We are seeking contributions to The Frommian Mind, edited by Maor Levitin (York University), Jeremiah Morelock (Boston College), and Rory Varrato (Columbia University). This volume, part of Routledge’s Philosophical Minds book series, will be a handbook-length critical companion to Erich Fromm.
How does Fromm speak to this moment? In a present riven by crises and catastrophes, Fromm’s prophetic voice echoes from the past with a message of hope for the future. During his own time, Fromm’s clear-eyed analyses of subjects like fascism, human destructiveness, and malignant narcissism served as the diagnoses for which he also offered the cures: socialist humanism, biophilia, and the art of loving, among others. Today, we face both the descendants of those old perils as well as new ones like climate change, algorithmic governmentality, and the myriad contemporary forms of intersectional oppression. As we strive to find our own solutions to these threats, Fromm’s life and work can serve as sources of edification and inspiration. Indeed, Fromm sought not only to interpret the world, but to change it, too; he wrote in accessible prose about difficult topics, and he took action to help address the problems he identified. For example, in his book The Sane Society, Fromm first analyzes the pathology of normalcy and then offers roads to sanity which he went on to help pave through his involvement with SANE, the anti-nuclear weapons group that later evolved into Peace Action. In another case, with his book Psychoanalysis and Religion, Fromm articulates a conception of the ‘physician of the soul’ based on his clinical practice helping his patients actualize their autonomy and ameliorate their difficulties in living. These examples exemplify how Fromm, as both a sociologist and a trained psychoanalyst, uniquely combined an attentiveness to the dialectics of macro- and micro-level processes with an attunement to the dynamics of interpersonal and intrapsychic phenomena. It is precisely this insightful and exquisitely humane approach to philosophizing about the challenges of individual and collective life that we wish to capture in the contributions to The Frommian Mind.
Thus, The Frommian Mind will serve as a focal point for the burgeoning renaissance of scholarly interest in Fromm today. To that end, we seek not only contributions that are elaborative or explicatory, but also ones that are critical or, in true Frommian fashion, revisionist.
The volume will be structured into five sections:
- Fromm’s Influences, Interlocutors, and Inheritors. Contributions to this section will examine or critique the persons, texts, forces, and practices that shaped Fromm (e.g., Judaism, Freudianism, and Marxism); the collaborators with whom Fromm worked and dialogued (e.g., Michael Maccoby); and Fromm’s impact on contemporary thinkers and disciplines (e.g., existentialism, postmodernism, and evolutionary anthropology).
- Social and Political Philosophy and Practice. Contributions to this section will examine, apply, critique, or revise concepts from Fromm’s social and political philosophy—such as social character, cultural biophilia and necrophilia, humanized technology, the productive character orientation, the art of loving, and the ‘to have’ / ‘to be’ distinction—as well as Fromm’s efforts at organizing and activism, e.g., his symposium on socialist humanism, his work with SANE, and his Socialist Party manifesto.
- Psychoanalytic Philosophy and Technique. Contributions to this section will examine, apply, critique, or revise the concepts and practices of Frommian psychoanalysis, such as the art of listening, the theory of symbolic language, malignant narcissism, characterological biophilia and necrophilia, the affinities between psychoanalysis and Freirean critical pedagogy, and the affinities between psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism.
- Fromm and the Frankfurt School. Contributions to this section will examine or critique topics such as the role that Fromm played in the formation of the Frankfurt School and his subsequent exile from it; Fromm’s relationships with other Frankfurt School members, e.g., Adorno and Marcuse; and Fromm’s influence on critical theory past and present.
- Frommian Futures. Contributions to this section will examine, apply, critique, or revise any aspect(s) of Fromm’s work that speak(s) to the construction of more equitable and humane futures. Potential topics include climate change, the Anthropocene, technology, neofascism, late capitalism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, feminism, the movement for Black lives, education reform, and other matters of social justice and moral concern.
How to Submit:
Proposals will be accepted until October 31, 2024 by email at thefrommianmind@gmail.com.
Contributors should provide a working title, an abstract of 300-500 words, and an indication of which section they believe their contribution will fit into best. Nota bene, contributions must not have been published previously, and the total length of each contribution will be approximately 5,000 words, including references. Contributors should also submit a current CV with their proposal.
All proposals will undergo review by the editorial team before being accepted into the volume. We especially seek contributions from individuals from historically and presently marginalized groups. Contributions written in English are preferred, but we will consider pieces written in other languages on a case-by-case basis.
Erich Fromm Society of North America 