Erich Fromn was a German-born American sociologist and humanist psychoanalyst. He was born in Frankfurt on March 23, 1900, and died in Muralto on March 18, 1980. He was one of the first representatives of the Frankfurt School. He was interested in the works of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. In the 1930s, he moved to New York, opened a psychoanalytic clinic, and began teaching at Columbia University. He was one of the first 20th-century thinkers to discuss the idea of ​​an unconditional basic income. He advocated adapting psychoanalysis to social dynamics. He is influenced by humanist philosophy, which emphasizes the human being's capacity to become more free and autonomous through personal development.

His books, From Having to Being, The Art of Loving, and The Fear of Freedom, have enjoyed extraordinary international success.