Give a critical account of Freud’s understanding of religion. To answer the set question I will explore Freud’s Totem and Taboo looking at his theory of the primal horde and Oedipus complex and his theory on religion as an illusion. Also looking at Freud’s theory that religion is unhealthy psychologically. To conclude I will explore his relationship with Jung and the affect his criticism of Freud’s theory had on their professional collaboration. Freud’s interpretation of the totem as representing the father of the tribe returns again to Freud’s problems with his own father. He approaches his Totem and Taboo theory from entirely a patriarchal stance ignoring the fact that his case ‘Little Hans’ fear was actually that his mother would disappear as she had often threatened this when the child misbehaved. (Storr, 1989, 108). The belief that the origin of religion is benevolent to the father son relationship (Palmer, 1997, 30) returns us to his Oedipus complex. The primal horde that is dominated by a single father like male who takes all the women of the tribe and banishes his younger male rivals preventing incest and encouraging sexual ties outside the group. Again as in Freud’s Oedipus complex, the primary male is threatened by the younger males thus eliminating them from the group, this causes resentment within the younger males who then plot to murder the patriarch thus ending the primal horde. Freud states that as a result of guilt the younger males give reverence to the slaughtered father and as Freud sees it this is the very origin of religion. He also sees this as the origin of the taboo of incest. Storr (1989, 108) argues that today there is no evidence from anthropology or from studies of subhuman primates that ... ... middle of paper ... ...othing more than repressed contents, these contents being constellated around the figure of the father. (Palmer, 1997, 164). It would seem that Freud went above and beyond to dispel religion as a healthy essential practice for the growth of society but rather saw it as a weakness. That many of Freud’s theories have stood the test of time is tantamount to his title as the ‘Father of Psychoanalysis’ although many have been tweaked or adjusted to suit today’s conditions. It would be unwise to completely ignore Freud’s views on religion but I think we can conclude that they are somewhat flawed. Works Cited Connolly, Peter (ed.) (1999) Approaches to the Study of Religion. London, Continuum. Palmer, Michael (1997) Freud and Jung on Religion. 2nd edition, London, Routledge. Storr, Anthony (1989) Freud; A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Similar to Marx, Freud believes humans simply make up the idea of God in explanation to things science could not disprove. Humans take relationships from our Earthly fathers and compare it to our Heavenly father. According to Freud, “Religion is an attempt to master the sensory world in which we are situated by means of the wishful world which we have developed within us as a result of biological and psychological necessities.” (H/R,p.26) Science can neither prove or disprove religion. Freud chooses to believe science and claims religion is only comforting and hopeful thinking to our purpose after
Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing
After reading this week’s readings, I decide to focus my attention on Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, and to briefly touch on pragmatic views. I can see the similarities between the two, were religion, philosophy and science all intertwines, as it relates to finding truth or should I say truth as it relates to achieving certain goals in order to support social values and needs. The implications that what is true, may not necessarily be true, and that any and all knowledge that contributes to human values, can be interpreted as truth. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics should be viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes and that knowledge can be evaluated from the goals that this knowledge is able to support
Above all, of his childhood figure his nanny the woman who would take Freud to a Catholic Church service when he was younger. The nanny lost her job because she allegedly stole from the family and this had a grave impact on the young mind of Freud, she faced accusations of stealing. However, the religion in Freud’s life would come to an abrupt halt when Freud’s family would face finical hardships. With the collapse of his father’s business, the pressure on the young boy to succeed and support the family grew immensely. Freud relocated to Vienna where his religious teaching would take a back seat to his preparation for University and a well-paying job. This job would support his family...
Wilson, Sarah. "Sigmund Freud and the oedipal complex." The Observer”. Guardian News and Media, 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/08/sigmund-freud-oedipal-complex>.
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.
In the first two chapter of the book, Freud explores a possible source of religious feeling. He describes an “oceanic feeling of wholeness, limitlessness, and eternity.” Freud himself is unable to experience such a feeling, but notes that there do indeed...
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.
Freud for Historians. By Peter Gay. (Oxford University Press, 1985. Pp. vii + 252. Preface, bibliography, acknowledgments, index.)
For Carl Jung, his view on religious experience was based on all experiences being a psychological phenomenon. He differed from James in his view that a personal or individual experience with a God was indistinguishable from a communication with one’s unconscious mind. He ...
Freud begins Totem and Taboo by postulating an equation between the psychological development of the earliest human societies, living in the simplest forms of social organization or the primitives, contemporary human societies who lack any sense of modern culture and live under similarly simple forms of social organization which can be called savages and neurosis. Freud focusses on the paradox that although it is expected that the savages or primitive people might have no sexual ethics set, surprisingly these people have strict avoidance of incestuous relation disobeying which leads to punishment. Primitive and savage societies have equivalent forms of social and religious organization, namely totemism. Furthermore, strict practices were undertaken to prevent even seeing an individual with whom one might have incest, called avoidances. Freud extrapolates that repressed incestuous desires between family members are most likely the explanation for all avoidances, according with knowledge garnered from his studies on infantile sexuality. The original choices of love objects for infants are their family members, particularly the boy for his mother and then his sister if he has one, but these are always repressed. In most cases the boy successfully substitutes other women outside the family for these original choices, but neurotic patients suffer from inhibition and regression, or that “he has either failed to get free from the psycho-sexual conditions that prevailed in his childhood or he has returned to them.” In civilized societies, this condition is relatively rare, but Freud speculates that in primitive or savage societies sexual desires have not been as successfully sublimated as in modern Europe, such that the equation between primitives, savages, and neurotics seems to him justified by the available
Freud is trying to change our reality by saying that religion keeps us ignorant. It is constantly reinforcing us how powerless we are.
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung started out their relationship as mentor and mentee, respectively. Jung diverted from Freudian thought to create his own theories after discovering how many ways he did not agree with Freud. The differences between these two psychologists are extremely visible with the use of application and comparison. Numerous examples of Freudian practice and analysis are found in A.A. Brill’s The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s no-holds-barred form of therapy, commonly known as free association, is radical in its own right; let alone when compared to Jung’s analytical approach. Robertson Davies’s The Manticore provides a storyline that exemplifies Jung’s analytical therapy. Although both schools of psychology provide a belief or practice of therapy, projection, and religion, they are extremely unique, and can shed light on the core differences between Freud and Jung.
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.
Freud formulated a theory of religion that he explains in Totem and Taboo, which was influenced by works such as Robertson-Smith’s Religion of the Semites, Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and Frazer’s The Golden Bough. He highlights that guilt plays a fundamental role in the psyche. Guilt must have had an original cause. At one point in history, there must have been a violation of the law which created an ‘inherent’ sense of guilt. Freud continues to trace this back to when human were a group called a ‘primal horde’. In these groups of early humans, there was always a dominant male, for example, like in wolf packs. Moreover, he centres his theory on guilt that originates with the Oedipus complex, where the younger males became jealous of the alpha male having choice over the woman he has as his partner. This horde acts as an ideological state apparatus, forc...