It was originally published as part of the World Perspectives series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.

[4] He left the school in the late 1930s, following a "bitter and contentious" deterioration in his relationship with Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno.

[4] In 1956, the year The Art of Loving was released, Fromm's relationship with Herbert Marcuse, also a member of the Frankfurt School, also deteriorated.

[5][6] The book was inspired by Fromm's "new, liberating feeling of life’s possibility" when he courted Annis, his wife.

[8] An epigraph consisting of a quote from Paracelsus concerning the relationship between love and knowledge is included in the front matter.

He also states that the ideas he expresses in The Art of Loving are similar to those he had already outlined in Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, and The Sane Society.

[12] He believes that this results in a culture in which human relations of love resemble a labour market, whereby people seek a "bargain" of a romantic partner: one of high social value, who desires them in return, in consideration of the "limitations of their own exchange values."

[13] Fromm concludes the chapter by stating that there "is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hope and expectations, and yet, which fails so regularly as love.

Prior to humans developing the ability to reason, we were part of the animal kingdom and in a state of harmony.

He describes "orgiastic states", in which "separateness" is abated by taking drugs, participating in sexual orgies, or both.

[21] He criticises the effect that union by conformity has on people, turning them into "nine to fiver[s]", who sacrifice their fulfillment outside of work by their commitment to filling a labour role.

[24] Fromm proposes that the most harmful way people may find union is through domination, which is an extreme form of sadism.

[29] For Fromm, attainment of these four attitudes are only possible in the mature person, one "who only wants to have that which he has worked for, who has given up narcissistic dreams of omniscience and omnipotence, who has acquired humility based on the inner strength which only genuine productive activity can give.

At this point a child may begin to practice love, for example, by giving a gift to one of their parents.

[36] Fromm believes that receiving an inadequate balance of both motherly and fatherly love results in various forms of neurosis in adults.

[8] Fromm explains what he calls "paradoxical logic" – the ability to reconcile opposing principles in one same instance.

"[40] In this section Fromm expands his previous description of motherly love to include an element beyond the minimum care and responsibility required to support the child's life and growth.

[41] Honey symbolizes the sweetness of life, a love and joy for the experience of living, which only a truly happy mother can instill in her children.

Though having sex with someone can give the illusion of unity, without love this act will leave the participants just as much strangers to each other as before, and can induce feelings of shame or hatred for the other.

"[46] He critiques the conclusions of John Calvin and Freud in particular, and states that self-love ought not be confused with either narcissism or the turning inwards of the libido.

This unselfishness does not typically trouble the affected party, but rather manifests alongside symptoms such as depression, fatigue, a lack of productiveness, failures in romantic relationships, and others.

Fromm states that such people may be confused to find that despite their lack of selfishness, they are unhappy, and their relationships to others are unsatisfactory.

The remedy, says Fromm, is to view this trait as part of a range of symptoms, the cure to which is resolving the individual’s underlying lack of productivity.

[citation needed] Fromm calls the general idea of love in contemporary Western society égoïsme à deux – a relationship in which each person is entirely focused on the other, to the detriment of other people around them.

The current belief is that a couple should be a well-assorted team, sexually and functionally, working towards a common aim.

This is in contrast with Fromm's description of true erotic love and intimacy, which involves willful commitment directed toward a single unique individual.

Fromm begins the last chapter, "The Practice of Love", by saying: "[...] many readers of this book, expect to be given prescriptions of 'how to do it to yourself' [...].

[51] The Washington Post wrote that the book "had an enormous vogue on campuses during the 1960s and Dr. Fromm became something of a cult figure among large numbers of students at that time.

"[52] It also enhanced the perception of Fromm as a populariser, a writer who simplifies their work to appeal to a broader audience.