FREUD ON RELIGION

SIGMUND FREUD

Born 1856 in Moravia Died 1939 in London Lived in Vienna between

the ages of 4 & 82 Trained as a medic;

became interested in psychology of neurotics.

His pet hates were America and religion.

METHODS OF INSIGHT INTO THE HUMAN UNCONSCIOUS

Freud used four techniques as windows on the unconscious mind:

[1] Hypnosis [2] Analysis of dreams [3] Free-association [4] Freudian slips

INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS

“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”

“ A dream is a (disguised) fulfilment of a (suppressed or repressed) wish.” Plus the ‘residues of the day’.

Dreams are a kind of code for Freud. If you can crack it, you find the problem and can set about curing it.

MAJOR DISCOVERIES He claimed two major discoveries: The Unconscious The Oedipus Complex He believed that he had come to a deep

understanding of the human mind and of the workings of human sexuality via these insights.

Structure of the mind The EGO: the conscious self: the obvious

everyday personality. The ID: the unconscious self: repressed desires

and memories. The SUPEREGO: the standard of morality of

society forced onto a person from the outside, by which a person lives.

Freud and sexuality

Rumour has it that Freud was pretty obsessed by the idea that sex was behind, well, just about everything.

SEX EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! According to Freud, childhood traumas are often

sexual in nature. Infantile sexuality is real; children are sexual

beings. Sexuality is basic to personality. It refers to

affection, love and sensuality in the widest sense. ‘Libido’ is his term for ‘sexual’ drives.

at this point we should have a suitable

image downloaded from the internet

Not what you were expecting huh! OK, so we are all interested in sex! But icebergs are really cool!

The oedipus complex Male children are first attached to their mothers and later

see their fathers as rivals for her love. This results in repressed feelings of fear and jealousy plus

guilt. They surface in puberty. A man’s goals in life are:

[1] Detachment from his mother.

[2] Reconciliation to his father

[3] Find someone to love who is not identical to his mother.

Freud on religion - 1

Probably wrote more on religion than any other topic.

Major works, Totem & taboo, (1913);The Future of an Illusion (1927).

Religion is ‘wish fulfilment’; ‘the universal obsessional neurosis’.

FREUD ON RELIGION - 2 At its roots, religious rituals are like neurotic

obsessional acts. We have acquired ‘taboos’ – prohibitions. In the ritual slaying and eating of the totem animal

lies the Oedipal wish to kill and devour the father. Religion is thus mankind’s Oedipus Complex.

FREUD ON RELIGION - 3 Religion has a historical development: Firstly animism, secondly polytheism, thirdly

theism. Magic is replaced by religion which in turn will

be replaced by science. Nowadays his theories about the cultural and

historical development of religion have been largely discredited.

AN ALTERNATIVE SUMMARY OF FREUD ON RELIGION

Religion is an illusion based on human wishes. It is created by the mind to help us overcome:

[1] inner psychological conflict

[2] stress, which stems from the structure of society

[3] fear of dangers of the natural world.

Religion as an aid to overcoming inner psychological conflict

Religion is a form of neurotic illness It stems from the unconscious mind It results from incompletely repressed traumatic

memories The trauma is invariably sexual in nature Therefore religion is an illusion resulting from

sexual difficulties.

Can Freud’s theory be supported?

Two elements are essential to the success of Freud’s account of religion:

{1} That the Oedipus Complex is a universal sexual trauma

{2} That the buried trauma can reappear in the form of religion.

Critical evaluation “almost all the evidence that Freud presents has

been discredited in one way or another” – Michael Palmer (‘Freud and Jung on Religion’)

[1] no evidence for the primal horde[2] no evidence for the Oedipus Complex[3] Freud’s dependence on a narrow selection of

evidence is a weakness in the theory[4] Freud’s conclusion that religion should be

overthrown is an unfulfilled wish of his.

A conclusion Perhaps Freud’s account is an

example of his own wish-fulfilment.

Perhaps he concocted this rather fanciful account of religion as a way of wishing away the reality of God and coping with the bad experiences he had with religion in his own childhood.

AN ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF

RELIGION: Jung -1“While Freud, characteristically, established causal links stretching back into childhood which imply a mechanistic account of human behaviour, Jung was concerned to place man in a historical context which gave his life meaning and dignity and ultimately implied a place in a purposeful universe.” David A. G. Cook

AN ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF

RELIGION: Jung -2“ Unlike Freud, Jung was in favour of

religion, thought that religious experiences were in some sense real, and held that religion was needed by society.” Michael Argyle, Psychology and Religion, Routledge, 2000. P104

“Those who reject religion are … more likely to experience neurosis as a result of the remaining psychological tension…Jung can conclude that religion is a valuable entity.” Jordan, Lockyer, Tate, Philosophy of Religion for A-level, STP, 1999, p117

AN ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF

RELIGION: Jung -3 The details of Jung’s psychological theories

are rather complex and involve a little study. Key ideas are those of archetypes, individuation, individual unconscious, collective unconscious, neurosis, libido, harmonisation, persona & shadow.

A good treatment of these in found in the Jordan et al volume and you can study this with the study guide Mr. Brown has written to go with it.

AN ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF

RELIGION: Jung -4Jung replaced Freud’s conclusions with the following observations:

•Religion is a natural process that stems from archetypes within the unconscious mind

•It performs the function of harmonising the psyche

•As such, it is a beneficial phenomenon

•The removal of religion would lead to psychological problems

AN ALTERNATIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW OF

RELIGION: Jung -5

Critical appraisals of Jung’s work focus on four main areas:

•Jung’s methodology

•The theory of the archetypes

•Jung’s concept of religious experience

•The role of religion within individuation

Who is right?John Hick’s conclusion about Freud is

worth quoting:

“it seems that the verdict must be ‘not proven’; … the Freudian theory of religion may be true but it has not been shown to be so.”

As Jordan et al suggest, this conclusion might apply equally effectively to Jung!