Philosophy 2080 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Nonviolence, Malignancy, Erich Fromm
26 Dec 2016
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Fromm on malignant aggression. according to fromm, destructive violence is not natural. Rather, it is a type of mental illness. Outline for fromm"s argument for this thesis to someone who has never heard of fromm. Sadism (malignant violence) = joy in suffering of others . Example: pg 318-19 both mental and physical sadism: stalin, didn"t just destroy political opponents he tortured them first. He would befriend people and speak warmly to them or about them, then have them arrested or killed. Sometimes personally gave orders as to what method of torture would be used on a specific prisoner. Necrophilia (malignant violence) = pure passion to destroy (pg. Fromm"s book really emphasizes specifically desire to destroy living things particularly human bodies, but in general it really is just a passion to destroy. Example: wwii hitler gave order to the commanding general to utterly destroy the city, to general did not follow this order.
