Fromm saw love as maternal in origin and independent of sexuality

Evidence

Fromm was especially taken with Briffault’s idea that all love and altruistic feelings were ultimately derived from the maternal love necessitated by the extended period of human pregnancy and postnatal care. Love was thus not dependent on sexuality, as Freud had supposed. In fact, sex was more often tied to hatred and destruction. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 336

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Freudian drive theory and to Fromm’s later split from the Institute; foundational for understanding his divergence from orthodox psychoanalysis. — connects to: Fromm’s early social psychology critiqued Freud’s purely libidinal account of authority — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 417; Maternal love is a conscious attitude, not an instinct linked to childbirth; Maternal love demands unreciprocated generosity whereas mystification inflates all mothers as exemplary — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1514 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Maternal love is a conscious attitude, not an instinct linked to childbirth #expands (0.82)
• Maternal love demands unreciprocated generosity whereas mystification inflates all mothers as exemplary #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1514