Arts, Sciences, and Engineering Religion and Classics
Course Section Listing Course Course Title Term Credits Status
COURSE_SECTION-3-193546 RELC 172-1 Freud and Religion Spring 2025 4.0 Open
Schedule:
Day Begin End Location Start Date End Date
WF 1025 AM 1140 AM Hylan Building Room 102 01/21/2025 05/11/2025
Enrollment: Enrolled     
0
Capacity     
30
Co-Located: GSWS 172-1, JWST 172-1 (P), RELC 172-1
Instructors: Andrea Gondos
Delivery Mode: In-Person
Description: This course will explore the gradual evolution of Freud’s thought toward the place and role of religion in society in conversation with other psychoanalytic thinkers, like C. G. Jung and Julia Kristeva. In Freud’s early works, he portrayed religion as a “collective neurosis of mankind” arguing that religious beliefs serve the fulfill the immature psychological and emotional needs of the child within the adult self. Therefore, he firmly advocated for replacing these illusions with a more scientific and materialistic attitude that would be based on science and impassioned observation. However, signaling a dramatic change in Freud’s attitude, his later works present religion as critical for the wellbeing of society and even vital for its survival. In the course we will trace important works and ideas that helped to shape Freud’s intellectual development illuminating his nuanced understanding of religion.
Offered: Fall Spring Summer