The Problem of Obedience in Modern Society

If society continues to listen to people in charge, it will lead to the downfall of humanity. Individuals in the position of power are typically greedy, do not care about the needs of their people, and only care about the best interest themselves. To progress as a society, humans need to disobey, throughout history change was made due to acts of disobedience to those who abuse power. Erich Fromm's article, “ Obedience as a psychological and moral problem,” argument is that obedience will terminate our society and it is logical, but terribly written.

*The first main point of Fromm's article is that, “Human history was ushered in by an act of disobedience,”(Fromm) and that individuals should not be conditioned to obey someone of a higher power. To further this idea, Fromm uses the stories of Adam and Eve, Prometheus, and Antigone. He explains that in these stories, disobedience is what started humanity, and uses these examples to show that disobeying results in punishment. To progress, Adam and Eve, Prometheus, and Antigone disobeyed and in return, they were granted their own personal freedom. The next point Fromm explains is the two types of obedience, conscience, and authority.

Fromm’s next main point is explaining the two types of Conscience, Obedience, and authority. The first obedience he explains is Heteronomous, which is obeying figures of powers out of fear. The second conscience is Autonomous, which is using one's own morals and values to make decisions. Fromm then explains the two types of authority is rational and irrational authority. Fromm first goes into explaining rational authority, which is when the person in authority is looking for the best interest of the people he is governing. Fromm explains that irrational authority, on the other hand, is used to exploit the people as much as they can, and only looks for the best interest of themselves. Fromm then explains the two consciences. Humanistic conscience is following your own morals and values, and not following them out of fear of an authoritarian figure. Authoritarian conscience is following values based on fear of authoritarian figures Fromm explains. Fromm's next main point is explaining why individuals feel the need to obey, and the disadvantages of obedience through love versus force.

The next point Fromm makes 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 brings up is that disobeying is seen as wrong, which in return makes people panic to disobey. Fromm explains that there are disadvantages of enforcing obedience, the reason being that people will get sick of it and will bring down the oppressors. Obedience can be achieved by using love Fromm explains. The only way to achieve that is to make people believe obedience is beneficial, and disobedience is horrible. This will in return take away people's individual freedoms to think freely and use their own morals to decide good from the bad. In both situations, there are disadvantages.

In Fromm's article, there are many weaknesses within his writing. The first weakness is the definitions he uses, a lot of his terms are backed up with vague and confusing definitions. As said by Fromm, “The interests of the teacher and the student, in the ideal case, lie in the same direction.” He used this to explain rational authority, but the definition is very vague. He does not give a clear definition, in return, this can confuse the reader. When he explained irrational authority, he did the same. He gave an example without giving a clear definition for his term, this made it just as confusing. Another weakness of Fromm's article is making claims but not backing them up with evidence, nor any argument ().

Fromm's article has another weakness, in which he did not back up any of his statements with an argument or evidence. “Human history was ushered in by an act of disobedience according to the Hebrew and Greek Myths,” (Fromm, 2014.) He used religion and myths to back up his argument, which is not reliable due to the fact they are myths. He explains that humanity was started because of disobedience according to the Adam and Eve story, along with the Prometheus story. Not everyone believes in these stories, making the evidence unreliable. As said by Fromm, “Man has continued to evolve by acts of disobedience.” After he made this statement, he failed to give any examples or evidence. He explains that man began to say no to power, but does not explain what power, and how man began to disobey.

*I personally agree with Fromm's argument. When he says, disobedience is essential, I think it is a valid point. The way he presents his argument is weak, and he does not give much reasoning on why we should disobey. From a personal standpoint, I agree with his argument because I am someone who does not follow the rules set in place by society. I disobey the conformity and the unrealistic standards, and with that, I have my own personal freedom and I live for my own acceptance. I also agree due to current events and due to history.

When Fromm argued that we need to disobey, I agree because of the history of our world, and the events that are going on currently. Throughout history, people have obeyed the rules made by greedy individuals who denied people basic human rights. Women could not vote, but because they protested and disobeyed the men in charge, they were able to vote. To this day, we still obey the people who cause poverty, climate change, and the people who still deny basic human rights. Recently, Trump has made war a possibility. If people were to deny fighting in this war, a lot of progress could be made. Disobedience is essential if we want to progress as a society, and in the past, it is what has made our progress.

In conclusion, I agree with Fromm's opinion, but his arguments are weak and overall confusing. The definitions he provides are vague, he gives no factual evidence, and the points he makes are overall confusing. I do agree to progress in society, we must disobey. The people who govern us abuse their power, do not look for the people's best interest and will lead us into annihilation. We need to stop obeying societal norms and standards to become free and a much more accepting and loving society. If we do not fight back against oppression, hate, and bigotry, we will end up killing each other.