illusive religions: Sigmund Freud's The Future of an Illusion

1445 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of religion on society

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.

Humans desire to have control over the many things which affect them. Being unable to control something, especially something which can cause damage and suffering, instigates feelings of helplessness and fear but also a strong curiosity to understand what super power is behind this uncontainable and unpredictable force. To repress these feeling of powerlessness, civilization humanized the force of nature and at the same time, reintroduced it as manipulable, by establishing religious ideas. Not only did religion dismiss the threatening wickedness of nature but it also protected against Fate and atoned for the suffering endured on Earth. It has been surmised that without the conviction that a powerful, benevolent being is offering protection, people would find life unbearable. Interestingly, Freud connects this strong desire for protection to a child’s vulnerability and dependence, calling this concept the father-complex. He uses psychological analysis and reasoning to explain a knowledgeable and very believable reason for why religion was created in the first place. Religion was structured in response to adults “longing for a father... and their ...

... middle of paper ...

...restricting ones beliefs and refusing rational ideas, religion cripples a person’s ability to reason and limits their minds strength. It is science and rationalizing that leads to a growth in intellect and with that comes greater opportunity for power and success. Although, through science some ideas are proven false, only science gives reliable answers.

Throughout The Future of Illusion, Freud consistently epitomizes a clear claim that reason is to be trusted as the only unfailing logic. Utilization of analogies and examples allow for a better understanding of his meaning. Any possible discrepancies of logic he successfully examines and clarifies. By effectively exemplifying reason, knowledge and rational intelligence as the only dependable substantiation; he instills religious doubt by explicating its absurdity of claims, lack of validity and illusory foundation.

Show More
Related

  • Freud's Attack On Christianity Essay

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing

    Read More

  • The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex and the Meaning of Life

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Lewis and Freud agreed that the question of god’s existence and our response must be asked. Though each man had drastically different worldviews and answers, they each sought to learn and understand the other’s worldview. Nicholi points out that Lewis may have had an advantage in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview due to the fact that until the age of 30, he claimed to be “even more certain of his atheism than was Freud” (2002, Pg. 81). In his adult life, Freud had no dramatic change of worldview from believer to unbeliever like Lewis had. This fact may give Lewis a slight upper hand in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview; however, Freud was still one of the greatest minds of his times and his work proves a strong (though negative) understanding of the believer’s worldview.

    Read More

  • Civilization and Its Discontents, by Sigmeund Freud

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...en civilization and the individual. Living in a nation still recovering from a brutally violent war (Germany), Freud began to criticize organized religion as a collective neurosis, or mental disorder. Freud, a strong proponent of atheism, argued that religion tamed asocial instincts and created a sense of community because of the shared set of beliefs. This undoubtedly helped a civilization. However, at the same time organized religion also exacts an enormous psychological cost to the individual by making him or her perpetually subordinate to the primal figure embodied by God.

    Read More

  • Role of Religion in the Wilderness: James Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the midst of his already successful career, Sigmund Freud decided to finally dedicate a book of his to religion, referring to the subject as a phenomena faced by the scientific community. This new work, Totem and Taboo, blew society off its feet, ultimately expanding the reaches of debates and intellectual studies. From the beginning, Freud argues that there exists a parallel between the archaic man and the contemporary compulsive. Both these types of people, he argues, exhibit neurotic behavior, and so the parallel between the two is sound. Freud argues that we should be able to determine the cause of religion the same way we determine the cause of neurosis. He believes, since all neuroses stem from childhood experiences, that the origins of this compulsive behavior we call religion should also be attributed to some childhood experiences of the human race, too. Freudian thought has been dominant since he became well known. In Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, religion becomes entirely evident as a major part of the novel, but the role it specifically plays is what we should question. Therefore, I argue that Freud’s approach to an inborn sense of religion and the role it plays exists in The Last of the Mohicans, in that the role religion plays in the wilderness manifests itself in the form of an untouchable truth, an innate sense of being, and most importantly, something that cannot and should not be tampered with.

    Read More

  • Karma and Theodicy Based on Disasters

    2043 Words  | 5 Pages

    The idea that religion can primarily be seen as a means of comfort in a world of suffering is not a new one. Religion reconcile the oppressed to their uncomfortable role sin this life by dignify in their suffering and promising spiritual world to come. But apart from the Psychological problem, the existence of suffering poses a cognitive problem, albeit in practice the two are often closely related or even confused with each other. Religion does not only have to provide the promise of some kind of escape or salvation from suffering brutal so some kind of moral vindication of its distribution in this world. Our society is driven by the need for constant clarification, transparency, and readily available answers at our fingertips. It is no surprise than that although we live in a world dominated by technology and fast web browsing there are still questions we can’t find an answer to. Regardless of how one posit the question of evil, “Where is God now”, “Why is there evil if God is almighty”, or “Why would God abandon those in need”, the answers has always been the same, “No one knows for sure”.

    Read More

  • Erich Fromm: Psychoanalysis and Religion

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    Erich Fromm in his psychoanalytical approach to religion is distinct from the earlier works of Sigmund Freud. Fromm defines religion as “any system of thought and action shared by a group which gives the individual a frame of orientation and an object of devotion.” Fromm argues that irreligious systems including all the different kinds of idealism and “private” religions deserve being defined as a “religion.” Based on Fromm’s theory, it is explained that there is no human being who does not have a “religious need,” almost every part of human life reflects religious need and its fulfillment, in fact he states it to be “inherent” in man.

