Optimism

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Joyce, Ian and Helena in the Old Bank Bookshop, Wigtown. I've known Joyce since our student days. We compared notes on the state of the world and shared thoughts on how we'd arrived at the present desperate situation. "Got any Erich Fromm books?" I asked. "They pass through the shop, yes, but we can't keep Philosophy books on the shelves," was the surprising answer. "And it's all young people that are buying them."

I remember hearing about To Have or To Be when I was a student. The ideas seemed important, interesting. I've been led back to him because he's one of the key starting points for Pedagogy of the Oppressed. From http://www.erichfromm.net/: "Fromm’s works are infused with a genuine and philosophical humanism. The condition of human life and the evolution of man’s physical and intellectual abilities fascinated Fromm. In a world gradually heading towards a soulless mechanical existence impelled by technology, he fought for ways to preserve the spirit of man, the lifeblood of existence, the purpose of life..." In a world that now seems poised between the non-human priorities of the giant corporations on the one hand and the worst of all possible responses, a resort to hatred and xenophobia on the other, it gives me some hope that young people are turning to philosophy and looking for humane, life-affirming ways forward.