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Chasing utopia
Of all the ways humans have devised to pursue happiness, shutting oneself off from the company of others and embracing a life of poverty and stark deprivation must be one of the strangest. And yet, many have tried it, over and over again, all over the world, in every culture and throughout the ages: from the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes, famously depicted as living in a barrel, to today’s Hikikomori, young people who choose to retreat to the isolation of their bedrooms for years at a time.
It is easy to find flaws in the way human societies are organised. All real human societies have and always have had hierarchical structures; all are based on competition, on power, on the accumulation of wealth and status; all have perpetuated injustice and suffering for too many of their members. There has been no shortage of utopias, dreamy landscapes where happy, well-fed and well-educated children would play in the sun. But the reality of life has never been as easy as that for the vast majority of human beings on Earth.
There are only a small number of possible ways out of the misery of life inside the system of human society:
First, one could try to embrace the challenge and rise to the top positions, achieving a life that is better than that of others, ultimately, though, at their expense.
Second, one could try a revolutionary approach: recognising the failings of a society, one might attempt to overthrow the social order, remove the ruling classes and establish a new and better order that will finally bring justice and happiness to all. Unfortunately, this doesn’t usually seem to work out as intended. With a few exceptions of places we don’t know much about — like the Indus civilisation (2600-1900 BC) — every human society, whether pre- or post-revolutionary, seems to have been plagued by the same problems: theocratic states are not closer to God than secular ones and communist states have not eliminated poverty any more than capitalist ones.
The Ultimate Guide to the Philosophy of Erich Fromm
A comprehensive overview of Erich Fromm’s philosophy of happiness. We discuss his life, his ideas and his main works, both in their historical context and how they are still relevant for us today.
Third, one might retreat into private life, abandoning the prospects of a career and …
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