The future of an illusion chapter summary. Future of an Illusion (Chapter 4) 2022-10-30
The future of an illusion chapter summary
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The Future of an Illusion is a 1927 book written by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. In this book, Freud argues that religion is an illusion, a product of the human psyche rather than a reflection of objective reality. He contends that religion is a primitive form of science, one that has outlived its usefulness and should be replaced by more sophisticated forms of understanding the world.
According to Freud, religion arose as a response to the helplessness and insecurity that humans feel in the face of natural forces and events. In order to cope with these feelings, humans developed the idea of a powerful, all-knowing, and all-good deity who could protect and guide them. This deity, or God, was believed to be the creator and ruler of the universe, and people turned to him for comfort, guidance, and support.
However, Freud argues that this belief in God is based on a psychological need rather than on any objective evidence. He claims that religion is an "illusion," a belief that is not supported by reality. Freud suggests that people turn to religion as a way of avoiding the harsh realities of life and finding comfort in the idea of an afterlife or a higher purpose.
Despite the comfort it provides, Freud argues that religion is ultimately harmful to individuals and society. He contends that it encourages people to rely on external sources of meaning and purpose, rather than taking responsibility for their own lives and finding meaning within themselves. Moreover, he argues that religion has been used to justify violence, intolerance, and other forms of oppression throughout history.
In conclusion, Freud's The Future of an Illusion is a controversial and thought-provoking work that challenges traditional beliefs about religion and its role in society. While many people may disagree with Freud's arguments, his ideas continue to influence debates about the nature and value of religion to this day.
Essay About The Thesis of “the Future of an Illusion”
It has been translated sometimes as "culture" and sometimes as "civilization", denoting as it does a concept intermediate between these and at times inclusive of both. Obviously, the experience of religion is one of the most consistent phenomena across the planet. Instincts are part of Nature. Each person is an enemy of civilization; civilization must therefore be protected from individuals and groups. But the child's attitude to its father is coloured by a peculiar ambivalence. For the first portion of this response, the text itself will be broken down into chapter-by-chapter summaries.
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Cultural Reader: Sigmund Freud
While there have been scientific tests to confirm such a fact that the earth is a globe, Freud suggests that religious doctrine does not allow itself to be subjected to the same kinds of tests. Contrarily, Hitchens openly states that he is an atheist. He argues that religion in its essence is nothing more than an illusion - a wishful thinking based on a subconscious hope for a reward the afterlife. These deep wishes include, for example, clinging on to the father, prolonging life and attaining immortality. And even when humans try to impose some form of rational thought over their desires, they fail miserably.
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The Question of God . The Future of an Illusion
Throughout, I try to keep open the comparative channel with the realist tenets of Critical Realism, and conclude vouching for the necessity of more bridge-building works to appear in the future. In his book Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud critique uses his method of psychoanalysis on religion. He is not a graceful writer, although he is obviously a deep thinker who is very much concerned about the growing hostility between religion and science. But it is not my intention to enquire any further into the development of the idea of God; what we are concerned with here is the finished body of religious ideas as it is transmitted by civilization to the individual. GradeSaver, 29 October 2019 Web. His answer is that religion is an expression of the human wrestling with their complex reality in the ways native to their perception; they desire a He explains that religion is an illusion in his opinion, because religion involves the construction of meaning from an experience that seems to fit that construction; but that doesn't necessarily imply anything about truth or falsity. This shows us that Freud views religious ideas and dogmas as illusions because people seek religion to only fulfill their wishes in life; wishes like protection from God or Gods.
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(PDF) The Future of an Illusion
Both sociologists and philosophers have made a comparison between science and religion as belief systems. The so called totemism was clear and understandable serving a purpose of control and protection from the environment and ourselves. Religious iconography and dogma become projections of a father figure into the heavens capable of providing protection from those anxieties and answers to that mystery. According to Freud, religion is an aspect of culture - civilization, defending us against nature and each other. The two camps have propped themselves against each other, with the speculative realists giving especially acerbic critiques of post-continentalism as being stuck in correlationist thought while the latter just tend to ignore the former, considering them a philosophy not worthy of exposition. I will then proceed to question the compatibility of his principle of radical contingency with the philosophy—and the practice—of science, and I will propose a possible solution to this problem by pushing Meillassoux along the Pythagorean path.
