,,the ,,future ,,of ,,an ,,illusion     
,,the ,,international                   
,,psycho-,,analytical ,,library         
,,edited ,,by ,,ernest ,,jones          
,no4 #ae                                
,,the ,,future ,,of ,,an ,,illusion     
,,sigmund ,,freud1 ,m4,d41 ,,ll4,d4     
,,translated                            
,,by                             ,w4 ,d4
 ,,robson-,,scott                       
,,published ,,by ,,horace ,,liveright   
,,and ,,the ,,institute ,,of            
,,psycho-,,analysis                     
,,mcmxxviii             ,printed in     
,great ,britain by ,r4  ,r4 ,,clark1    
,,limited1 ,edinburgh                   
,,translator',s ,,note      ,i wish to  
express my thanks to the ,editor and to 
,mr4 ,james ,strachey for  reading      
through this translation and making many
 helpful suggestions4                   
,w4 ,d4 ,r4-,s4                         
,,chapter ,i      ,when one has lived   
for long within a particular culture#a  
and has often  striven to discover its  

origins and the path of its development1
 one  feels for once the temptation to  
turn one's attention in the other       
direction and to ask what further fate  
awaits this culture and what            
transformations it is destined to       
undergo4 ,but one soon finds that the   
value of such an enquiry is diminished  
from the outset by several              
considerations4 ,above all1 by the fact 
that there are only a few people  who   
can survey human activity in all its    
ramifications4 ,most people have  been  
compelled to restrict themselves to a   
single1 or to a few1 spheres  of        
interest2 but the less a man knows of   
the past and the present the  more      
unreliable must his judgement of the    
future prove4 ,and further it  is       
precisely in the matter of this         
judgement that the subjective           
expectations of the individual play a   
part that is difficult to assess2  for  
these prove to be dependent on purely   
personal factors in his own  experience1

 on his more or less hopeful attitude to
 life1 according as  temperament1       
success or failure has prescribed for   
him4 ,and finally one  must take into   
account the remarkable fact that in     
general men  experience the present     
navely1 so to speak1 without being able 
to  estimate its content2 they must     
first place it at a distance1 i4e4 the  
present must have become the past before
 one can win from it points of  vantage 
from which to gauge the future4         
,footnote #a3      ,the ,german word    
,kultur has been translated sometimes as
 #8culture'    and sometimes as         
#8civilization'1 denoting as it does a  
concept    intermediate between these   
and at times inclusive of both4--,,ed4  
,and so he who yields to the temptation 
to deliver an opinion on the  probable  
future of our culture will do well to   
remind himself of the  difficulties just
 indicated1 and likewise of the         
uncertainty that  attaches quite        
universally to every prophecy4 ,it      

follows from this that  in hasty flight 
from so great a task ,i shall seek out  
the small tract of  territory to which  
my attention has hitherto been directed1
 as soon as ,i  have defined its        
position in general4    ,human          
culture--,i mean by that all those      
respects in which human life has  raised
 itself above animal conditions and in  
which it differs from the  life of the  
beasts1 and ,i disdain to separate      
culture and  civilization--presents1 as 
is well known1 two aspects to the       
observer4 ,it  includes on the one hand 
all the knowledge and power that men    
have  acquired in order to master the   
forces of nature and win resources from 
her for the satisfaction of human needs2
 and on the other hand it  includes all 
the necessary arrangements whereby men's
 relations to each  other1 and in       
particular the distribution of the      
attainable riches1 may  be regulated4   
,the two tendencies of culture are not  
independent of each  other1 first1      

because the mutual relations of men are 
profoundly  influenced by the measure of
 instinctual satisfaction that the      
existing  resources make possible2      
secondly1 because the individual can    
himself  take on the quality of a piece 
of property in his relation to another1 
in so far as this other makes use of his
 capacity for work or chooses  him as   
sexual object2 and thirdly1 because     
every individual is virtually  an enemy 
of culture1 which is nevertheless       
ostensibly an object of  universal human
 concern4 ,it is remarkable that little 
as men are able to  exist in isolation  
they should yet feel as a heavy burden  
the sacrifices  that culture expects of 
them in order that a communal existence 
may be  possible4 ,thus culture must be 
defended against the individual1 and its
  organization1 its institutions and its
 laws1 are all directed to this  end2   
they aim not only at establishing a     
certain distribution of  property1 but  
also at maintaining it2 in fact1 they   

