Short Essay #10

Erich Fromm believed that the First World War robs the human mind of its independent thought . He argued that the direction of progress of the powerful nations , such as the United States , towards maximum production and maximum consumption is a means of using man instead of using technology and development to build a new nation that serves man . His argument focused on economic interests leading and manipulating social and political processes that lead to barbarism and anarchy . He believed that man should not be blindly controlled by these processes but the other

way around , man should govern his society and economy building based on his social and cultural norms . In this way , man would be able to create a better society and push for a renaissance of humanism

Fromm has been a firm believer of humanism and individualism . This could be seen in his interpretation of the effects and influences of the First World War . The First World War have devastating effects on humanity because of its overemphasis on nationalism and its rejections of the idea of human sharing , communication and equality . Fromm pointed out that there is a need to develop a concept of the One Man or the One World , which directs humanity to a shared belief of oneness with the world and each culture not a divided approach on humanity . This implied his strong belief on a Buddhist belief of the love of life and humanity values that have been forgotten during the war because of an...