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

    2351 Words  | 5 Pages

    The aim of this essay is to clarify the basic principles of Freud’s theories and to raise the main issues.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins´s Points of View on Science and Religion

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The lack of conflict between science and religion arises from a lack of overlap between their respective domains of professional expertise—science in the empirical constitution of the universe, and religion in the search for proper ethical values and the spiritual meaning of our lives. The attainment of wisdom in a full life requires extensive attention to both domains—for a great book tells us that the truth can make us free and that we will live in optimal harmony with our fellows when we learn to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.”

    Read More

  • The Babylon Lottery Analysis

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freud voices his opinion when he says, Freud 717). Freud challenges the existence of religion and says it is an illusion because he is more inclined to believing in scientific reason. Religion is more subjective whereas, science is more objective. That is why Freud says that religion appeals to our wish fulfillment. He says that illusions aren’t false when he uses the example of a middle-class girl having an illusion of a prince marrying her and he points out the fact that it is possible but unlikely. Freud is trying to say that the heavenly father is nothing but an illusion. To Freud religion is an “invented illusion” and science is insusceptible to illusion. Therefore, we are presented with an “expression of faith –or, rather, unfaith” when presented with the idea of “religious illusion”. There is a point where Borges reveals to readers that, (Borges 71-72). The lottery of Babylon is known to be a society that functions in secret and is absolute in authority. The Company is a figure of chance but chance is an inexorable component of life and that is why the idea of the company might seem too complex for the people of Babylon to comprehend. The lottery is an arbitrary system that has no providential logic which ties it to a kind of anti-fate. Freud presents to his readers the possibility of religion being and illusion and similarly Borges does the

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Scientific Revolution

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...wever, in the best interest of advancing education and an enlightened society, science must be pursued outside of the realm of faith and religion. There are obvious faith-based and untestable aspects of religion, but to interfere and cross over into everyday affairs of knowledge should not occur in the informational age. This overbearing aspect of the Church’s influence was put in check with the scientific era, and the Scientific Revolution in a sense established the facet of logic in society, which allows us to not only live more efficiently, but intelligently as well. It should not take away from the faith aspect of religion, but serve to enhance it.

    Read More

  • Sociological Perspectives on Religion

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...Other fact is that, even though sociology and science have keep questioning about the existence of supernatural power, practice of one’s religion is still deeply rooted in the society. This proved that sociology and science does not influenced one’s faith. Moreover, sociology has a neutral role in religion because sociologists view religion as part of culture that need to be preserve the way it is not eliminated or changed. Therefore, it doesn’t try to undermine or strengthen one’s faith. In addition, scientists have also come to believe that supernatural power somehow exists in the society because they have invented equipment that is used to explain the supernatural phenomena. This means that science have been trying to adapt and accept that religion is an important study in science. Therefore, science and sociology have neutral role in influencing people’s faith.

    Read More

  • Shambach On Religion

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first chapter is about possible reasons why humans have felt the need to create religion, according to Freud, as humans became separate from wild animals, they felt the need to look into their past and attempt to discover their collective past and to predict where they will be in the future.

    Read More

  • Freud Suggest Religion is an Illusion

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Countless times Freud referred to his own psychological ideas of development including the transition of a child to an adult development. Freud heeds, a successful transition of developing from a child to a functioning adult in “reality” is necessary otherwise it leads to anxiety. This level of anxiety stems from “instinctual prohibitions” shaping into a state repression, caused by religion. Freud mentions, “This is because so many instinctual demands which will later be unserviceable can not be suppressed by the rational operation of the child's intellect,” implying that we are tamed by acts of repression, behind which lies the motive of anxiety. Taking the commandment “thou shall not kill” as an example, Freud explains if the sole reason you must not kill your neighbor is because God has “forbidden” it and will severely punish you for it…when you learn that there is no God and that you need not fear His punishment, you will certainly kill your neighbor without hesitation (Freud, 1972, p. 39).

    Read More

  • What Is A Social Construct Society's Expectations Of God?

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    Not only do individuals develop expectations of life and relationships, they also develop expectations of God. One branch of modern psychological thinking, influenced by Sigmund Freud, understands that peoples image and expectations of God derive largely by their experience of their father, or more broadly from both their parents when they are young (Ross, 2001). Being cared for and protected is a primal need in young children. The struggles and challenges of adult life call into remembrance that primary need. The early experience of one’s parents becomes the image, whether positive or negative, into which God is created in order to feel secure in an uncertain world. This way, God becomes whatever one need, and one’s expectations of God are merely psychological constructs. While this may explain many people’s understanding of God, it does not disprove God’s existence.

    Read More

  • The Future Of An Illusion Analysis

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion can answer questions about some of the most important issues in a person’s life which is seen as a satisfactory response to the individual (23). Historically, this conversion toward morality means that the impact of god(s) or of religion has altered toward the interaction between the individual and society (23-24). In result of this conversion: the rules concerning communication within society were revealed as undisputable, and the difficulties of civilization were used by religionists in order to advertise their god(s) as an answer that offers a complete religious world-view (23-25). When someone is learning something whether it be in school or just a lesson in life, there is usually a presentation of reasoning as to why a person should believe it. A source of knowledge is also a way of regulating a

    Read More

More about illusive religions: Sigmund Freud's The Future of an Illusion

Open Document