must protect against  the hostile       
impulses of mankind everything that     
contributes to the  conquest of nature  
and the production of wealth4 ,human    
creations are  easy to destroy1 and     
science and technical skill1 which have 
built them  up1 can also be turned to   
their destruction4    ,so one gets the  
impression that culture is something    
which was imposed  on a resisting       
majority by a minority that understood  
how to possess  itself of the means of  
power and coercion4 ,of course it stands
 to reason  that these difficulties are 
not inherent in the nature of culture   
itself1 but are conditioned by the      
imperfections of the cultural forms     
that have so far been developed4 ,indeed
 it is not difficult to point out  these
 defects4 ,while mankind has made solid 
advances in the conquest of  nature and 
may expect to make still greater ones1  
no certain claim can  be established for
 a corresponding advance in the         
regulation of human  affairs1 and       

probably at every period1 as again now1 
many men have asked  themselves whether 
this fragment that has been acquired by 
culture is  indeed worth defending at   
all4 ,one might suppose that a          
reorganization  of human relations      
should be possible1 which1 by abandoning
 coercion and  the suppression of the   
instincts1 would remove the sources of  
dissatisfaction with culture1 so that   
undisturbed by inner conflict men  might
 devote themselves to the acquisition of
 natural resources and to  the enjoyment
 of the same4 ,that would be the golden 
age1 but it is  questionable if such a  
state of affairs can ever be realized4  
,it seems  more probable that every     
culture must be built up on coercion and
  instinctual renunciation2 it does not 
even appear certain that without        
coercion the majority of human          
individuals would be ready to submit to 
the labour necessary for acquiring new  
means of supporting life4 ,one  has1 ,i 
think1 to reckon with the fact that     

there are present in all men            
destructive1 and therefore anti-social  
and anti-cultural1 tendencies1  and that
 with a great number of people these are
 strong enough to  determine their      
behaviour in human society4    ,this    
psychological fact acquires a decisive  
significance when one is  forming an    
estimate of human culture4 ,one thought 
at first that the  essence of culture   
lay in the conquest of nature for the   
means of  supporting life1 and in       
eliminating the dangers that threaten   
culture by  the suitable distribution of
 these among mankind1 but now the       
emphasis  seems to have shifted away    
from the material plane on to the       
psychical4  ,the critical question is   
whether and to what extent one can      
succeed1  first1 in diminishing the     
burden of the instinctual sacrifices    
imposed  on men2 secondly1 in           
reconciling them to those that must     
necessarily  remain2 and thirdly1 in    
compensating them for these4 ,it is just

 as  impossible to do without government
 of the masses by a minority as it is   
to dispense with coercion in the work of
 civilization1 for the masses  are lazy 
and unintelligent1 they have no love for
 instinctual  renunciation1 they are not
 to be convinced of its inevitability by
  argument1 and the individuals support 
each other in giving full play to  their
 unruliness4 ,it is only by the         
influence of individuals who can set  an
 example1 whom the masses recognize as  
their leaders1 that they can be  induced
 to submit to the labours and           
renunciations on which the  existence of
 culture depends4 ,all is well if these 
leaders are people of  superior insight 
into what constitute the necessities of 
life1 people  who have attained the     
height of mastering their own           
instinctual wishes4  ,but the danger    
exists that in order not to lose their  
influence they  will yield to the masses
 more than these will yield to them1 and
  therefore it seems necessary that they

 should be independent of the  masses by
 having at their disposal means of      
enforcing their authority4  ,to put it  
briefly1 there are two widely diffused  
human characteristics  which are        
responsible for the fact that the       
organization of culture can  be         
maintained only by a certain measure of 
coercion3 that is to say1 men  are not  
naturally fond of work1 and arguments   
are of no avail against  their passions4
    ,i know what objections will be     
brought against these arguments4 ,it    
will  be said that the character of the 
masses1 here delineated1 which is       
supposed to prove that one cannot       
dispense with coercion in the work of   
civilization1 is itself only the result 
of defective cultural  organization1    
through which men have become           
embittered1 revengeful and              
unapproachable4 ,new generations1       
brought up kindly and taught to have a  
respect for reason1 who have experienced
 the benefits of culture early  in life1

