If society continues to listen to those in charge, it will lead to the downfall of humanity. Individuals in a position of power are typically greedy, do not care about the needs of their people and only care about their own interest. To progress as a society, humans must disobey, throughout history change has been brought about due to acts of disobedience towards those who abuse power. Erich Fromm's article, “Obedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” argues that obedience will end our society and it is logical, but terribly written. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay*The first main point of Fromm's article is that "Human history was inaugurated by an act of disobedience" (Fromm) and that individuals should not be conditioned to obey someone with a higher power. To promote this idea, Fromm uses the stories of Adam and Eve, Prometheus, and Antigone. Explain that in these stories, disobedience is what started humanity, and use these examples to show that disobedience results in punishment. To progress, Adam and Eve, Prometheus and Antigone disobeyed and in exchange gained personal freedom. The next point Fromm explains concerns the two types of obedience, conscience and authority. Fromm's next main point is to explain the two types of conscience, obedience and authority. The first obedience he explains is heteronomous, that is, obeying figures of power driven by fear. The second consciousness is Autonomous, which uses its own morals and values to make decisions. Fromm then explains that the two types of authority are rational and irrational authority. Fromm first explains rational authority, which is when the person in authority seeks the best interest of the people he or she is governing. Fromm explains that irrational authority, on the other hand, is used to exploit people as much as possible, and only looks out for the best interest of themselves. Fromm then explains the two consciousnesses. The humanistic conscience follows its own morals and values and does not follow them for fear of an authority figure. The authoritarian consciousness follows values based on fear of authority figures, Fromm explains. Fromm's next main point is to explain why individuals feel the need to obey and the disadvantages of obedience through love versus force. The next point Fromm raises is the disadvantages of obedience through love versus force and why people feel the need to obey. Fromm argues that the first reason is based on the feeling of feeling safe. The second reason Fromm mentions is that disobeying is seen as wrong, which in return causes people to panic and push for disobedience. Fromm explains that there are disadvantages to enforcing obedience, as people will get fed up and tear down oppressors. Obedience can be achieved using love, Fromm explains. The only way to achieve this is to make people believe that obedience is beneficial and that disobedience is horrible. This in return will take away people's individual freedom to think freely and use their own morals to decide right from wrong. In both situations there are disadvantages. In Fromm's article there are many weaknesses in his writing. The first weakness is the definitions it uses, many of its terms are supported by vague and confusing definitions. As Fromm says, “The interests of the teacher and the student, in the ideal case, point in the same direction.” He used it to explain rational authority, but the definition is very vague. It does not provide a definition.
tags