The Heart of Man

Dr Fromm considers The Heart of Man a counterpart to The Art of Loving. The present volume reveals the other face of Janus, however, as he’s concerned here essentially with the nature of evil–& by the converse of its definition, good–& the human capacity for it. He equates evil with tendencies toward death, the regression to the prehuman mass against the good of progressing toward life & true humanness. He sees necrophilia, extreme narcissism & incestuous symbiosis as the “syndrome of decay.” Persons are free to choose between evil & good, but previous choices have the more choices made against life, the harder it is to avoid a hardened heart, to turn back. Yet this is almost always possible. In a social context, he observes the influence of a Hitler or Stalin & analyzes their appeal. More clinical than The Art of Loving, this will mainly be of interest in terms of its religious-phychological equation. It appears as the 12th volume in the Religious Perspectives series.–Kirkus (edited)Religious Perspectives–Ruth Nanda AnshenForewordMan–Wolf or Sheep?Different Forms of ViolenceLove of Death & Love of LifeIndividual & Social NarcissismIncestuous TiesFreedom, Determinism, AlternativismIndex