Critique Of Erich Fromm's Just Do What The Pilot Tells Me

Comparative Critique

Obedience is the structural backbone that maintains social order however, if in the wrong hands it can result in catastrophic breakdowns expanding to concepts along the lines of the Holocaust. This is the line that man walks every day, working to balance out obedience and disobedience to find the perfect harmony. This is where a British physician, Theodore Dalrymple, the author of “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”, and psychoanalyst and philosopher, Erich Fromm, author of “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, come into the conversation. Both of these men, while renowned psychologist, have different viewpoints on obedience, nonetheless share some common ground. Obedience is a force that happens to people

Erich Fromm is one of these such men that believe disobedience is much more significant for multiple reasons. Fromm supports his beliefs by giving examples of how disobedience has led to creation. From the religious stories of Adam and Eve leading to the creation of man, and to the ancient tales of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods bringing invention and progression. Although Fromm still mentions how obedience is required in order to keep minimum control over man’s social empire. Next, take into consideration Theodore Dalrymple’s article “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”. The article first summarizes Stanley Milgram’s psychological electric shock tests and the book he wrote following it that describes what he discovered. Proceeding this, Dalrymple explains how he feels obedience should be in a larger supply than disobedience, a controversial opposite to Fromm’s beliefs. Dalrymple ends his article then by giving his explanation of how obedience works, involving passengers trusting the captain to fly his plane because the captain has been given the legal authority to do