Desire to have
Presented by Etienne Bimbenet, philosopher
Estelle Ferrarese, philosopher
Catherine Chalier, philosopher
If one refers to Eric Fromm's cardinal work, To have and to be (1976), human existence would unfold on two different sides: the static one of acquisition, of possession, of accumulation, of protection, and the dynamic one of "stepping out of oneself", of action, of creation, of participation, of engagement... It then appears only too evident that being must take precedence over having, the one referring to a ceaseless activity of transformation, founded on independence, freedom, critical reason, by which the individual realises their own moral, civic, intellectual potentialities and can establish with others relations of solidarity, the other fostering only the "fattening of oneself", the hoarding, the accumulation of material goods, the capitalisation of symbolic goods, the concern for social status, for recognition, for honours, as well as the constant anxiety of losing them. It seems well, however, that nothing has ever weakened the desire to have, that the capitalistic structure of our societies, through its ideological apparatuses of persuasion, ceaselessly rekindles by multiplying infinitely the "things" one must "absolutely have" for fear of appearing downgraded. But in the person themselves, what intimate springs create, valorise or flatter the "desire to have", from which it appears, as no one can "have everything", that it can never be fulfilled?
Robert Maggiori
