Religion as a Product of the Human Mind Flashcards
What were Sigmund Freud’s dates?
1856-1939
What was Freud’s religious background?
- Secular Jewish family
- Catholic nanny who taught him about religion
- Never held any personal religious faith
What are Freud’s 3 levels of psyche?
- Ego - the conscious self we are aware of
- Id - the unconscious self
- Super Ego - conscience, driving moral force
In what work did Darwin write about the primal horde?
‘The Descent of Man’ 1871
How does Darwin define primal horde?
A simple society with primitive reliance on each other
What is William Robertson Smith’s definition of totem?
The totem is a special animal that prehistoric people worshipped and valued
In what work did Freud write about primal horde?
‘Totem and Taboo’ 1913
What was Freud’s theory of primal hordes and religion?
- primal hordes held totems which defined them as a group
- people who wronged the totem were defined as taboo
- therefore religion grew from primitive superstition
What is the Oedipus/Elektra Complex?
The idea that children have a strong emotional attachment toward the parent of the opposite sex
What is the Oedipus Complex based on?
Based on the Greek legend of King Oedipus who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother
How does Freud argue the Oedipus Complex reflects on religion?
Repressed sexual desire causes the invention of a great father figure
Who was Freud influenced by and what did he believe?
Ludwig Feuerbach - believed God originated in the human mind
What is Freud’s idea of the collective neurosis?
- Religious rituals show close parallels with obsessional neuroses
- These patterns are associated with fear and guilt resulting from repressed desires
What is Freud’s idea of wish fulfilment?
God is no more than a projection of human hopes stemming from a desire for control
How has Freud contributed to modern thought? (3)
- Opened up new therapies
- Saw the universal nature of repressed trauma
- Increased openness around sexuality
How did the Little Hans case support Freud’s analysis?
Freud attributed Hans’ intense fear of horses to displaced fear of his father, and successfully treated him
What was the Daniel Schreber case?
Schreber developed mental health problems associated with religion, which Freud diagnosed as displacement of his relationship with his father on God
How does Darwinism support Freud?
- Darwin’s observations of Australian indigenous people constructed theories of primal hordes
- Genetic inheritance linked to ideas of emotional inheritance
What are 4 challenges to Freud’s analysis?
- Lack of anthropological evidence
- Lack of psychological evidence for Oedipus complex
- Evidence base too narrow
- Not available to empirical testing
How does Freud’s analysis lack anthropological evidence?
No evidence of primal hordes living under a single alpha male
How does Malinowski’s research challenge Freud?
The matriarchal society of the Trobriand Islanders disproved innateness of the Oedipus Complex
How does Freud’s analysis lack evidence for the universal Oedipus complex?
His frequent diagnoses of it appears as though he is only trying to prove his theories
How is Freud’s evidence base too narrow?
Generalised and from non-diverse patients
What is confirmation bias?
Starting out with a hypothesis one wants to prove true
How is Freud’s analysis unavailable for empirical testing?
Relies on the testimony of a patient, cannot be verified or falsified
What are Jung’s dates and religious background?
1875-1961, Swiss Christian family
How did Jung disagree with Freud?
Believed he over emphasised the importance of sexual urges in the formation of the unconscious
What are Jung’s 3 levels of psyche?
- Consciousness - accessible part of the mind
- Personal unconscious - memories, trauma
- Collective unconscious
What is Jung’s Collective Unconscious?
Inherited archetypes shared by all humanity which shape worldly understanding
What are Kantian ideas relating to collective unconscious?
Phenomena are only understandable because we subconsciously impose meaning on them
What did Jung believe the function of the collective unconscious was?
To make sense of our experiences using archetypes
What is an example of a universal archetype?
Child-God - Jesus, birth of Buddha etc.
What are Jung’s 5 key archetypes?
- Persona - pretend personality
- Self - the soul
- Shadow - side we hide and project onto others
- Anima/Animus - characteristics of the opposite sex which reflect what we are attracted to
How can archetypes become dangerous?
If one becomes too dominant they can cause mental health problems
What is individuation?
