Erich Fromm?s perception of ethics

Fromm, one of the leading representatives of hümanist ethics, claims that the nature of human should be studied in order to determine what is good for human. Emphasizing that without understanding the values and moral paradoxes of human, it is not possible to understand human himself and his emotional and mental disorder, Fromm, with the help of pschology, paraphrases ethics problems, a branch of philosophy.According to Fromm, because of the fact that moral norms set by authoritarian ethics perception are extrinsic, humans don?t know why they have to obey that norms. Because that perception denies humans? capacity to differentiate between good and bad; the designator of the norms is always an authority above the individual. The thoughts of human exposed to the authority, are disregarded. Such a system is based on neither reason nor intelligence.Hedonism, another ethics perception, is a philosophy defending that pleasure is absolutely good, the behaviors of human should be planned in a way to give pleasure, the best behavior is to tend to pleasure. From this aspect, hedonism is based on neither reason nor intelligence, because its criterion depend on individual?s choice or displeasure which are quite subjective.Fromm points out that good and bad for human can be displayed and behavior norms designated by the authority and values can be introduced, without giving up the hümanist ethics perception and objectivity. Humanist ethics perception is a base for the values system depending on autonomy of human and reason. Humanist ethics perception is against authority and relativity in the field of ethics. In order to determine what is good and bad for human, the nature of human should be studied. Thus, the moral norms will be regarded as a necessity of our own nature, not as extrinsic norms.