"The Future of an Illusion" reveals Freud's reflections about religion as well as his hope that in the future science will go beyond religion, and reason will replace faith in God. The discussion with an imaginary critic revealed his internal debate, mirroring the debate about this subject in the outside world. However, it also enlightens his way of thinking: deconstructing and constructing at the same time. This volume considers Freudian ideas and their implications today, while focusing on the contradictions and gaps in Freud's proposals. The question of the coexistence between religion and psychoanalysis, as well as the place of ideals, belief, illusion, and imagination - and, no less important, the benevolent and destructive aspects of religion - also come into play. Leticia Glocer Fiorini (Series Editor) Contents: Introduction Salman Akhtar PART I "The Future of an Illusion" (1927c) Sigmund Freud PART II Discussion of "The Future of an Illusion"
1 - Deconstructing Freud's "The Future of an Illusion": Eight Conceptual Strands
Ethel Spector Person
2 - The Illusion of a Future: The Rhetoric of Freud's Critique of Religious Belief
Jonathan Lear
3 - The Past of an Illusion: An Evolutionary Perspective on Religious Belief
J. Anderson Thomson, Jr
4 - Religious Fundamentalism and Violence
Vamik D. Volkan
5 - The Morality of an "Oppressed Group"
George A. Awad
6 - Illusion, Disillusion, and Delusion: War and Faith in the Andes
Moisés Lemlij
7 - Freud's Omission of the Maternal in God: Was He Disillusioned with Mothers?
Jennifer Bonovitz
8 - Three Archaic Contributions to the Religious Instinct: Awe, Mysticism, and Apocalypse
Mortimer Ostow
9 - Re-reading Freud on Religion in Hindu India
Sudhir Kakar
10 - How Belief in God Affects my Clinical Work
Neville Symington
EPILOGUE Mary Kay O'Neil | 
