TITLE:
A Critique of Recent Criticisms of Freud on Religious Belief
AUTHORS:
Thomas W Smythe
KEYWORDS:
Wish Fulfillment, Unconscious Desires, Psychoanalysis, Illusion
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.1 No.1,
August
18,
2011
ABSTRACT: The paper is a critique of recent criticisms of Sigmund Freud’s theory that religion is based on wishful thinking. The criticisms made by authors such as Alvin Plantinga, John Hick, William P. Alston, William Rowe, and Merol Westphal are critically examined. I defend Freud’s critique of religion as a satisfaction of our deepest desires for a heavenly father showing inductively that those desires render religious belief as unlikely to be true.