{"id":10371,"date":"2026-07-19T16:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromm-gesellschaft.eu\/50-years-of-to-have-or-to-be-on-the-relevance-and-significance-of-erich-fromms-book-for-the-21st-century\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:13:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:13:50","slug":"50-years-of-to-have-or-to-be-on-the-relevance-and-significance-of-erich-fromms-book-for-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromm-gesellschaft.eu\/en\/50-years-of-to-have-or-to-be-on-the-relevance-and-significance-of-erich-fromms-book-for-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years of *To Have or To Be*: On the Relevance and Significance of Erich Fromm\u2019s Book for the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fromm Study Day on November 14, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.<\/strong>, Haus Am Dom, Domplatz 3, 60311 Frankfurt am Main<\/p>\n\n

The International Erich Fromm Society and the Haus am Dom in Frankfurt am Main invite you to a conference on Erich Fromm\u2019s book *To Have or To Be* to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. \u201cTo Have or To Be\u201d was published in 1976 and has since sold more than ten million copies worldwide in 26 languages to date. Through the alternative of \u201cTo Have or To Be,\u201d Fromm addresses a fundamental problem of human life: If a person orients their life toward \u201chaving,\u201d they passively rely on ideas, values, things, ideologies, people, and objects that they can acquire externally and thereby turn into possessions. They identify with these possessions and allow their lives to be determined by external forces. A person oriented toward \u201cBeing,\u201d on the other hand, seeks to develop their own mental and physical strengths and abilities in the course of their life and to determine their thoughts, feelings, and actions from within themselves in order to lead a good life. \u201cTo Have or To Be\u201d is about nothing less than the art of living. <\/p>\n\n

In the 21st century, it is becoming increasingly easy for people to rely on external forces that regulate and determine their lives from the outside: the pursuit of profit and power, government bureaucracy, digital technology, mass media, and mass consumption offer ways of life as industrial commodities. This makes it all the more important to draw on Fromm\u2019s work, its significance, and its relevance to the 21st century. <\/p>\n\n

\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\u201cBy the terms \u2018being\u2019 or \u2018having,\u2019 I do not mean specific characteristics of a subject, as expressed in statements such as \u2018I have a car,\u2019 \u2018I am white,\u2019 or \u2018I am happy.\u2019 I am referring to two fundamental modes of existence, two different types of character structure, the dominance of which determines the totality of what a person thinks, feels, and does. \u2026 In the mode of existence of \u2018having,\u2019 the relationship to the world is one of taking possession and owning\u2014a relationship in which I want to make everyone and everything, including myself, my property. [The] mode of existence of \u2018being\u2019 \u2026 signifies vitality and an authentic connection to the world.\u201d <\/em> (Erich Fromm: To Have or To Be, 1976a, pp. 290, 291)<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Venue<\/strong>:Haus am Dom, Domplatz 3, 60311 Frankfurt am Main<\/p>\n\n

Partnership:<\/strong>Haus am Dom \u2013 Rabanus Maurus Catholic Academy, Frankfurt am MainInternational Erich Fromm Society, e.V. <\/p>\n\n

Conference fee:<\/strong>\u2014regular price \u20ac29, reduced price \u20ac19; surcharge for lunch on site: \u20ac10<\/p>\n\n

Registration:<\/strong>Register via the website of the International Erich Fromm Society <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Saturday, November 7, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

10:00 Welcome and Introduction<\/strong> Prof. Dr. J\u00fcrgen Hardeck<\/em><\/p>\n\n

10.15 Who Am I Without a Cell Phone, Social Media, and Chatbots?On the Timeliness of the \u201cTo Have or To Be\u201d Dilemma<\/strong>Dr. Rainer Funk<\/em><\/p>\n\n

11:15 Coffee break<\/p>\n\n

11.45 Fromm’s Exemplarism: Reflections on the Philosophical Method of “” in *To Have or To Be* <\/strong>Cedric Braun, M.A.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

12:45 p.m. Lunch break (lunch available at the conference center or off-site on your own)<\/p>\n\n

14.00 To Have or To Be? Or What Is the Good Life? A Comparison of Erich Fromm\u2019s ** and Abraham Maslow\u2019s Work <\/strong>Benjamin Schramm, M.A.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

15.00 To Have or To Play? A New Understanding of Erich Fromm\u2019s Ideal in Knowledge, Character, and Culture <\/strong>Dr. Nils Bischof<\/em><\/p>\n\n

4:00 p.m. Coffee break\/cake<\/p>\n\n

4:30 p.m. The Significance and Relevance of *To Have or To Be* in the 21st Century<\/strong>: Panel Discussion with the Speakers (Moderator: T.B.A.)<\/p>\n\n

5:30 p.m. End of the conference<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Speakers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Prof. Dr. J\u00fcrgen Hardeck<\/strong>: Religious scholar and philosopher, Chairman of the Board of the International Erich Fromm Society e.V.<\/p>\n\n

Dr. Rainer Funk<\/strong>: Psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm\u2019s last assistant and estate administrator, board member of the Erich Fromm Foundation and director of the Erich Fromm Institute, adjunct professor at the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, co-director of the Erich Fromm Study Center (IPU Berlin)<\/p>\n\n

Cedric Braun, M.A.:<\/strong> Ph.D. candidate in philosophy and teaching assistant at the University of St. Gallen; research interests in the fields of social philosophy and ethics, with a historical focus on John Dewey and Erich Fromm; Fulbright Scholar and Fellow at the Research Institute for Philosophy in Hanover<\/p>\n\n

Benjamin Schramm, M.A.:<\/strong> Ph.D. candidate in Educational Science; Bachelor\u2019s degree in Social Work; Master\u2019s degree in Educational Science; member of the Extended Executive Board of the International Erich Fromm Society<\/p>\n\n

Dr. Nils Bischof<\/strong>: Studied philosophy at the universities of Leipzig, Erfurt, and W\u00fcrzburg; member of the Extended Executive Board of the International Erich Fromm Society; co-editor of the *Fromm Forum*<\/em> yearbook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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