Erich Fromm' humanistic ethics as a solution to the existential problems implied by absurdity

• Main Author: De Guzman, Marc Kristofffer A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Fromm; Erich; 1900-1980; Humanism > History > 20th century; Philosophy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2149
• Institution: De La Salle University

Absurdity has often referred to as a problem of human existence. It refers to the meaninglessness of our existence. Yes, this is true - absurdity is indeed the meaningless, purposelessness, lack of consistency and structure of human life and action. But if we think again, absurdity is not a problem but an actual situation of man. The problems came mainly from our reactions towards absurdity but not from absurdity itself. If we think again, we can do nothing about this absurdity so as to eliminate this situation. All we can afford to do is to accept it or deny it, either way does not change the fact that we are thrown into this absurd situation. To justify further, absurdity manifests itself when we feel anxious when things become a routine, our anxiety towards death, our anxiety towards life's unpredictability and fatefulness. And we can't do anything however so as to eliminate this facts of our existence we can't change the fact that everything we do can and will become a routine, we cannot change the fact that we came from and will soon terminate to nothingness, and no matter how hard we study and think towards the world, some things would remain unexplainable. This is what this thesis is all about. I am to justify that absurdity is indeed a situation to be accepted rather than a problem to be solved then I will give some reactions towards absurdity and will try to prove that they carry negative implications. Lastly, I would offer Fromm's humanistic ethics as a reaction to absurdity and justify that this would is far better than our current reactions and or some prominent theories reacting to absurdity.