Religion as a Product of the Human Mind Flashcards
(90 cards)
1
Q
What were Sigmund Freud’s dates?
A
1856-1939
2
Q
What was Freud’s religious background?
A
- Secular Jewish family
- Catholic nanny who taught him about religion
- Never held any personal religious faith
3
Q
What are Freud’s 3 levels of psyche?
A
- Ego - the conscious self we are aware of
- Id - the unconscious self
- Super Ego - conscience, driving moral force
4
Q
In what work did Darwin write about the primal horde?
A
‘The Descent of Man’ 1871
5
Q
How does Darwin define primal horde?
A
A simple society with primitive reliance on each other
6
Q
What is William Robertson Smith’s definition of totem?
A
The totem is a special animal that prehistoric people worshipped and valued
7
Q
In what work did Freud write about primal horde?
A
‘Totem and Taboo’ 1913
8
Q
What was Freud’s theory of primal hordes and religion?
A
- 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
9
Q
What is the Oedipus/Elektra Complex?
A
The idea that children have a strong emotional attachment toward the parent of the opposite sex
10
Q
What is the Oedipus Complex based on?
A
Based on the Greek legend of King Oedipus who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother
11
Q
How does Freud argue the Oedipus Complex reflects on religion?
A
Repressed sexual desire causes the invention of a great father figure
12
Q
Who was Freud influenced by and what did he believe?
A
Ludwig Feuerbach - believed God originated in the human mind
13
Q
What is Freud’s idea of the collective neurosis?
A
- Religious rituals show close parallels with obsessional neuroses
- These patterns are associated with fear and guilt resulting from repressed desires
14
Q
What is Freud’s idea of wish fulfilment?
A
God is no more than a projection of human hopes stemming from a desire for control
15
Q
How has Freud contributed to modern thought? (3)
A
- Opened up new therapies
- Saw the universal nature of repressed trauma
- Increased openness around sexuality
16
Q
How did the Little Hans case support Freud’s analysis?
A
Freud attributed Hans’ intense fear of horses to displaced fear of his father, and successfully treated him
17
Q
What was the Daniel Schreber case?
A
Schreber developed mental health problems associated with religion, which Freud diagnosed as displacement of his relationship with his father on God
18
Q
How does Darwinism support Freud?
A
- Darwin’s observations of Australian indigenous people constructed theories of primal hordes
- Genetic inheritance linked to ideas of emotional inheritance
19
Q
What are 4 challenges to Freud’s analysis?
A
- Lack of anthropological evidence
- Lack of psychological evidence for Oedipus complex
- Evidence base too narrow
- Not available to empirical testing
20
Q
How does Freud’s analysis lack anthropological evidence?
A
No evidence of primal hordes living under a single alpha male
21
Q
How does Malinowski’s research challenge Freud?
A
The matriarchal society of the Trobriand Islanders disproved innateness of the Oedipus Complex
22
Q
How does Freud’s analysis lack evidence for the universal Oedipus complex?
A
His frequent diagnoses of it appears as though he is only trying to prove his theories
23
Q
How is Freud’s evidence base too narrow?
A
Generalised and from non-diverse patients
24
Q
What is confirmation bias?
A
Starting out with a hypothesis one wants to prove true
25
How is Freud's analysis unavailable for empirical testing?
Relies on the testimony of a patient, cannot be verified or falsified
26
What are Jung's dates and religious background?
1875-1961, Swiss Christian family
27
How did Jung disagree with Freud?
Believed he over emphasised the importance of sexual urges in the formation of the unconscious
28
What are Jung's 3 levels of psyche?
1. Consciousness - accessible part of the mind
2. Personal unconscious - memories, trauma
3. Collective unconscious
29
What is Jung's Collective Unconscious?
Inherited archetypes shared by all humanity which shape worldly understanding
30
What are Kantian ideas relating to collective unconscious?
Phenomena are only understandable because we subconsciously impose meaning on them
31
What did Jung believe the function of the collective unconscious was?
To make sense of our experiences using archetypes
32
What is an example of a universal archetype?
Child-God - Jesus, birth of Buddha etc.
33
What are Jung's 5 key archetypes?
1. Persona - pretend personality
2. Self - the soul
3. Shadow - side we hide and project onto others
4. Anima/Animus - characteristics of the opposite sex which reflect what we are attracted to
34
How can archetypes become dangerous?
If one becomes too dominant they can cause mental health problems
35
What is individuation?
The instinctual reconciliation of different elements of the inner world
36
How does individuation link to religion?
