Future of an Illusion
The Future of an Illusion Sigmund Freud 's The Future of An Illusion proposes an idealistic form of human culture, one in which human relations are reorganized so that coercion and suppression of instincts are abandoned. The pivotal factor in this reorganization, he believes, is the universal abdication of religion. For the first portion of this response, the text itself will be broken down into chapter-by-chapter summaries. These summaries are written from the Freudian perspective and are not indicitive of the author 's standpoint on these matters; this standpoint will be explored in the latter part of this response.
Chapter-by-chapter Analysis Freud begins by philosophically examining the origin of culture, for he suggests that the less one knows of the past, the less reliable will one 's judgement of the future prove. Human culture is defined to consist of two things. Firstly, “all of the knowledge and power that men have attained to master the forces of nature...” (Freud, 1928, p. 3) and secondly, the regulation of the relations between citizens so that the distribution of resources is attained. Culture is a human creation that Freud believes protects humanity from its own hostile nature. He then goes on to discuss an optimistic indulgence: his idealistic golden age, in which human instincts would not be suppressed. He concludes the opening chapter by introducing a concept that reappears later on; namely, that it is not in man 's nature to be fond of work and as such, culture breeds internal rebellion. The second chapter describes the transition in reasoning from a material basis of culture to that of a psychological origin. If the attainment of resources - by means of labor - is strongly opposed instinctually, then culture cannot be the creation of an instinctual process. For if this were the case, culture would be irreparably threatened by rebellion and would cease to exist. Therefore, Freud suggests that culture is the design of
Chapter-by-chapter Analysis Freud begins by philosophically examining the origin of culture, for he suggests that the less one knows of the past, the less reliable will one 's judgement of the future prove. Human culture is defined to consist of two things. Firstly, “all of the knowledge and power that men have attained to master the forces of nature...” (Freud, 1928, p. 3) and secondly, the regulation of the relations between citizens so that the distribution of resources is attained. Culture is a human creation that Freud believes protects humanity from its own hostile nature. He then goes on to discuss an optimistic indulgence: his idealistic golden age, in which human instincts would not be suppressed. He concludes the opening chapter by introducing a concept that reappears later on; namely, that it is not in man 's nature to be fond of work and as such, culture breeds internal rebellion. The second chapter describes the transition in reasoning from a material basis of culture to that of a psychological origin. If the attainment of resources - by means of labor - is strongly opposed instinctually, then culture cannot be the creation of an instinctual process. For if this were the case, culture would be irreparably threatened by rebellion and would cease to exist. Therefore, Freud suggests that culture is the design of
References: Freud, S. (1928). The Future of an Illusion. Retrieved from https://read.amazon.com/? asin=B00D1I9YAK