The future of an illusion by Sigmund Freud
The future of an illusion by Sigmund Freud is a psychoanalytic treatise written in the early 20th century. It examines religion as a collective illusion born from human wishes and childhood helplessness, and considers how civilization might sustain social order without sacred authority. Blending psychology, cultural critique, and philosophy, it argues for replacing religious foundations with rational, scientific understanding. The opening of the treatise defines culture as both the human conquest of
nature and the regulation of social relations, stressing that it rests on labor, coercion, and instinctual renunciation that provoke resistance. It then turns to the “psychical” supports of culture—prohibitions and privations, their partial internalization as the super-ego, class grievances, the narcotic pride of cultural ideals, and the compensations of art—culminating in religion as the most powerful device. Religion is presented as a projection of infantile helplessness and father-longing that humanizes nature, promises justice and an afterlife, and asserts authority without proof; these doctrines are labeled “illusions” grounded in wish-fulfilment rather than evidence. Anticipating objections that society would collapse without faith, the text counters that laws should be justified by social necessity, recasts religion as a universal obsessional neurosis with totemic roots, and urges “education to reality” and gradual reliance on reason and science, even while admitting the transition will be slow and contested. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 |
|---|---|
| Editor | Jones, Ernest, 1879-1958 |
| Translator | Robson-Scott, W. D. (William Douglas), 1903-1981 |
| LoC No. | 78346237 |
| Uniform Title | Die Zukunft einer Illusion. English |
| Title | The future of an illusion |
| Original Publication | Edinburgh: Horace Liverwright and the institute of psycho-analysis, 1928. |
| Series Title | The international psycho-analytical library |
| Note | Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_an_Illusion |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | BF: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis |
| Subject | Religion |
| Subject | Psychology, Religious |
| Subject | Psychoanalysis |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76774 |
| Release Date | Aug 31, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 580 downloads in the last 30 days. |
| Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free! | |