The instinctual reconciliation of different elements of the inner world
How does individuation link to religion?
Can be achieved through spirituality and access to the Self
How does religion aid understanding of the collective unconscious?
Provides means to understanding common archetypes and shared humanity
How does Jung view God?
A manifestation of the deepest levels of the collective unconscious, shared in the human psyche
Why must God be viewed as an archetype?
To account for the ways in which different cultures are predisposed to a God-like figure
How does God relate to the Self?
The Self is the God within us, allowing us to manage our egos
What does Jung conclude about God’s existence?
It is impossible to know whether God exists outside of the human mind
How does Jung view religion as a source of comfort?
May explain troubling dreams and religious leaders may act like psychotherapists
What did Jung observe of religion in his patients following WW1?
Patients who held religious beliefs were better equipped to cope with post-war life
What positives did Jung attribute to religion? (2)
- providing a consistent narrative and place for people
- providing motives for ethical behaviour
What 2 challenges are there to Jung’s analysis?
- Lack of empirical evidence
- Reductionist
How did Gardner Murphy challenge Jung?
Too quick to jump to conclusions
How does Jung’s analysis lack empirical evidence?
Based on interpretations of dreams and elements of unconscious which cannot be tested scientifically
How can Freud and Jung’s analysis be considered reductionist?
Claims religion is no more than a product of the human mind
How is Freud and Jung’s reductionism criticised by religious believers?
Suggests God’s existence is dependant on the human mind, as a mental construct only
What is New Atheism?
Modern movement that is deliberately and publicly hostile to religion, believing people should not tolerant those who are intolerant
What stimulated New Atheism?
Increase in religiously-motivated terror attacks
Who are the Four Horsemen of New Atheism?
- Sam Harris
- Richard Dawkins
- Daniel Dennett
- Christopher Hitchens
What is Sam Harris’ book called, when was it written and what is his main view?
- The End of Faith
- 2004
- religion is aligned with ignorance and hatred, evident in 9/11 attacks
What is Richard Dawkins’ book called, when was it written and what is his main view?
- The God Delusion
- 2006
- religion is irrational in light of modern science, Darwinist perspective
What is Daniel Dennett’s book called, when was it written and what is his main view?
- Breaking the Spell
- 2006
- religion is a human construction but is ok as long as it doesn’t cause harm
What is Christopher Hitchens’ book called, when was it written and what is his main view?
- God is not Great
- 2007
- religion is the result of our fears of our own mortality and is intolerant and bigotic
Which book describes the difference between positive and negative atheism?
The Presumption of Atheism by Anthony Flew
What is a positive atheist?
Someone who asserts God does not exist
What is a negative atheist?
Someone who is not a theist
What is agnosticism?
The idea that the question of God simply can’t be answered
How are most atheists materialists?
They believe the physical world constitutes all reality
What was the term ‘atheist’ originally?
Pejorative, describing ‘godless’ people whole rejected moral views
What is an apologist?
Someone who speaks in defence of a belief system
What is a Straw Man argument?
When someone sets up then disputes an assertion that is not actually being made
What are 5 apologist arguments against New Atheism?
- Anecdotal evidence
- Straw Man
- Keith Ward
- Richard Swinburne
- Tina Beattie
What do apologists argue about anecdotal evidence?
NAs only concentrate on anecdotal evidence of the misuse of religion, not its actual content
What do apologists argue about Straw Man arguments?
NAs are ill-informed and only focus on blind obedience to God and fundamentalism
What does Keith Ward argue about NA?
Society would be worse off without religion
What does Richard Swinburne argue about NA?
Religious belief is not contradictory and can be held rationally
What does Tina Beattie argue about NA?
NAs uncritically engage with an outdates model of religion
How is religion infantile?
Encourages people to believe in an imaginary father figure and treats them as incapable of making their own decisions
How is religion socially controlling?
Teaches people not to argue back, controlled by the reward of the afterlife
How does religion impede science?
Encourages people to give up research and declare questions as miracles
How does Gregor Mendel show the compatibility of science and religion?
