Very Serious Act Of Disobedience example essay topic

The essay "Disobedience as a psychological and a moral problem" by Erich Fromm is exactly what the title says it is. He is trying to uncover why human life throughout centuries, acted the way that they did towards one another, and towards their outlook on life. He states in his essay the throughout centuries people all over the world say that obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice, and if this wasn't the case, then there would be no laws, morals, or regulations towards anything. But throughout the centuries, people don't follow those rules. They act as though they want the "freedom" of having a life and not worrying about what other people think or know. Everything that we do in this life all began with Adam and Eve.

What Fromm is saying in his essay is that everywhere we look, people are committing an act of disobedience. Adam and Eve were the first two people in the making of the world that committed a very serious act of disobedience. Their act cost them a perfect life that God had planned out and set for them. The thrill of knowing that they might just get away with committing an act of disobedience is why I believe they did that.

Just like a little child, if you tell them to stay away from the cookie jar, they are there two minutes later trying to sneak a cookie, and if you catch them in the act, they will deny it to the day that they die. They don't want to be punished even though they know what they did was wrong, instead they will try to cover it up and blame someone else. Everything in Fromm's essay is all about the way life started out, on one act of disobedience. But every disobedient act got punished for whatever actions where taken.

Adam and Eve got to experience life without paradise, and know what it was like to live the real life. But some people even still after being punished will still go to their ways of being disobedient. Prometheus, the Greek myth, was caught stealing fire from the Gods and was sentenced to stay chained to a rock and yet he proudly states that, "I would rather stay chained to this rock than be the obedient servant of the gods". (Fromm pg. 365) For some people it is their nature to be the way that they are and disobey certain rules and regulations just to see what would happen and to create an image of themselves to have other people look upon, as being strong and proud.

But is that the way people want to be looked upon, as a disobedient child, or adult. There are people in this world that are very obedient, or will try to get away with it at first but then will feel guilty about it moments later and give in. Some people want to break free from the barriers of a restricted life, but then they realize that the rules are set there for a reason and not to make you upset and want to break them, everyone's opinion is different in the way that they look at things some people obey some don't. Fromm did a very good job in his essay in the way that he was very clear about what he felt, and explained things. It seems that everything that he is saying he believes in very highly.

Everything seems very up to date and what I liked was the fact that, he uses examples from centuries and centuries ago that help understand his focus very well. He argues both sides in saying that disobedience is a vice and obedience is a virtue from both perspectives of whether it is or it isn't. An overall response to Fromm's essay is I agree with him to a certain level. When he says that obedience is a virtue and disobedience is a vice, I agree with that. There is no parent in this entire world that would want his or her child to be a troublemaker and to be disobedient. Everyone wants everyone to be obedient and follow the rules, because if they don't there is that chance that they will be alone in the world and have no one to turn to.

If there weren't rules then the world would be in total chaos. With the question of whether or not he used his information fairly is up in the air. To me, I feel that he was mostly one sided in the case of obedience and disobedience. He did bring up good points on the other side though, but was mostly one sided with his own opinions. Overall, I think that it was a good essay that makes you think about what the world was like centuries ago and how the first act of disobedience came to be about. He explained himself very well, but like I said earlier, he could have explained more on the opposing side if the argument.