To Have or to Be?
By Erich Fromm
Categories: Politics & Social Sciences
To Have or to Be? is Erich Fromm's 1976 book contrasting two basic ways of living. Fromm argues that modern industrial society encourages the having mode, in which people define themselves by possessions, status and control. He contrasts it with the being mode, rooted in love, sharing and active engagement with life, drawing on thinkers from the Buddha and Jesus to Meister Eckhart and Marx. He warns that greed threatens both happiness and survival, and sketches a more humane society.
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- David Heinemeier Hansson: “Fromm's diagnoses of the modern predicament is unrivaled in my readings so far”