"To Have Or to Be?" is one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20th century. Nothing less than a manifesto for a new social and psychological revolution to save our threatened planet, this book is a summary of the penetrating thought of Eric Fromm. His thesis is that two modes of existence struggle for the spirit of humankind: the having mode, which concentrates on material possessions, power, and aggression, and is the basis of the universal evils of greed, envy, and violence; and the being mode, which is based on love, the pleasure of sharing, and in productive activity. "To Have Or to Be?" is a brilliant program for socioeconomic change.

Foreword \ Introduction: The Great Promise, Its Failure, and New Alternatives \ Part 1: Understanding the Difference between Having and Being \ I. A First Glance \ II. Having and Being in Daily Experience \ III. Having and Being in the Old and New Testaments and in the Writings of Master Eckhart \ Part 2: Analyzing the Fundamental Differences between the Two Modes of Existence \ IV. What Is the Having Mode? \ V. What Is the Being Mode? \ VI. Further Aspects of Having and Being \ Part 3: The New Man and the New Society \ VII. Religion, Character, and Society \ VIII. Conditions for Human Change and the Features of the New Man \ IX. Features of the New Society \ Bibliography \ Index