The next Online‐Meeting which will take place on

Saturday, January 20, 2024 (again 3 p.m. Central European Time)

with Dr. Michael Thompson, Professor of Political Theory at William Paterson University (USA) and Candidate in psychoanalysis at the William Alanson White Institute in New York. He will prepare a paper and a video on

The Ontological Dimensions of Fromm’s Humanism

Here the abstract of the paper to be discussed:

"In this paper I defend the radicalism and deep intellectual sophistication of Fromm’s concept of humanism and its relevance for a renewed critical theory of society and analysis of the self. Fromm’s ideas are rooted in what I refer to as a “critical‐ontological structure of thought,” which begins with Aristotle and runs through Spinoza, Hegel, Marx, and Freud. Human beings, from this vantage point, are defined by the development of capacities via relations that shape the creative, active and social dimensions of their being. With respect to Fromm’s work, this approach has served as a foundation for diagnostic as well as critical judgment, both in the clinical and the political contexts.”

Please save the date. As in previous sessions, we kindly ask you to prepare yourself for the discussion by reading Michael’s paper beforehand as there will be no presentation at the meeting itself. We will send you the text together with a video of the presentation of the paper in a separate email before Xmas to allow enough time for preparation. The link to the meeting via zoom, we will send out some days before the meeting takes place in January 2024.

If you are interested to participate in this meeting and have not been informed via email for previous meetings, please contact the EFSC (efsc@ipu-berlin.de). Please circulate this “Save the date” also with other Fromm scholars that might be interested to participate.