material. Once they complete the exam and eventually the course, they usually forget what they learned because the content does not actually enrich their minds. Students in the having existence want to "hold onto what they 'learned ', either by entrusting it firmly to their memories or by carefully guarding their notes" (Fromm 26). They do not create new ideas or thoughts and are actually afraid of doing so. On the …show more content…
We live in a materialistic culture that thrives on having "things." Yes, we must have things in order to live (shelter, food, water, etc.), but the word is misused. Our culture has become so materialistic that we forget what is really important. The "have" mode has almost become the norm, especially with our generation. Even though we subconsciously practice the mode of “being,” many people do not realize it which makes it difficult to appreciate life and all the aspects of “being.” “Because the society we live in is devoted to acquiring property and making a profit, we rarely see any evidence of the being mode of existence and most people see the having mode as the most natural mode of existence, even the only acceptable way of life” (Fromm 25). Majority of people want to be as successful and rich as possible that this idea takes over their mind and eventually lives. Every young person is obsessed with “fitting in” and having the latest and greatest items. This attitude causes adolescents to lose sight of what is important and lose touch with their emotions. Our culture needs to begin to think less about material items and being rich and more about his/her emotions and what it means to be truly happy. It is important to focus on the “bigger picture” and how one must become the best person he/she can be to benefit
Three of the most satisfying materials that a person could own is a home, money, and a car. At least one of these items is essential for a person no matter where they live. The home is the most satisfying material that a person could own. A home is a place that one can go to rest, eat, and just live. A home provides memories and a place for a family to grow. A home satisfies people with protection, an investment, security, safety, and privacy. The home is definitely a key item of satisfying materials. Another satisfying material that a person could own is money. Money is something that is very important to possess. Owning money can satisfy a person’s hunger, shelter, and just everything it takes for that person to live. A person would not be satisfied if they did not own any money. They would be depressed and have to live on the streets. Money alone cannot satisfy a person on a whole but it brings together the whole term of satisfaction. The last item that is satisfying is a car. A car is something that can satisfy ones need to get around. It is important to use to get to work, school, and places to far to venture on foot. A car is a machine with great power and can also satisfy one with air conditioning on a hot day. It can satisfy a person with ride to ones favorite place such as the beach. A home, money, and a car are all materials that a person can own to satisfy them.
1. The main idea is not only that owning stuff is not the key to happiness, it’s also that consumers today own more than they need to thrive which directly impacts the environment. Hill illustrates the environmental impact by showing statistics of global warming today versus the past century, and how consumerism is leading to a hotter climate. Hill debunks claims of buying happiness by discussing a study where stress hormones spike to their highest when people are managing their personal belongings. Hill’s most prominent example that consumerism is not the answer is himself, as he discusses some of the most stressful times of his life being right after coming into a large sum of money and buying whatever he fancied. When Hill concludes his article, he states that “I have less—and enjoy more. My space is small. My life is big” (213).
At the beginning of his main work Being and Time Heidegger has made clear that his aim in writing it, was to deal with the meaning of Being in a concrete way and posed the question of Being as the primary question of philosophy today. Therefore it would be useful, as a first step, to take a look at the main reason which has led Heidegger to this assumption and consequently to the inquiry into the meaning of Being.
Drawing from the eudaimonic view and from SDT, Kasser & Ryan (1993, 1996) related money and materialism to well-being. They predicted that people who place a strong value on wealth...
Are material things really that important? Is being rich really going to solve all your problems?
