Comment by FreudianFreud on 19/01/2020 at 15:27 UTC

248 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)

View submission: Freud on Death: Religion as Escapism

Abstract:

This video explains how Freud regarded religion as escapism. The video explains how the fear of death led humans to humanise nature in order to control death, and how the first gods were created by humanising nature. Religion was a psychological protection against the cruelty of nature. The video further explains what Freud thought of science as a substitute for religion.

Replies

Comment by SmaugtheStupendous at 20/01/2020 at 00:13 UTC

124 upvotes, 2 direct replies

While I'm an atheist myself, the word 'explains' strikes me as bit odd. Maybe this is just me, but it seems like used in this sentence structure it implies that the argument is uncontroversially true, as one might find in a high school textbook on how a video explains how this discovery lead to that discovery and why we now understand it to be so.

A sentence like

The video explains how the fear of death led humans to humanise nature in order to control death, and how the first gods were created by humanising nature.

Imo ought to be phrased more like

The video explains how Freud thought/reasoned/believed the fear of death led humans to humanise nature in order to control death, and how the first gods were created by humanising nature.

From your video uploading history I understand that you hold these views strongly to be true, but such a degree of conviction in what is essentially a conjecture, strikes me as not much better than a leap of faith.

Comment by [deleted] at 20/01/2020 at 02:19 UTC*

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

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