Monk funded by the Catholic church and developed science of genetics
How does Alister McGrath challenge Dawkins? (3)
- Wrote the Dawkins Delusion
- Many people convert in adulthood so don’t hold childhood sentimentality
- Challenged Dawkins’ lack of expertise in religion and psychology
How does John Polkinghorne show the compatibility of science and religion?
Science and religion can act as different lenses, revealing complementary aspects of the truth
How does fundamentalism show religion as non-thinking?
Believe sacred text is literally true, encouraging ignorance, contradiction and incoherence
What is fundamentalism?
A strictly literal approach to sacred texts and belief systems
Religious responses to New Atheism are successful:
- Empiricism cannot speculate about realities beyond the observable world
- New Atheism outwardly is stimulated by fundamentalism
- Faith is acting upon what you have good reason to believe is true
Religious responses to New Atheism are not successful:
- Science has the ability to be verified
- Religious belief has historically led to significant violence
- Religion is characteristically unknowable
Empirical approaches are successful critiques of Jung:
- Jung’s evidence was secondary and unrepeatable circumstances
- His analysis is unfalsifiable and unverifiable
- If people reject the collective unconscious they can be accused of failing individuation
Empirical approaches are unsuccessful critiques of Jung:
- Jung insisted his methods were empirical
- Konrad Lorenz
- All psychology necessarily relies on a subjective experience
What did Konrad Lorenz observe to support Jung’s archetypes?
Theory of Imprinting - birds carried out instinctive nature according to an inner drive
Jung is more positive than Freud:
- Freud links religion to a harmful mental illness
- Jung sees religion as an expression of the collective unconscious
- Jung sees religion as an evolving process of the psychic personality
Jung is not more positive than Freud:
- Jung also connected religion and neurosis
- Jung viewed religion as a collective mythology, a tool to tap into the self
- Freudian theories aren’t necessarily negative, just realistic
Freud’s explanations are adequate:
- Religion reflects obsessive behaviour
- Religion provides a sense of control and comfort in the face of mortality and chaos
- Freud’s clinical work was often successful
Freud’s explanations are inadequate:
- Lack verifiable evidence leading to invalid conclusions
- Fails to understand the maturity and complexity of religious tradition
- Considered his theories to be universally applicable
Religious belief is a neurosis:
- Ritual mirrors compulsive obsessive neurosis
- Darwinian theory supports totemism, which Freud believed was reflected in Holy Communion
- Case studies reflected the idea of traumatic projection onto God
Religious belief is not a neurosis:
- Freud’s evidence was often selective and unrepresentative
- Only considered the ritualistic parts of religion rather than doctrine
- Research has suggested that many cultures base their idea of God on their mother rather than father, such as Hindu expressions of the feminine divine
Atheistic arguments are successful:
- There is evidence that religion promotes ignorance, hatred and violence
- Harris argues moral values can be discerned from what science tells us promotes well-being
- Progressive science has eliminated the need for God as an explanation
Atheistic arguments are not successful:
- Science and religion are compatible
- Science cannot discern morality
- Violence does not disprove God, and if God is a human invention then it shows humans are violent
Childhood trauma and Oedipus - Freud
‘we recognise that the roots of the need for religion are in the parental complex’
Wish Fulfilment - Freud
‘we call a belief an illusion when a wish fulfilment is a prominent factor in its motivation’
Reaction to helplessness - Freud
‘we shall tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there were a moral order in the universe and an afterlife; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish to be’
Collective unconscious - Jung
‘it had contents and modes of behaviour that are more or less the same everywhere and in all individuals’
Report following WW1 - Jung
‘None of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook’
Challenge to Jung - Brown
‘the hypothesis of the collective unconscious is… a quite unnecessary elaboration’
Agnosticism - Russell
‘an agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life’
Fundamentalism - Dawkins
‘fundamentalists know they are right because they have read the truth in a holy book and they know, in advance, that nothing will budge them from their belief’
Criticism of the aim to prove the existence of God - Beattie
‘the word ‘God’ does not denote a ‘thing’ whose existence we can prove’
How did Freud argue religion was holding humanity back?
People put too much energy into the afterlife and not enough into life
