Disobedience Virtue Or Vice Essay Research

Disobedience: Virtue Or Vice. Essay, Research Paper

Disobedience: Virtue or Vice.

Throughout history, sociologist have analyzed the characteristics of human behavior. They each write essays giving their educated opinion about a certain situation. Erich Fromm first published the essay Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem in 1963. It was also published in the textbook Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. He wrote this essay hoping to educate the general public on his ideas about disobedience. Fromm believes that disobedience has caused the human civilization to advance. He begins by stating his thesis which says, human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience (377). Fromm develops his ideas using a variety of rhetorical strategies.

In the introduction to the essay Fromm explains that for centuries humans have thought of obedience as a virtue and disobedience as a vice. He then goes on to give his thesis.

Fromm begins paragraph two by giving the example of Adam and Eve ushering in human history with an act of disobedience to God. Saying Their act of disobedience broke the primary bond with nature and made them individuals (378). He believes that man was not truly human until he got banned from the Garden of Eden. Humans would now have to rely on their own resources to get food, clothing , and shelter.

In the third paragraph Fromm uses example again. He states in this paragraph, that he[man] had not been corrupted by his sin, but freed from the fetters of pre-human

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harmony (378). Man would now search for a new paradise to replace the Old Paradise that he was forced to leave.

In the paragraph four, we see yet again Fromm s use of example. Fromm explains that there would be no human history were it not for the disobedient act of by Prometheus. In Ancient Greek history, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus, enclosed it in his cloak, and gave it to civilization. After finding this out, Zeus chained him to a rock and didn t release him for a thousand years. Prometheus never asked for forgiveness from Zeus for this wrongdoing.

Fromm begins the fifth paragraph with classification and division. In the statement, Man has continued to evolve by acts of disobedience (378), Fromm separates evolution into two different categories. Spiritual and intellectual. Spiritually man has been able to evolve only through acts of disobedience. Intellectually, man has continued to evolve by contradicting what the nobility believed to be true. Furthermore, Fromm thinks that the spiritual faith and intellectual knowledge of today would not be possible had it not been for people being disobedient.

In the sixth paragraph, Fromm uses a variety of strategies. One strategy is example. He thinks there is a great possibility that an act of obedience will destroy human civilization in the next few years. Fromm writes that even though, intellectually, man is living in the Atomic Age, he is still living in the Stone Age as far as the

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government and society are concerned. The writer also lets known his belief that obedience to authority will eventually be our undoing, referring to the fact that nuclear

power only takes the push of a button by a lone hand, and the command to do so (378). Certainly this was a much bigger threat during the cold war era, but it is still a valid point in most respects today.

Fromm wants to explain himself in the seventh paragraph by giving a definition. He states But I do not mean to say that all disobedience is a virtue and all obedience is a vice (379). He is simply saying that it is inconceivable for a certain group to feel that every one of their rules is right. This does not mean one should rebel or become a revolutionary. It means if one feels strongly enough about something, don t be obedient just because it has been taught that way for years and years.

Fromm goes on to use classification and division in the eighth paragraph. He writes submission as being obedience and through submission one learns to obey. Meaning that over time one has been socialized to think a certain way about a subject. He defines this type of obedience as being heteronomous obedience. The other type of obedience is called autonomous obedience. He describes this as being obedient not because you have to, but because you agree with the example in question. Fromm believes that every person has their own laws of conduct. In these laws of conduct we are always obedient to ourselves, but we are not always being obedient to the government.

Paragraph nine is a transitional paragraph. After giving good definitions of obedience, Fromm wants to continue explaining his ideas on conscience and authority.

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Fromm uses two different classifications of conscience in the tenth paragraph. He divides conscience out into Authoritarian and Humanistic. This paragraph stresses the

important difference between the authoritarian conscience , which is essentially the same as what Freud calls the Super Ego , what drives us to do all the amazing stuff we do and is effected by external factors (such as our social environment). He claims this is the conscience that is eager to please and afraid of displeasing (379). He also talks

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