The Worker as Creator or Machine
工人是创造者还是机器
Erich Fromm
埃里克弗罗姆
Unless man exploits others, he has to work in order to live. However primitive and simple his method of work may be, by the very fact of production, he has risen above the animal kingdom; rightly has he been defined as "the animal that produces." But work is not only an inescapable necessity for man. Work is also his liberator from nature, his creator as a social and independent being. In the process of work, that is, the molding and changing of nature outside of himself, man molds and changes himself. He emerges from nature by mastering her; he develops his powers of co-operation, of reason, his sense of beauty. He separates himself from nature, from the original unity with her, but at the same time unites himself with her again as her master and builder. The more his work develops, the more his individuality develops. In molding nature and re-creating her, he learns to make use of his powers, increasing his skill and creativeness. Whether we think of the beautiful paintings in the caves of Southern France, the ornaments on weapons among primitive people, the statues and temples of Greece, the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, the chairs and tables made by skilled craftsmen, or the cultivation of flowers, trees or corn by peasants-all are expressions of the creative transformation of nature by man's reason and skill.
人只要不剥削他人，就得靠劳动来求生存。不论其劳动方式是多么原始，多么简单，仅凭从事生产性劳动这一事实，就足以使人超出动物界。把人定义为"从事生产的动物"是很有道理的。但对于人来说，劳动不仅是必不可少的生存条件。劳动还使他从自然界中解放出来，成为一个不依附于自然界的社会的人。在劳动过程中，即在模铸和改造其自身以外的自然界的过程中，人也模铸和改造了他自己。人由征服自然、驾驭自然才最终达到超出自然的境界，并进而逐步增强了自己的协作能力、思维能力和审美能力。他将自己从自然界，从自己与自然结成的原始统一体中分离出来，同时又以主人翁和建设者的身分重新与自然相结合。人的劳动方式越进步，其个性特征也就发挥得越充分。在塑造和改造自然的过程中，人逐步学会了如何充分利用自己具有的各种能力，增进自己的技艺和创造性。无论是法国南部洞穴中的美丽绘画，原始人所用武器上的纹饰图案，希腊的雕像和神殿，还是中世纪的教堂建筑，能工巧匠制作的桌椅，乃至农民培育出来的花木五谷等等--这些无一不是人利用自己的思维能力与技艺创造性地改造大自然的具体例证。