Erich Fromm's Disobedience As A Psychological And Moral Problem

In his essay “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, Erich Fromm states that it is due to an act of disobedience that the human life began, and it is unlikely that human history will end through an act of obedience. To support his doctrine, Fromm draws a comparison to the story of Prometheus saying that mankind has started and continued to evolve with acts of disobedience. He also argues that he who does not disobey is referred to as a slave and thus someone who is not free. It is true that obeying orders that one does not agree with make him a coward; however, it does not make a him a slave either since it is vacuously known that obedience reveals knowledge and has a big role in the society’s completion.

“Do your homework”, “stop talking in class”, “clean your room”. These are orders that people are given the choice to obey or suffer the consequences. If you don’t do your homework, you will fail at school and won’t have the chance to …show more content…
It is a characteristic of human beings in all societies: obedience of God, parents, teachers, managers and any person having an authority. This may seem tyrannical, but it is not. Believe it or not, obedience is a part of the foundation of society. Without obedience, nothing would exist except for chaos and rebellion. Without compliance, stability would diminish and the productivity of the citizens becomes non-existent (Leveillee, 2011, p.1). Where are rebels making big contributions today? In short, there is a need for obedience in everything. For example, obedience is necessary in social life where each and every one of us is expected to do his own duty to earn his livelihood. Workers as well must follow the orders of their officers in order to facilitate their development and increase their efficiency. Children must listen to their parents and obey them because they know what is best for them. And so obedience is very important for success (Chopra, 2015,