Can be achieved through spirituality and access to the Self
37
How does religion aid understanding of the collective unconscious?
Provides means to understanding common archetypes and shared humanity
38
How does Jung view God?
A manifestation of the deepest levels of the collective unconscious, shared in the human psyche
39
Why must God be viewed as an archetype?
To account for the ways in which different cultures are predisposed to a God-like figure
40
How does God relate to the Self?
The Self is the God within us, allowing us to manage our egos
41
What does Jung conclude about God's existence?
It is impossible to know whether God exists outside of the human mind
42
How does Jung view religion as a source of comfort?
May explain troubling dreams and religious leaders may act like psychotherapists
43
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
44
What positives did Jung attribute to religion? (2)
- providing a consistent narrative and place for people
- providing motives for ethical behaviour
45
What 2 challenges are there to Jung's analysis?
1. Lack of empirical evidence
2. Reductionist
46
How did Gardner Murphy challenge Jung?
Too quick to jump to conclusions
47
How does Jung's analysis lack empirical evidence?
Based on interpretations of dreams and elements of unconscious which cannot be tested scientifically
48
How can Freud and Jung's analysis be considered reductionist?
Claims religion is no more than a product of the human mind
49
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
50
What is New Atheism?
Modern movement that is deliberately and publicly hostile to religion, believing people should not tolerant those who are intolerant
51
What stimulated New Atheism?
Increase in religiously-motivated terror attacks
52
Who are the Four Horsemen of New Atheism?
- Sam Harris
- Richard Dawkins
- Daniel Dennett
- Christopher Hitchens
53
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
54
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
55
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
56
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
57
Which book describes the difference between positive and negative atheism?
The Presumption of Atheism by Anthony Flew
58
What is a positive atheist?
Someone who asserts God does not exist
59
What is a negative atheist?
Someone who is not a theist
60
What is agnosticism?
The idea that the question of God simply can't be answered
61
How are most atheists materialists?
They believe the physical world constitutes all reality
62
What was the term 'atheist' originally?
Pejorative, describing 'godless' people whole rejected moral views
63
What is an apologist?
Someone who speaks in defence of a belief system
64
What is a Straw Man argument?
When someone sets up then disputes an assertion that is not actually being made
65
What are 5 apologist arguments against New Atheism?
1. Anecdotal evidence
2. Straw Man
3. Keith Ward
4. Richard Swinburne
5. Tina Beattie
66
What do apologists argue about anecdotal evidence?
NAs only concentrate on anecdotal evidence of the misuse of religion, not its actual content
67
What do apologists argue about Straw Man arguments?
NAs are ill-informed and only focus on blind obedience to God and fundamentalism
68
What does Keith Ward argue about NA?
Society would be worse off without religion
69
What does Richard Swinburne argue about NA?
Religious belief is not contradictory and can be held rationally
70
What does Tina Beattie argue about NA?
NAs uncritically engage with an outdates model of religion
71
How is religion infantile?
Encourages people to believe in an imaginary father figure and treats them as incapable of making their own decisions
72
How is religion socially controlling?
Teaches people not to argue back, controlled by the reward of the afterlife
73
How does religion impede science?
Encourages people to give up research and declare questions as miracles
74
How does Gregor Mendel show the compatibility of science and religion?
Monk funded by the Catholic church and developed science of genetics
75
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
76
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
77
How does fundamentalism show religion as non-thinking?
Believe sacred text is literally true, encouraging ignorance, contradiction and incoherence
78
What is fundamentalism?
A strictly literal approach to sacred texts and belief systems
79
What did Konrad Lorenz observe to support Jung's archetypes?
Theory of Imprinting - birds carried out instinctive nature according to an inner drive
80
Childhood trauma and Oedipus - Freud
'we recognise that the roots of the need for religion are in the parental complex'
80
Wish Fulfilment - Freud
'we call a belief an illusion when a wish fulfilment is a prominent factor in its motivation'
81
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'
82
Collective unconscious - Jung
'it had contents and modes of behaviour that are more or less the same everywhere and in all individuals'
83
Report following WW1 - Jung
'None of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook'
84
Challenge to Jung - Brown
'the hypothesis of the collective unconscious is... a quite unnecessary elaboration'
85
Agnosticism - Russell
'an agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life'
86
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'
87
Criticism of the aim to prove the existence of God - Beattie
'the word 'God' does not denote a 'thing' whose existence we can prove'
88
How did Freud argue religion was holding humanity back?
People put too much energy into the afterlife and not enough into life
89
Freud saw links between religion and the...
'obsessive actions in sufferers from nervous affections'
