Nietzsche and Freud Free Essay
Nietzsche and Freud have drawn ideas that have changed the world. In this paper, one will take into consideration their attitudes towards religion. One will pay attention to their main ideas, the advantages, and disadvantages of those ideas, comparison between Nietzsche’s and Freud’s concepts.
Nietzsche was an atheist. According to him, God is dead, and it is the people who killed him. This statement leads to the fact that Nietzsche had never believed in God. He might mean that God is no longer the source of wisdom. The death of God leads not only to the rejection of a belief in cosmic or physical order but also to the rejection of absolute. It brings the rejection of the belief in an objective and universal moral law that is common among people. The loss of an absolute basis of morality leads to nihilism. Nietzsche believed that people did not recognize this death out of deep fear or angst.
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Freud developed the idea of the unconscious. According to him, the unconscious is not only the accessible part of the mind. It affects behavior and the way of thinking without knowing it. One may agree with him. One cannot control the unconscious in itself.
Nietzsche said that Christianity is an aversion to life that one represents as something worth believing in. The disadvantage of this argument lies in the fact that any religion gives people something to believe in. People know that all the suffering will result in decent pay for their efforts. Nevertheless, the philosopher might suppose that people have created religion just to rely on the higher power instead of developing their talent. When a person thinks of everything as being already preordained by God, he or she does not see any perspective on self-development.
Freud considered religion to be an illusion. He said that it is the product of the mind. Whether it is right or not depends on the theory of the creation of the world that one follows. If one is of the scientific point of view, then God does not play any role. Therefore, he does not exist. Nevertheless, everything is in such harmony that nobody but only God could do it. All things surrounding us are ideal. Only higher power could make them.
Nietzsche said that as soon as religion dominates, its disciples will become its opponents. He might be right when one runs to extremes. Religion must make people free and no other way. When one follows ideals carried by religion, one will never have to renounce them. In this case, Nietzsche might take a look at the problem throughout history. When someone gets power, sooner or later one will lose supporters. All the ideas are left only on paper. Disappointment appears.
Freud believed that people have created religion to control the sensory world, in which they are present. They have done it because of their biological necessities. On the one hand, almost everybody is religious. In the case of the domination of religion, one will, naturally, get power. Humans dream of something and they need to make it logical. Thus, they have recourse to religion. On the other hand, feelings are not anything that demands explanation. They are not connected with religion.
Nietzsche mentioned that Jesus Christ could only be present in a Jewish landscape. He supposed that only Jewish took, for instance, a sunrise, for the grace of God. In the rest of the world, people took this phenomenon for granted. One may say that Nietzsche tried to show differences in the psychology of thinking of nations. Naturally, they took place. However, humans tried to explain things beyond their understanding. These things were different throughout the world. Therefore, it is incorrect to compare something that would be taken for the grace of God (for instance rain in the desert) in one place to the same thing that usually happens.
Freud mentioned that religious people never undervalue the feeling of guilt. They want to save mankind from this feeling, which they consider to be a sin. Each nation has its traditions and rules. These rules may vary throughout the world, but they bring the feeling of guilt. When a person feels oneself guilty, he or she feels depressed. The church claims that praying to God can get rid of it. In this way, religion influences the minds of people. On the other hand, religion does not play on this thing. It is people who commit sins and need repentance.
Nietzsche argued if God is so revengeful when it comes to sinfulness, and everyone, who breaks the law of God, must be punished, then everybody would become a priest. Thus, Christianity only suppresses people. One may disagree with him. God punishes only those who have turned from the right path. Religion should not restrict freedom. Bad things are not included in it as they automatically restrict the freedom of the rest. However, Nietzsche might be right. One commits sins every day and every time. It may happen that some talented people can not follow the Bible. Thus, religion restricts freedom.
In conclusion, it is obvious to say that one created religion to manipulate people. However, it gives a difference between them. Nietzsche believed that religion kills talents. He was a supporter of the person’s playing the major role. He claimed that humans should rely only on themselves. Freud admitted the idea that ancestors could explain phenomena through religion and faith in a higher power.
