Freud’s Attack on Christianity
Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing on Christianity. There have been many critiques on Christianity throughout history and the two philosophers I am concentrating on are Marx and Nietzsche. I also will look at how Freud’s concept of illusions was influenced by Marx and Nietzsche in his attack on Christianity. My goal of this essay is to identify the influence Marx and Nietzsche had on Freud’s critique of
Christianity and define an illusion and discover whether or not illusions are helpful and good or bad for humans.
First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
Marx (1818 –1883) was a German philosopher who believed
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179). Although these philosophers influenced Freud’s attack on Christianity, he put a more psychoanalytic flare into the argument.
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“Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology” (Solomon, 2016, pp.182). Freud’s ideas about religion developed from the critiques of philosophers Marx and Nietzsche. Freud reduced religion down to the illusions of an insecure child (Solomon, 2016, pp.181). According to Merriam-Webster dictionary an illusion is a “perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature (“Illusion”). Freud defined illusions as a “fulfillment so of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of mankind.”(Solomon, 2016, pp. 182) Freud says that one characteristic of an illusion comes from the wishes of humans and comes close to psychiatric delusions. Although Freud mentions that psychiatric delusions are a much more complicated structures than illusions (Solomon, 2016). Freud claims that the purpose of theistic belief is not to produce true belief. Instead theistic belief allows the believer to avoid
This paper will be reviewing the book “Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity: an introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations and models of integration, by David N. Entwistle. As the title states, this book discusses how to integrate psychology and theology. It also dives into to why it is so important to be able to integrate the two. Entwistle explains that just because the two are different does not mean they should be separated and that we have to use both our worldviews. “Weaving together perspectives from psychology and Christian theology can help us understand and appreciate humanity more fully than we could either perspective alone.” (p.3)
Illusion can be defined as a distortion of the senses, of reality, and the perception of a dream like world that consumes us. James Baldwin author of the short story “Sonny’s Blues” uses the unique creativity of illusion to therefore draw in his readers. He uses several literary elements including characterization, plot, and setting to express his elaborate use of illusion in this story. Likewise Nathaniel Hawthorne author of the most controversial short story “The Birthmark” also uses illusion to draw attention to an almost magical setting of mystery and morality. Both of these authors use this theme in their works brilliantly, but in contrasting styles, which on the contrary makes their works masterpieces in distorting the beauty and truth in the world.
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
...e had thoughts of the ideal man stems coming from the anger about his society who treated humans as machines and animals. Freud was more like a therapist for giving every problem for the human’s unhappiness and frustration, solutions to have life that is more livable. Freud saw the inner struggle which was affected by the civilization and society, but believed that there’s potential ways to satisfy one’s self. Unlike Nietzsche who saw the outer struggle not the nature of the human, who focused more on what the society, religion who led to frustration
Sigmund Freud is considered to be one of the most studied and respected historical figures in psychology. Freud has had a huge impact on the way we think today. He also is responsible for creation psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud is even known as the “father of psychoanalysis”. Through endless contentious theories such as, the Case of Anna O, the Unconscious Mind, the Psyche, and the most infamous of his theories, the Psychosexual stage, Freud has generated many fans and supporters. His works has earned him a place in the list of psychology legends today.
illusion is the belief that material wealth alone can bring that dream to fruition. Through Gatsby,
Fromm, Erich. "The Individual in the Chains of Illusion." World of Ideas 8e I-claim. Boston: Bedford/st Martins, 2009. 325-35. Print.
Freud, Feuerbach, Marx and Nietzsche criticized the wrong motive for the religiosity of some people. Some people actually believe in God because of guilt, fear of punishment, because of the inability to solve their problems, because of
The growth of religious ideas is environed with such intrinsic difficulties that it may never receive a perfectly satisfactory exposition. Religion deals so largely with the imaginative and emotional nature, and consequently with such an certain elements of knowledge, the all primitive religions are grotesque to some extent unintelligible. (1877:5)
Sigmund Freud is one of the most influential psychologists and had a very significant impact in psychoanalysis techniques. Not only was Freud considered the father of psychoanalytic theory, but he also developed the first comprehensive theory of personality (Burger, 2012).
Without perception, in our illusions and hallucinations, we lose “our sense of beings,” (Capra). Lost in “isolation,” (Capra) perhaps lost within our own illusion, our abstractions, we lose the ability to judge, to dichotomize, reality from illusions, right from wrong.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense represents a deconstruction of the modern epistemological project. Instead of seeking for truth, he suggests that the ultimate truth is that we have to live without such truth, and without a sense of longing for that truth. This revolutionary work of his is divided into two main sections. The first part deals with the question on what is truth? Here he discusses the implication of language to our acquisition of knowledge. The second part deals with the dual nature of man, i.e. the rational and the intuitive. He establishes that neither rational nor intuitive man is ever successful in their pursuit of knowledge due to our illusion of truth. Therefore, Nietzsche concludes that all we can claim to know are interpretations of truth and not truth itself.
A framework of five models is shared: Enemies, Spies, Colonialists, Neutral Parties, and Allies. The Enemies model either associates no relationship between Christianity and psychology. The Spies model focuses on what works best for them from both Christianity and psychology. Colonialists use psychology only to the degree that it fits theology. Neutral Parties model holds that psychology and theology are independent with possible correlation between findings of the two, however that is about as far as one discipline may encroach on the other. Allies, the model considered by Entwistle, acknowledges that while psychology and theology are separate, they are still dependent, based upon the underlying unity of truth of God’s written word and His Works (Entwistle, 2010). The underpinning of the integrative approach to psychology and Christianity appears to be that of anthropology; this may be seen in the two books, God g...
In Sigmund Freud’s, The Future of an Illusion, he studies religious foundations and the influence of religion on civilization and social principles. As he explores the psychological depths relating to religion, he also portrays a scientific and rational civilization. In turn, he reveals his hope for an ideal world where humans surpass their feelings of helplessness and insignificance to live in an improved civilization based on reason and the increase of knowledge. Through his analysis and ideas, Freud is able to incite feelings of doubt surrounding religious beliefs and their validity.
Throughout the semester we learned that people have different opinions about religion and hold different beliefs about what really happened during the time of Christ. Many question whether he truly exists. We briefly discussed a famous individual named Sigmund Freud, who held a much different belief about religion than most. By comparing his views to catholic, Thomas a’ Kempis, we can see exactly how different his views were. Freud’s beliefs about our personality and our death drive are important to understand in order to know how he felt about religion. Some of Freud’s theories of religion relate to mastering the Oedipus complex, a reaction to infantile helplessness, and a universal obsessional ritual.