Lecture Notes: Sigmund Freud's Critique of Religion

Overview of Sigmund Freud

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Founder of psychoanalysis.
• Freud was born in Moravia (now the Czech Republic) in a Jewish family.
• Despite being an atheist later, Judaism was significant to him.
• Freud's background: Experience of anti-Semitism, studied medicine, became a neurologist, married, fathered six children.
• Emigrated to London in 1938 due to Nazis, died in 1939.

Freud's View on Culture and Religion

• Culture distinguishes humans from animals and includes technology, science, morality, and religion.
• Functions of culture:
  • Satisfies thirst for knowledge.
  • Provides comfort and security.
  • Regulates social interaction.
• Culture defends against nature and requires individuals to suppress instincts.
• Religion: Considered a cultural asset but seen as an obsessional neurosis by Freud.
  • Origin: Humanized nature as a divine father figure.
  • Religion’s role shifted with science's advancements.

Freud's Critique of Religion

• Basis: Ludwig Feuerbach's projection theory.
  • Religion as a projection of individual desires.
  • The father complex as a root of religious need.
• Religion provides illusory comfort and answers to existential questions.
• Religion demands suppression of instincts, leading to intellectual stagnation.
• Religion equated with obsessional neurosis:
  • Similarities between religious rituals and compulsions of neurotics.
  • Collective neurosis due to repression of human drives.

Freud's Structural Model of the Psyche

• Id: Unconscious drives (life instinct 'Eros' and destruction instinct 'Destrudo').
• Ego: Mediates between id and superego, reality principle.
• Superego: Morality principle, internalized norms and values.
• Healthy balance between id and superego is crucial.

Religion as Obsessional Neurosis

• Religion arises from drive repression, similar to neuroses.
• Overpowering superego due to religious morality.
• Freud argues for rationality over religion:
  • Culture should rationally justify norms, not impose them from above.
  • Science offers real solutions and is subject to refutation.

Criticisms of Freud's View on Religion

1. Generalization: Based on limited observations of patients.
2. God as a father figure conflicts with Biblical depictions of a loving God.
3. Non-theistic religions and mother goddesses are unexplained by Freud's theory.
4. Projection theory does not disprove the possibility of God’s existence.

Conclusion

• Freud’s view: Science will gradually replace religion as people adopt rationality.
• Considerations:
  • Is religion really a mental illness?
  • Can science truly replace religion?

Final Thoughts

• Discussion encouraged on whether religion constitutes a mental illness and the role of science.
• Reference to a quizlet for further learning.