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The Future of an Illusion
He would probably agree with the ancient Roman philosopher, statesman, dramatist Seneca, who wrote: Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. Freud saw a link between his patients that were suffering from neurosis and religious people. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. According to his ideology, people act only in order to satisfy their needs, regardless of how noble their intentions may seem. Freud: A Life for Our Time. . These connections are not hard to find.
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The Future of An Illusion Study Guide: Analysis
Given man's inherent powerlessness in reality, that man might experience a longing for the safety of the maternal experience. Among these are the necessity to cling to the existence of the father, the prolongation of earthly existence by a future life, and the immortality of the human soul. In other words, he thought religion is a cover up for humans to mask their feelings and gluts. Finally, I will argue that 1 his project of evacuating metaphysical necessity via a mathematization of reality can be read on a continuum with the critiques of metaphysics of presence and with the special status assigned to mathematical formalism operated by Jacques Derrida and Alain Badiou; and 2 his philosophy can be understood as a philosophy of science only if we allow speculations aimed at subverting core metaphysical conceptual structures to have a bearing upon empirically-based scientific practice. Hitchens seems to agree with Freud, further supporting the fact that religion was human mad. Those who, like Freud, regard religion as an illusion should not try to influence the masses to share their atheistic views.
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In The Future of an Illusion, what is Freud's attitude towards religion?
The realization of this illusion would be horrifying to anyone brave enough to face the true horrors of suffering and death, without the crutch of religious belief. His most important contribution to the argument is as follows: The doctrines of religion are not a subject one can quibble about like any other. God, like the father, serves to salvage the child's sense of helplessness against nature and fear of death. Freud admits that as religious doctrines can not be proved, they also can not be unproved. The Future of an Illusion.
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The Future of An Illusion Background
Technology is supposed to be this great improvement to life that has enabled people to do so many different things. Written by TimothySexton The Future of an Illusion in 1927 for the purpose of enlightening readers on with his analysis of the psychological operation of religious belief on society. Freud in Illusion touches on things that to some may be an unquestionable truths; a meaning of life, a reason to be a good citizen - a good human being. Freud believed that without religion in place people would go around committing crimes, because if there was no fear of the possibility of hell, or a losing a chance at heaven, nothing would stop them from doing unmoral things. According to Freud, religion is in the mind and is nothing more than our way of dealing with the Oedipal Complex, feelings of helplessness, which carry on from childhood into adulthood.
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The Future of An Illusion Summary
Above all, because it would be hopeless. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make yourown. There is some evidence of hostility in Western belief systems toward magic, with magic tending to be understood as an erroneous and unreliable belief knowledge system. In Freud's view, religion is an outshoot of the Freud's description of religious belief as a form of illusion is based on the idea that it is derived from human wishes with no basis in reality. After reading this paraphrasing, I realized that in my reading of Freud 1928 , I had come to the inverse conclusion; viz.
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TheFutureofanIllusion
Thus it fears him no less than it longs for him and admires him. By stripping the religious considerations of any belief or credence, the book takes a new hypothetical point of view; what if what humans experience as religion is simply the human animal demonstrating its various psychological capabilities, applying mental processes to the problem of existence? He admits that technically, the question of God's existence is still up for debate; he says it is a non-starter, and it is, but technically, the Future is as mysterious as the present. At first the forces of nature were given human characteristics to make the assimilation easier and simpler to comprehend. Understanding the illusion certainly helps, in any case. By comparing the relationship between human and religion to that of a child and his parents Freud effectively demonstrates that religion is a product of the human mind. In an important part of "The Future of an Illusion" Freud ties the development of religion with the Oedipal Complex.
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