Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud Essay -- Future Illusion Sigmun

Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud In his book Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud utilizes his order of psychoanalysis on godliness by comparing the relationship between human and pietism to that of a child and his parents. Freud effectively demonstrates that religion is a harvest-time of the human mind. After exposing religion as a an illusion, Freud concludes that humanity will be better off when it has forgone religion. This paper will argue that Freuds assertion that religion is an illusion is correct because of its blatantly traceable evolution through the history of the human civilization and psyche.The first argument that Freud makes in his assault on religion regards civilization. Freud argues that human civilization arose as a result of mankinds penurys to protect itself from nature. It was precisely because of these dangers with which nature threatens us that we came together and created civilization. (Freud, 19) As a result of the need for organization and manpo wer to prepare defenses against nature, the instincts of man had to be controlled. He furthers this argument by saying that two human traits, laziness and the unwilling nature of the battalion to listen to reason, are responsible for the necessity of the rule of law. Freud then describes the various methods of oppression that can be employed by civilization to halt instinctual privation. The more or less important of which he points out as being religion.The main reason that Freud ranks rel...

Comparison of the Use of Nature by Shelley and Wordsworth Essay

Both Shelley, in Ode to the West Wind, and Wordsworth, in Intimations of Immortality, are very similar in their use of genius to describe the life and death of the merciful spirit. As they both describe constitution these two poets use the comparison of how the Earth and all its life is the same as our own gentleman life. I feel that Shelley uses the seasons as a way of portraying the human life during reincarnation. Wordsworth seems to concentrate more on the stages that a person goes through during life. Shelley compares himself to such things as clouds, leaves, and waves. He is writing the poem as if he were an object of the earth, and what it is like to once live and then die only to be reborn. On the some opposite(prenominal) hand, Wordsworth takes images like meadows, fields, and birds and uses them to show what gives him life. Life being what ever a person needs to move on, and with out those objects cant have life. Wordsworth does not compare himself to these things l ike Shelley, unless instead uses them as an example of how he feels about the stages of living. Starting from an infant to a young boy into a man, a man who knows death is climax and can do nothing about it because its part of life.When a man becomes old and has nothing to appear forward to he will always numerate back, back to what are called the good old days. These days were full of young innocence, and no worries. Wordsworth describes these childhood days by saying that A single force field which I have looked upon, / Both of them speak of something that is gone The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?(190) other example of how Wordsworth uses nature as a way of dwelling on his past childhood experiences is when he writes O joy That in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That nature moreover remembers / What was so fugitive (192) Here an ember represents our fading years through li fe and nature is remembering the childhood that has escaped over the years. As outlying(prenominal) as Wordsworth and his moods go I think he is very touched by nature. I can picture him seeing life and feeling it in every flower, ant, and piece of grass that crosses his path. The emotion he feels is strongly suggested in this line To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie to a fault deep for tears. (193) Not only is this showi... ...d of this poem Shelley asks, If Winter comes, can Spring be out-of-the-way(prenominal) behind? (678) Now I wonder if this is just another(prenominal) line emphasizing conversion and the similarities between the seasons. Or is Shelley saying this because he is getting the sense that the closer he gets to death the more he questions whether rebirth is real.So after close examination of both these pieces of literature I feel that the differences between these two poets is that Wordsworth looks back on how life was and Shelley wonders whats after death. I would have to say that theyre very similar in the way that they use nature as a way of portraying human life. The use of how nature affects them and their love for nature brings me to that conclusion. So what makes these pieces so powerful? Really its not the reasoning between life and death its the comparison of how other living things on Earth that we take for granted are similar to us as a human race. When these two poets look at a flower or a sunset they see more than just a pretty flower or a beautiful sunset they see what life is make up of, which is wonderful at times and ugly at other times. Like the saying goes you cant have good without evil. Comparison of the Use of Nature by Shelley and Wordsworth Essay Both Shelley, in Ode to the West Wind, and Wordsworth, in Intimations of Immortality, are very similar in their use of nature to describe the life and death of the human spirit. As they both describe nature these two po ets use the comparison of how the Earth and all its life is the same as our own human life. I feel that Shelley uses the seasons as a way of portraying the human life during reincarnation. Wordsworth seems to concentrate more on the stages that a person goes through during life. Shelley compares himself to such things as clouds, leaves, and waves. He is writing the poem as if he were an object of the earth, and what it is like to once live and then die only to be reborn. On the other hand, Wordsworth takes images like meadows, fields, and birds and uses them to show what gives him life. Life being what ever a person needs to move on, and with out those objects cant have life. Wordsworth does not compare himself to these things like Shelley, unless instead uses them as an example of how he feels about the stages of living. Starting from an infant to a young boy into a man, a man who knows death is culmination and can do nothing about it because its part of life.When a man becomes o ld and has nothing to look forward to he will always look back, back to what are called the good old days. These days were full of young innocence, and no worries. Wordsworth describes these childhood days by saying that A single sports stadium which I have looked upon, / Both of them speak of something that is gone The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?(190) some other example of how Wordsworth uses nature as a way of dwelling on his past childhood experiences is when he writes O joy That in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That nature until now remembers / What was so fugitive (192) Here an ember represents our fading years through life and nature is remembering the childhood that has escaped over the years. As far as Wordsworth and his moods go I think he is very touched by nature. I can picture him seeing life and feeling it in every flower, ant, and piece of grass that crosses h is path. The emotion he feels is strongly suggested in this line To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie as well deep for tears. (193) Not only is this showi... ...d of this poem Shelley asks, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (678) Now I wonder if this is just another line emphasizing rebirth and the similarities between the seasons. Or is Shelley saying this because he is getting the sense that the closer he gets to death the more he questions whether rebirth is real.So after close examination of both these pieces of literature I feel that the differences between these two poets is that Wordsworth looks back on how life was and Shelley wonders whats after death. I would have to say that theyre very similar in the way that they use nature as a way of portraying human life. The use of how nature affects them and their love for nature brings me to that conclusion. So what makes these pieces so powerful? Really its not the reasoning between life and death its the comparison of how other living things on Earth that we take for granted are similar to us as a human race. When these two poets look at a flower or a sunset they see more than just a pretty flower or a beautiful sunset they see what life is make up of, which is wonderful at times and ugly at other times. Like the saying goes you cant have good without evil.

