広島大学文学部紀要 Volume 56
published_at 1996-12-27

使命の純粋さと誤ったセクト的全体 : E.フロム「自由からの逃走」を手がかりにして

The pure vocation (mission) and the fallible, sectarian whole : some application of E. Fromm's "Escape from freedom"
Kondo Yoshiki
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Abstract
Man in vocation (mission, errand) has a tendency to follow blindly the whole to which he belongs comfortably, then the vocation sometimes is abused by the bad leader of whole. E. Fromm's "Escape from freedom" gives us the useful suggestion for the examination of this weak point of vocation.

Fromm said that we can get true positive freedom when we are released from the primitive ties of whole by individual or historical maturity, but since it creates anxiety and solitude, we have a tendency to retrograde or to escape from freedom. In the case of vocation, we are apt to go back easily to the whole which commands vocation and demands blind obedience.

I think that Fromm's analysis is very useful for considering the weak point of the vocation which is inclinable to belong dependently to own whole and to obey it uncritically. For the evasion of blind obedience, from the standpoint of Fromm, each must become the independent person who gets positive freedom, not escapes from freedom, not retrograds easily to whole.

By the way the whole which commands vocation may be not true whole but sectarian incomplete whole, namely fallible whole. Especially we must notice that the leader of whole falls into the same errors as his members do.

Consequently we must reflect always our vocation whether it's wrong or not, because it is commanded sometimes by the fallible leader of whole. As not only individuals but also wholes usually are fallible, we roust repeat the aphorism "Das Ganze ist das Unwahre (the whole is untruth)" of Adorno who was ill-treated by Nazism. After all, the roost important point for infallible vocation is to become independent, free person.