 will have a different attitude towards 
it2 they will feel it to  be their very 
own possession1 and they will be ready  
on its account to  make the sacrifice in
 labour and in instinctual renunciation 
that is  necessary for its preservation4
 ,they will be able to do without       
coercion  and will differ little from   
their leaders4 ,if no culture has so far
  produced human masses of such a       
quality1 it is due to the fact that no  
culture has yet discovered the plan that
 will influence men in such a  way1 and 
that from childhood on4    ,it may be   
doubted whether it is possible at all1  
or at any rate just  now1 in the present
 stage of our conquest of nature1 to    
establish a  cultural organization of   
this kind2 it may be asked where the    
throng of  superior1 dependable and     
disinterested leaders1 who are to act as
  educators of the future generations1  
are to come from2 and one may be        
appalled at the stupendous amount of    
force that will be unavoidable if  these

 intentions are to be carried out4 ,but 
one cannot deny the grandeur  of this   
project and its significance for the    
future of human culture4 ,it  is        
securely based on a piece of            
psychological insight1 on the fact that 
man is equipped with the most varied    
instinctual predispositions1 the        
ultimate course of which is determined  
by the experiences of early  childhood4 
,but the limitations of man's capacity  
for education set  bounds to the        
efficacy of such a cultural             
transformation4 ,one may  question      
whether and in what degree it would be  
possible for another  cultural milieu to
 efface the two characteristics of human
 masses that  make the guidance of men's
 affairs so very difficult4 ,the        
experiment has  not yet been made4      
,probably a certain percentage of       
mankind--owing to  morbid predisposition
 or too great instinctual vigour--will  
always remain  asocial1 but if only one 
can succeed in reducing to a minority   

the  majority that is to-day hostile to 
culture1 one will have accomplished a   
great deal1 perhaps indeed everything   
that can be accomplished4    ,i should  
not like to give the impression that ,i 
have wandered far away  from the chosen 
path of my enquiry4 ,i will therefore   
expressly assert  that it is far from my
 intention to estimate the value of the 
great  cultural experiment that is at   
present in progress in the vast country 
that stretches between ,europe and      
,asia4 ,i have neither the special      
knowledge nor the capacity to decide on 
its practicability1 to test the         
expediency of the methods employed1 or  
to measure the width of the  inevitable 
gulf between intention and execution4   
,what is there in course  of preparation
 eludes investigation1 for which it is  
not ready2 for this  our long           
consolidated culture presents the       
material4                               
,,chapter ,,ii      ,we have glided     
unawares out of the economic plane over 

into the  psychological4 ,at first we   
were tempted to seek the essence of     
culture  in the existing material       
resources and in the arrangements for   
their  distribution4 ,but with the      
discovery that every culture is based on
  compulsory labour and instinctual     
renunciation1 and that it therefore     
inevitably evokes opposition from those 
affected by these demands1 it  became   
clear that the resources themselves1 the
 means of acquiring them1  and the      
arrangements for their distribution     
could not be its essential  or unique   
characteristic2 for they are threatened 
by the rebelliousness  and destructive  
passions of the members of the culture4 
,thus in addition  to the resources     
there are the means of defending        
culture3 the coercive  measures1 and    
others that are intended to reconcile   
men to it and to  recompense them for   
their sacrifices4 ,and these last may be
 described as  the psychical sphere of  
culture4    ,for the sake of a uniform  

terminology we will describe the fact   
that an  instinct cannot be satisfied as
 #8frustration'1 the means by which this
  frustration is secured as             
#8prohibition'1 and the condition       
produced by  the prohibition as         
#8privation'4 ,then the next step is to 
distinguish  between privations that do 
affect everybody and those that do not1 
those  that merely affect groups1       
classes1 or even individuals4 ,the      
former are  the oldest2 with the        
prohibitions that cause them culture    
began1 who  knows how many thousands of 
years ago1 to detach itself from the    
primordial animal condition of mankind4 
,to our surprise we have found  that    
they are still operative1 that they     
still form the kernel of the  hostility 
to culture4 ,the instinctual wishes that
 suffer under them are  born anew with  
every child2 there is a class of men1   
the neurotics1 who  react already to    
this first group of frustrations by an  
asocial  attitude4 ,such instinctual    

