Fromm Humanitarian Ethics And Its Pedagogic Significance

Erich Fromm was the famous modern humanistic ethicalist. The construCtionof his ethics Iied in his peculiar person's careef, the historical background of thetimes he lived and multiple thoughts. In order to PromOte human healthydevelopment and accomp1ish human well-being, Fromm used other theories fOrreference eXtensively, main1y consist of Freud's psychoanalYtic theocy Marxisrn,Zen, Frankfurt Schoo1 and its theory of social criticism.Fromm set up his fundamefltal position and guiding ideology of the "normativehumanism" on the basis of his inheritance of the "humanism" in western cultUre.He also reviewd the lasting tradition of the humanistic ethics in the western cu1tUre,and his ethics was influenced deeply by the tradition. Using "normativehumanism" as gUiding ideology "the science of man" as theoretical basis, theana1ysis of human's character as scientific method, his ethics first exposes aridcriticizes the authoritarian ethics 1ying in the reality sharPly and deeply. On thebasis of above, his ethics fOllows such principles as "only man (but not authoritythat place itself above man) can stipulate the standard between good and evil" inform and "what is good to man can be called good, while what is bad to man canbe called evil, the unique standard of ethical value is human well-being" in contentto set its moral model, to accomplish its highest valurtring up "man fOrhimself' and realize its fina1 aim--creat "the sane society"The content of Fromm's ethics is very rich. This thesis mainly involves threeaspects f First, the science of manrthe theoretical basis of the humanistic ethics.On the question of "what is man", Fromm though f man is the resu1t of thehistorical evolution and develop continuous1y. Man is the social being with selfconscience and rationalitY On the theory of human nature, he thought theexistence of it and it is the unique nature of man. Its basic parts are thecontradiction and the need of the existence of man, the experience of fee1ings andcharacter of man. It had the latent energy of good and evil. Its development wasinfluenced by the natural inheritance, but it is "mainly the result of the culture".SecondIy, characteologywthe scientific method of the humanistic ethics. FroTnmpaid much attention to the ethical meaning of character and divided it in form andcontent and analysed various character in detail. He thought the character was "notonly the theme of the ethical judgement, but also the aim of the human ethicaldeve1opment". Thirdly the moral mode1 of the humanistic ethics. FrommDcriticized authoritarian ethics' elaboration of (l)seIfishness, self-love and selfinterest, (2)conscience, (3)doubt and faith, (4)man's moral strength and putfOrdward his own viewnoint opposing to them on the basis of the above twoaspects.The author thinks, although Fromm seldom spoke of education and moraleducation in his ethics, his gUiding ideology method and some content of hisethics have great significances on the school education, especially on the moraleducation f First, it helps us to self examine the theory and practice of theauthoritarian moral education. Secondly it helps us to think about and construCtthe educationa1 system conforms with the humanistic ethics in order to inhance thedevelopment of man. Thirdly it helps us to look on humanistic principle as thebasic princip1e of the moral education. Fourthly it helps us to try to explore a kindof new moral educational mode, and treat the relationship between teachers'authority and students' freedom properly. Fifthly it helps us to think about and payattamion to the personal education in the modern markct economy.