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Sigmund FreudThe Future of an Illusion
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1927A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 3-4
Chapter 3 Summary
In this chapter, Freud turns to discuss the role that religion plays in the formation of civilization. In the prior chapters, Freud has focused on how civilization develops as a means of “mak[ing] our communal life possible” (15), providing laws so that individuals will not commit violent acts against each other. Freud now considers how another main reason for civilization’s development is to tame the natural world so that humans can extract natural resources and wealth from it. However, it is impossible for civilization to completely control nature, and Freud describes how humans remain vulnerable to many natural dangers, such as storms, diseases, and earthquakes. Civilization can do little to protect individuals from these natural disasters, leading individuals to feel helpless and anxious in the face of “Fate.”
Freud argues that religion initially emerges as a means of helping humanity deal with these feelings of hopelessness. One of the core ways that religion accomplishes this is through “the humanization of nature” (16). By imagining the different natural elements to be ruled by gods, religion allows individuals to feel that there are clear reasons why nature behaves the way it does. Freud believes that such a humanization of nature mimics the experience that individuals have in their childhood. Children often feel themselves to be “in a similar state of helplessness” (17), living at the whims of their parents—and particularly their father. Freud argues that religion is a projection of the child’s relation to their parents onto the natural world, with gods occupying similar positions as one’s parents.
As civilization developed, it began to recognize that nature follows certain patterns and laws. In turn, the role of gods shifted, so that they switched from controlling nature to providing laws and rules about “morality.” The focus of religion thus becomes providing individuals with a sense of “higher purpose” with which to lead their lives, which is often focused around the afterlife. The concept of heaven suggests to a civilization that its moral laws apply universally, providing a vision of the universe in which “all good is rewarded and all evil punished” (19). Over time, polytheism was transformed into monotheism, with a single God taking on the figure of a divine father for each individual.
Chapter 4 Summary
In this chapter, Freud takes on the voice of an “opponent” who takes a skeptical view of Freud’s arguments. Freud imagines how this person might object to his prior conclusions about religion and then responds to the opponent’s objections.
The first objection Freud’s opponent voices is that Freud treats religion as if it were artificially created by civilization to further its purposes. The opponent notes that it seems “strange” to claim that “civilization creates these religious ideas” (21). Freud responds by noting that he is not arguing that an individual self-consciously created religion to achieve a certain purpose, but rather that religion developed in response to the need humanity had “of defending oneself against the crushingly superior force of nature” (21). Freud also notes that any strangeness surrounding his claim may be due to the fact that religion presents itself as being the product of “divine revelation” and as something external to the rest of human society.
Freud’s opponent then focuses on Freud’s claim that religion first arose out of humans' anthropomorphizing the natural world to deal with their feelings of helplessness. The opponent believes that it is pointless to ascribe intention behind such an act, as “primitive man has no choice” but to think in such a way (22). Freud acknowledges that his opponent is, in some respects, correct, as early man did not consciously create religious ideas but was simply taught them by his elders. However, Freud believes that such thinking had to originate from somewhere and believes that his explanation for its motivation remains sound.
The opponent’s final point is in relation to an earlier book by Freud, called Totem and Taboo. In that book, Freud explained the origin of the idea of God through “the son-father relationship” (22), believing that humanity projected this childhood relationship onto the figure of God. The opponent objects that Freud’s current explanation for religion differs starkly from his earlier explanation, with Freud now focusing on feelings of helplessness rather than the son-father relationship. Freud responds by explaining that his earlier book focused on a very limited part of religion, while his current book attempts to explain how religion in general has developed throughout the history of civilization.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
In this section of The Future of an Illusion, Freud switches his attention from an analysis of civilization to one of religion. However, Freud will ground his ideas about religion in his earlier discussion of civilization, arguing that religion largely exists to further civilization’s functions. Freud will discuss religion as if it is a symptom of civilization, developing in order to help quell some core conflicts that exist between the individual and society at large.
In Chapter 3, Freud offers a generalized account for religion’s development over the course of human history. Freud acknowledges that it is impossible to account for every single religion in his discussion and writes that he has decided to focus on “one such phase [of religion’s development], which roughly corresponds to the final form taken by our present-day white Christian civilization” (20). Freud’s historical account of religion thus provides provide an argument for how religion developed from a polytheistic religion into a monotheistic Christian one.
In Freud’s view, religion’s origin can be traced to early man, who often felt feelings of intense anxiety due to the dangers represented by natural forces. Though civilization provides one with protection from violence by other individuals, it does not offer any protection against natural disasters, which are beyond society’s control. As a result, Freud believes that early man resorted to a “humanization of nature” (16), which explains the natural world by imagining that it is controlled by human-like Gods. Over time, the multiple gods of polytheistic religions coalesced into the single Father-like god of Christianity, whose main purpose is to protect followers and help “make [their] helplessness tolerable” (18).
Freud’s argument about the development of religion is controversial as it presents religion as something socially constructed, rather than something external to humans and given to them by God. Freud’s argument dismisses any possibility that God or religion could be real, instead presenting God as a figment of human imagination and a projection based upon one’s psychological traumas. Freud’s opponent, introduced in Chapter 4, bases his objections on this element of Freud’s argument: “You have repeatedly used the expressions ‘civilization creates these religious ideas’, ‘civilization places them at the disposal of its participants’. There is something about this that sounds strange to me” (21). For the opponent, it is inconceivable for Freud to even suggest that religion could be societally constructed, as this argument goes against the idea that religion is provided to humans through “divine revelation.”
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