Religion in psychology : Freud vs. Jung

Abstract EN

This paper will outline and compare the views on religion of two forefathers of psychology- Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Both dedicated large parts of their writing to this topic but reached starkly different conclusions.

For Freud, religion is a sort of neurosis, or at best, a childish wish fulfillment.

He believed that science would eventually vanquish religion.

By contrast, Jung believed that religion is an essential and healthy human impulse, and that it is through the spirituality of religion that man can achieve self-realization.

The paper will probe these two different views, locating each within the individual psychologist’s general theory of the human psyche, highlighting the Freudian emphasis on repression and resistance and contrasting it with the Jungian focus on reconciliation amongst the constituents of the psyche.