Erich Fromm’s influential criticism of capitalism and technology is that it disconnected people from their humanity. I have an alternative view on the subject.

Business does an important thing; but so does culture. Both constitute accomplishments. Both also constitute achievement of human potential. The first is achievement of people’s productive potential. The second is achievement of people’s creative potential.

Both, when achieved, produce valuable things. Business produces comfort and convenience, and culture produces things of intelligence and beauty. It is imperative to support both.

The two times to which we look back most fondly are the Renaissance Italy and 1920s America. In both situations, there was commercial boom and cultural blossoming. There are some in capitalism who see art is incompatible with reality. They are dead wrong. The two have existed side-by-side in many ages, including the ages to which we look back the most today.

Capitalism is not the only thing that can disconnect people from their humanity. Communism and Islam do the same thing. As for humanity, the question becomes, what is its definition. There are hippie types who think that humanity means living in nature and being creative, and there are people such as Ayn Rand who say that humanity is about being a rational, intelligent creator. Both are part-right. There is the natural aspect that is congruent with nature, and there is the volitional aspect that is congruent with civilization. Full humanity means making the most of both worlds.

There have been many people who have been able to achieve both productivity and creativity. My mother worked all her life in the computer industry and became a painter in her retirement. There are many opportunities for creative fulfilment in the civilization, and claiming that it necessarily disconnects people from their humanity is wrong. What is wrong is denigration of beauty and creativity. This does not have to come with the civilization, nor is this corrected by doing away with the civilization. It is corrected by refuting wrong beliefs that have found their way into the civilization and that have been giving the civilization itself a bad name.

That some people appeal to the civilization or “reality” to attack naturality and creativity does not damn either civilization or “reality.” What we see here is difference between a value and the misuses of the value. Anything that carries appeal to people can be used for wrong. It does not make it wrong in itself. Civilization is a vast accomplishment that owes to the efforts of billions of people. Civilization as such is not the problem. The problem is wrong beliefs that some in the civilization have.

So no, the solution is not a Communist revolution. The solution is greater value and attention to culture and the arts. Both business and culture constitute accomplishment, and both constitute achievement of human potential. Both deserve to be valued, both deserve to be supported, and both deserve to be treated with respect.