Question 1: View Stuart McMillen's Rat Park comic at this link. Relate Dr. Bruce Alexander's psychological research on addiction to Fromm's discussion in chapter 2 as it pertains to human separation and ways people attempt to transcend separation in our capitalist socioeconomic system. While reading Mr. McMillen’s Rat Park comic, the first hypothesis Dr. Alexander forms are whether solidarity makes becoming an addict, easier. According to Fromm, separateness or in this case to be solitary, is “being cut off, without any capacity to use human powers.” This in turn, causes anxiety, which can lead to a feeling of helplessness and possibly depression. These emotions are factors that can not only play an important part in the real world with humans but were also a huge factor in both experiments done in the comic. The researchers in the comic and Fromm both concluded that these states of emotion greatly increase the probability that a person or rat will turn
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Relate the concept of "interbeing" to Fromm's discussion in chapter 2 as it pertains to the concepts of polarities and paradoxical logic.
The instance that I believe most relates to “interbeing” and polarity within Fromm’s novel, is the concept that “man in the past and in the present,” choose to conform to society instead of doing the opposite and becoming their own person within society. This type of thinking makes individuals believe that conforming to the trends in society as Hanh stated, “is the right thing to do.” In the same manner, this produces one major problem. When man conforms they fail to explore their uniqueness and to find their passion in life. But why is having this passion for creation so important? In Fromm’s own words, “the only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in the experience of oneness.” (Fromm, page 12, 16 & 72) (Hanh
Relate the concept of "interbeing" to Fromm's discussion in chapter 2 as it pertains to the concepts of polarities and paradoxical logic.
The instance that I believe most relates to “interbeing” and polarity within Fromm’s novel, is the concept that “man in the past and in the present,” choose to conform to society instead of doing the opposite and becoming their own person within society. This type of thinking makes individuals believe that conforming to the trends in society as Hanh stated, “is the right thing to do.” In the same manner, this produces one major problem. When man conforms they fail to explore their uniqueness and to find their passion in life. But why is having this passion for creation so important? In Fromm’s own words, “the only way in which the world can be grasped ultimately lies, not in thought, but in the act, in the experience of oneness.” (Fromm, page 12, 16 & 72) (Hanh