Money is the driving force behind our society, and the severe materialism that we are experiencing is taking a toll in our persona, relationships and quality of life. People work extremely hard to have bigger houses, the newest car models, and the latest technologies. At the end, none of these things make individuals happy because they barely have time left to enjoy them. However, society keeps reminding us that we are what we own, and if we don’t have much, we are nobody. The author Carolyn Gregoire explains that “…there is no direct correlation between income and happiness. Once our basic needs are met, wealth makes very little difference to one 's overall well-being and happiness. And in fact, extremely wealthy people actually suffer from higher rates of depression.” Another interesting point relates to relationships; according to a study published in the Journal Of Couple & Marriage Therapy, materialism is actually correlated with unhappiness in marriages. Finally, materialism and consumerism affect deeply the attitude of the individual toward others. The individual becomes more self- absorbed, exhibit narcissistic traits, and is more likely to behave unethically. The article Wealthy Selfies by Maia Szalavitz argues that “…in five different experiments involving several hundred undergraduates and 100 adults recruited from online communities, the researchers found higher levels of both narcissism and
It could be assumed that having is the normal orientation in which people live their life by in the modern societies of Europe or North America. Erich Fromm stated, "To acquire, to own, and to make a profit are the sacred and unalienable rights of the individual in the industrial society" (From 1976:57). Fromm is clearly explaining that to have and to own is the dominant norm and having is related to an individual. Being individualistic is inherent to having because only one can have ownership. If having is shared, it loses its individualistic characteristic. The having orientation is the belief that to be fulfilled in life is sole ownership over a physical object(s) or in-tangibles such as ideas, thoughts or in some cases people. To further explain, the having orientation of physical property, ownership over objects is the ability to hold, possess, and be in control of. Ownership of intangibles is more an abs...
The Article “Perfection Anxiety” written by A.A Gill illustrates through his findings, that while the means to have everything you desire is by no means bad , neither is it the best. Throughout the article he talks about the phenomenon of “perfection anxiety”, a condition causing it’s host’s feelings of significant ennui, a circumstance found within the abhorrently wealthy portion of the world’s citizens. This psychological disorder is found to occur when the incomprehensibly rich have realized essentially, that they have run out of things to spend their money on, continuing to spend only to appease the ever imposing expectations and judgments of the wealthy.
In society today, everything is about the “now”. Everyone wants something instantaneously. Because of the desire for instant gratification, people are overcome by what they desire which causes them to quench their yearnings by obtaining what they want. For example, an individual that has just graduated from high school and he wants money, so he gets a job at a fast-food chain instead of pursuing a college degree. He wants money now and does not want to pay for college even though he would be making more money over his lifetime in his profession than he does at the fast food-chain.
How often do you walk into a store after you receive a pay cheque and come out of the store with less money and more stuff? At least you put that good money to use to buy products that will make you happy, right? Wrong. Most people buy stuff because they think that it will make them happier or make them complete. The truth is that products or stuff might make you happy, but only for a short time. Soon that
...hat materialistic attitudes are harmful to one's well-being. “The psychological perspective attributes the development of materialistic values to family circumstances that create stress and self esteem issues that promote materialistic values,” (Hung Vu Nguyen.) Many people in our culture attribute material goods to personal achievement. Truth rings true with Bertrand Russell’s statement “It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.” Even at young ages children are competing and bragging to one another of who has more possessions. Past studies by Rindfleisch say that materialism developed over time as a response to stress due to family issues such as divorce, separation, and loss of loved ones. Materialism leads consumers to put a disproportionate amount of their resources into acquiring goods.
The existentialist movement, fairly recent in terms of human history, has found expression in some very different forms, from the religious examinations of Søren Kierkegaard to the solid atheism of Friedrich Nietzsche. One point upon which a fair number of existentialists have shared opinions, however, is that there is a strong element of uncertainty to human life: uncertainty, in particular, about just who or what this thing we call "self" is. This awakening to a dilemma concerning knowledge of, and connection with, one's self is one way in which the existentialist ...
“’Being’ is obviously not a real predicate; that is, it is not a concept of something which could be added to the concept of a thing. It is merely the positing of a thing or of certain determinations, as existing in themselves” (Pojman 72).
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.
A century or 2 past, our society’s hierarchy was supported cash and land. Today’s new materialism determines your placement on the social ladder. In many high schools, if you don’t have an iPod or any other cool device, a replacement automotive or lots of cash, then the cool crowd typically doesn’t even notice a person. In nearly each organization, cash and things are the entire foundation, thus it is sensible that Americans would be thus materialistic.