Marx's Concept of Man [Paperback]

Erich Fromm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0804461619 | ISBN-13: 978-0804461610 | Publication Date: January 2000

2011 Reprint of 1961 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Fromm provides what was at the time a new and provocative view of Marx's humanism that challenged both Soviet distortion and Western ignorance of the basic philosophical underpinning of classical Marxism. Included is also a translation Marx's Philosophical Manuscripts.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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About the Author

Born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Erich Fromm (1900-1980) studied sociology and psychoanalysis. In 1933, he emigrated as a member of the Frankfurt School of social thinkers to the United States, moved to Mexico in 1950, and spent his twilight years between 1974 and 1980 in Switzerland. His books Fear of Freedom (1941) and The Art of Loving (1956) made him famous. Other well-known books are Marx's Concept of Man, Beyond the Chains of Illusion, and The Essential Fromm. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Ungar Pub. Co. (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804461619
• ISBN-13: 978-0804461610
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,110,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marx as a humanist philosopher, December 14, 2006

By 

M. A. Krul (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marx's Concept of Man (Continuum Impacts) (Paperback)

"Marx's Concept of Man" is essentially a pamphlet establishing the humanist, philosophical side of Marx as against the orthodox, Soviet view of Marx as tyrannical and economistic, and against the degree to which this view has seeped into academic literature in the West also. Famous Freudian Marxist Erich Fromm uses the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts" as well as "The German Ideology" to stress the importance of humanist concepts such as alienation, freedom, and creativity for Marx, and in so doing explains what these and similar terms mean in Marx' work. Fromm has clearly paid careful attention to Marx' philosophy, and this part of the book is quite good as a simple overview.

The second half of the book covers the English translation of the aforementioned "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts" by Tom Bottomore, as well as excerpts from various other works by and about Marx meaning to show his humanism, his good nature, and his sensitivity to culture. Of special interest are the excerpts from the memoirs of those who knew Marx, like his daughter Eleanor as well as Paul Lafargue. These works are often quoted, but rarely does one find a larger part in English, not even in McLellan's biography.

Fromm goes a bit overboard here and there in stressing Marx' 'spiritual' nature. Although nothing Fromm writes is of itself incorrect, it may unwittingly reinforce the old canard of Marxism 'really' being a religion, and Marx a millennarian prophet, and so on. Fromm obviously rejects this old refrain, but should have made that clearer. In other aspects this collection is an interesting primer on Marx as thinker on human action and human nature, and sheds good light on this side of Marxist thought for those not familiar with it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book concerning an understanding of Marx., May 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Marx's Concept of Man (Paperback)

This book is an excellent book for anyone wishing to gain a readable understanding of Marxist thought. The first 92 pages are especially insightful. A must buy for anyone interested in Marxism.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Marx Now?, December 19, 2009

By 

Andrew E. Reyes "areyes999" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marx's Concept of Man (Continuum Impacts) (Paperback)

Marx? Communism? Please!

That's the gut reaction of most of us. Why is this? Why is the man who's ideas stimulated nearly half the world to revolution automatically rejected without even being seriously looked at by most of us the U.S. today? What's that you say? "History shows us that communism is an impossible system that leads to the greatest tyranny."

The fact is Marx is much more than communism. His most famous work is not called Communism but Capital. (The manifesto was a small pamphlet next to the thousands of pages of the planned four volumes of Capital). He is strongest in his analysis of the very history and machinery of this economic system. In fact, it is in his critique of capitalism (not his proposition of communism) that he is most original.

Today, we see yet another crisis in global capitalism. Almost all of us who seek understanding of this crisis do so using the very same conceptual tools of the capitalist doctrine itself. But what if there are incorrect assumptions that the governments, universities and media networks of the world continuously overlook?

Marx's Concept of Man serves as an introduction to such an analysis. It is a compilation of various manuscripts of the early Marx and is quite digestible--especially after Fromm's preface. Erich Fromm--a significant 20th century philosopher in his own right--introduces us to some of the most timeless aspects of Marx's concept of man in a way that makes his thought significant to this day.