On Freud's "The Future of an Illusion"

• Main Authors: O'Neil, Mary Kay, Akhtar, Salman
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 2009; Taylor and Francis; Taylor & Francis Group; Karnac
• Edition: 1
• Series: Contemporary Freud
• Subjects: Psychoanalysis; Psychology, Religious; Transformational Mother; Young Man; Childish Religious Belief; Temporal Lobe Epilepsy; Ancient Egyptian Scriptures; Freud's Argument; Extreme Religious Fundamentalist; Al Qaeda Movement; Temporal Lobe Function; Large Group Identity; Fundamentalist Religious Movements; Jahili Society; Alternative Belief System; Shining Path; non-Western Cultural Group; Islamic Mystical Traditions; Cervical Cancer; Hypersensitive Agent Detection Device; Lukewarm Believers; Instinctual Renunciation; Opaque Side; Universal Obsessional Neurosis; Oceanic Feeling; Darwinian Fundamentalist; Maha Devi
• ISBN: 9781855756274; 1855756277
• DOI: 10.4324/9780429477904

"The Future of an Illusion" reveals Freud's reflections about religion as well as his hope that in the future science will go beyond religion, and reason will replace faith in God. The discussion with an imaginary critic revealed his internal debate, mirroring the debate about this subject in the outside world. However, it also enlightens his way of thinking: deconstructing and constructing at the same time. This volume considers Freudian ideas and their implications today, while focusing on the contradictions and gaps in Freud's proposals. The question of the coexistence between religion and psychoanalysis, as well as the place of ideals, belief, illusion, and imagination - and, no less important, the benevolent and destructive aspects of religion - also come into play.