Erich Fromm

• Influenced by

  Freud
• suggests that even if we do have an innate sense of right and wrong...

  these pangs of conscience are shaped by society
• "The human race...has formulated ethical norms which the conscience of every individual must be orientated"
• Authoritarian Conscience

  • conscience may arise from the fear of being rejected from society because society is built on obedience and conformity
  • 'On Disobedience and other essays'
  • Most social systems: supreme virtue = obedience
  • People are not troubled by a moral issue (think they are) but because they have disobeyed a command
• Humanistic Conscience

  an intuitive knowledge of what is human and what is non-human (what makes life flourish and what destroys it)