Ernest Becker
Ernest Becker
Ernest Beckerwas a Jewish-American cultural anthropologist and writer. He is noted for his 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Denial of Death...
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth27 September 1924
animal herd led man
It is not so much that man is a herd animal, said Freud, but that he is a horde animal led by a chief.
fate exercise animal
In seeking to avoid evil, humanity is responsible for bringing more evil into the world than organisms could ever do merely by exercising their digestive tracts. It is our ingenuity, rather than our animal nature, that has given our fellow creatures such a bitter earthly fate.
real animal men
The real world is simply too terrible to admit. it tells man that he is a small trembling animal who will someday decay and die. Culture changes all of this,makes man seem important,vital to the universe. immortal in some ways
mean animal men
What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one is food for worms. This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consiousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression and with all this yet to die. It seems like a hoax, which is why one type of cultural man rebels openly against the idea of God. What kind of deity would crate such a complex and fancy worm food?
love animal order
Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
animal love-is problem
Love is the problem of an animal...
animal love-is men
When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
men animal leader
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why - Warren Bennis, Leadership Guru It is not so much that man is a herd animal, said Freud, but that he is a horde animal led by a chief
guilt slavery kind
Relationship is thus always slavery of a kind, which leaves a residue of guilt.
analysis existentialism problem
the best existential analysis of the human condition leads directly into the problems of God and faith
creativity
The road to creativity passes...
responsibility guilt burden
Better guilt than the terrible burden of freedom and responsibility.
anus
We are gods with anuses.
sorry war men
One of the main reasons that it is so easy to march men off to war is that each of them feels sorry for the man next to him who will die.