Kate Chopin :: essays research papers fc

Kate Chopin gives a great deal of thought in her literature to issues that she views as important. She was encouraged not to go a "useless" wife she was also involved in the idea of becoming an independent woman (LeBlanc 1). Kate Chopin is a well-known American writer. Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1851, in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 53, on August 22, 1904, she died due to cerebral hemorrhage (Hoffman 1-2). Kate is the daughter of Eliza Faris OFlaherty and Thomas OFlaherty. Her father was a well-established merchant, who took set about in many business investments. He is superstar of the founders of the Pacific Railroad, and was on the train when it crashed into the Gasconade River, in 1885. Her mother Eliza, was a member of a genuinely elite social group, in their French-Creole community. After Kates father passed away, her mother became much more religious, and develops a closer relationship with Kate. Kate also has an older half-brother, George OFlaherty . He was a Confederate solider in the Civil War, and in 1863 was captured by the Union forces, and dies of typhoid fever while in prison. Kate spent her childhood in St. Louis Missouri (Hoffman 1). Kate Chopin was only married once, and it was to Oscar Chopin, a prosperous cotton farmer. The two were married one June 9, 1870, after a yearlong courtship. Kate and Oscar had six children, five boys and one girl. Jean was born in 1871, Oscar Jr. in 1873, George in 1874, Frederick in 1876, Felix in 1878 and Lelia in 1879(Hoffman 1-2). When his cotton business failed they moved to Cloutierville, a small town in Louisiana. They were married for 12 years. In 1882 Oscar died of Malaria, and Kate raised the children on her own. Two years after Oscar died Kate and her children moved in with her mother. Less than a year subsequently her mother died and she was on her own again. Kate received a formal education at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. She enjoys music, reading, creat e verbally, French and German. She became fluent in both languages. Later in her life she continues her education by studying biology and anthropology. Kate Chopin is known to be an extremely smart woman. (Toth 116) In addition to writing the only other career Kate Chopin has, is being a housewife.

Analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost :: essays research papers

Mending Wall written by Robert Frost, describes the relationship between both neighbors and idea of maintaining barriers. Where one of them feels that there is no need of this hem in, There where it is we do not need the wall He is all pine and I am orchard apple tree orchard. On the other hand his neighbor remains unconvinced and follows inherited wisdom passed down to him by his father, Good fences make good neighbors. They even kept the wall while mending it, this reflect that they never interact with each other, ?We keep the wall between us as we go?. Robert Frost has maintained this echt meaning of physical barriers but it does contain metaphor as representation of these physical barriers separating the neighbors and also their friendship. It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, be lieves that this separation is needed as it is all-important(a) for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ?Something there is that doesn?t reflect have it away a wall? this reflects that nature itself does not like separation. The something referring to the intangible sense of social interaction. Furthermore that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it refers to Frost or to the author. Although the storyteller does not require the wall, ironically, the mending of the wall brings the neighbors together and literally builds their friendship. An additional irony of the poem is that the only time these two neighbors sees each other is when they both mend the wall. The narrator sees the stubbornness in his neighbor, and uses the simile like an old-stone savage to compare him to a stone-age man who moves in darkness, that is, set in his ways, and who is unlikely to change his views.

Sophistic Movement :: essays research papers

The vast majority of todays society isnt the slightest bit aware of the tremendous influence the casuistic period of thought has had and continues to feel on modern western politics. But how could a supposedly super educated and intelligent people be so ignorant of such an great and significant epoch in our history? It was during the fifth century B.C. when the sophistic movement, founded by a man named Protagoras, was at its prime. The sophist were recognized as highly skillful teachers by many and their works on issues such as the efficiency of language and the existence of gods were considered to be revolutionary at the time. Not all(prenominal) one was in aggreance with these new philosophies and not long after the movement began, the sophist and their works were being harshly persecuted. Many of them were exhiled and their works were all however completely annihilated. Now, very little is left of the sophists, except for what other prominent theorists have said about them. At the head of this condescending army was Plato, whose stimulate theories opposed those of the sophists in numerable . Anyone who has read some of Platos writing can tell you that what he had to say about Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus and the other sophists was by no convey benevolent, and according to G.B. Kerferd, nor was it a completely factual description of them. Unfortunately, since these innacurate depictions are all we have left, the generations that were to come accepted Platos hostile opinion of the sophists and it is for this reason that the word sophist is now found to be synonomous with the words bigot and know-it-all. Modern scholars have recently been trying to dispell the myths about the sophists, which is exactly what G.B. Kerferd attempts to do in his book The Sophistic Movement. accord to Kerferd, at the foundation of sophistic though is the statement, made by its founder Protagoras, that Man is the measure of all things. Man considers things to be as they ap pear to him. To explain this phenomenon, Kerferd makes an practice session out of the wind. If one man says that the wind is cold, and the man standing beside him finds it to be warm, even if they were both being affected by the same wind, both statements would be considered correct. Since man (the individual) is the measure of all things, the wind is cold to the man to whom it appears cold and warm to the man to whom it appears warm.

Free My Antonia Essays: The Character of Antonia Shimerda :: My Antonia Essays

The Character of Antonia Shimerda in My Antonia   Antonia Shimerda spends her whole life fighting, yet she is not known to be belligerent. She is constantly being battered, notwithstanding still has no visible scars. Antonia is a girl who suffers all through her life, and somehow manages to keep an optimistic outlook. She is one of those rare people who gain character, earlier than resentment, by enduring hardship. Throughout the book, MY ANTONIA, the strength and perseverance of this girl definitely portray her as battered but not diminished.   The symbol of freedom, courage and hardship, the nation seems to invite all to come and settle, but not without a struggle. Antonia, along with her family, is among the many that takes on this formidable task. A girl with a great heart, she comes to northeastward virtually helpless, She arrives in an unfamiliar country with the knowledge to speak only a few words in the native language, and her family with no knowledge at all. Li ving in a small hut made of dirt and wood, the Shimerda family is forced to make due with what it has which is not much. This presents a tremendous strain on them. In contrast to Antonias remarkable perseverance, misery plagues and inevitable overcomes her father. He eventually gives in to his despair, leaving his family to fend for themselves. There is a great sense of edginess and apprehension that comes along with the suicide, that can be al or so unbearable to a little girl. As any child, the loss of a parent is probably the most substantial event in his/her life and equally difficult to get over. Although Antonia never forgets her father, she uses her strength to move on.   No matter how she tries, Antonia cannot escape the prejudices that surround the town. operative as a hired girl, a job that demands the skill of a housekeeper and a nanny, Antonia becomes an outcast in the city. Consequently, she is forced to associate with only other work girls like herself. Yet it is not just her job that earns her the prejudice, it is the color of her skin. Working in the fields of the country, Antonia had gained a remarkable tan. The latter, although accepted in the country, brands her a grouch in the town. No refined lady would ever subject herself to the brutal country sun.