wishes are those of incest1 of          
cannibalism1  and of murder4 ,it seems  
strange to classify these1 in           
repudiating which  all men seem to be at
 one1 with those others1 about whose    
permissibility  or impermissibility in  
our culture there is so vigorous a      
dispute2 but  psychologically one is    
justified in doing this4 ,nor is the    
attitude of  culture to these oldest    
instinctual wishes the same in each     
case2  cannibalism alone seems to be    
proscribed by everyone1 and--to other   
than  analytic observation--completely  
overcome2 the strength of the incest    
wishes can still be perceived behind the
 prohibition2 and under certain         
conditions murder is still practised1   
indeed enjoined1 by our culture4  ,it is
 possible that cultural developments lie
 before us1 in which yet  other         
wish-gratifications1 which are to-day   
entirely permissible1 will  appear just 
as disagreeable as those of cannibalism 
do now4    ,already in these earliest   

instinctual renunciations a             
psychological  factor is involved1 which
 remains of great importance for        
everything  that follows4 ,it is not    
true to say that the human mind has     
undergone no  development since the     
earliest times and that in contrast to  
the  advances of science and technical  
skill it is still the same to-day as  at
 the beginning of history4 ,we can point
 out one of these advances  here4 ,it is
 in accordance with the course of our   
development that  external compulsion is
 gradually internalized1 in that a      
special mental  function1 man's         
super-ego1 takes it under its           
jurisdiction4 ,every child  presents to 
us the model of this transformation2 it 
is only by that  means that it becomes a
 moral and social being4 ,this          
strengthening of  the super-ego is a    
highly valuable psychological possession
 for culture4  ,those people in whom it 
has taken place1 from being the foes of 
culture1  become its supporters4 ,the   

greater their number in a cultural      
community1  the more secure it is and   
the more easily can it dispense with    
external  coercion4 ,now the degree of  
this internalization differs widely in  
the  case of each instinctual           
prohibition4 ,as far as the earliest    
demands of  culture1 already mentioned1 
are concerned1 the process of           
internalization seems to have been to a 
great extent accomplished1 if we  leave 
out of account the unwelcome exception  
of the neurotics4 ,but the  case is     
altered when we turn to the other       
instinctual claims4 ,one notes  with    
surprise and concern that a majority of 
men obey the cultural  prohibitions in  
question only under the pressure of     
external force1 in  fact only where the 
latter can assert itself and for as long
 as it is an  object of fear4 ,this also
 holds good for those so-called moral   
cultural  demands1 which in the same way
 apply to everyone4 ,the greater part of
  what one experiences of man's moral   

untrustworthiness is to be explained  in
 this connection4 ,there are innumerable
 civilized people who would  shrink from
 murder or incest1 and who yet do not   
hesitate to gratify  their avarice1     
their aggressiveness and their sexual   
lusts1 and who have  no compunction in  
hurting others by lying1 fraud and      
calumny1 so long as  they remain        
unpunished for it2 and no doubt this has
 been so for many  cultural epochs4     
,if we turn to those restrictions that  
only apply to certain classes of        
society1 we encounter a state of things 
which is glaringly obvious and  has     
always been recognized4 ,it is to be    
expected that the neglected  classes    
will grudge the favoured ones their     
privileges and that they  will do       
everything in their power to rid        
themselves of their own surplus  of     
privation4 ,where this is not possible a
 lasting measure of discontent  will    
obtain within this culture1 and this may
 lead to dangerous  outbreaks4 ,but if a

 culture has not got beyond the stage in
 which the  satisfaction of one group of
 its members necessarily involves the   
suppression of another1 perhaps the     
majority--and this is the case in all   
modern cultures1--it is intelligible    
that these suppressed classes should    
develop an intense hostility to the     
culture2 a culture1 whose existence     
they make possible by their labour1 but 
in whose resources they have too  small 
a share4 ,in such conditions one must   
not expect to find an  internalization  
of the cultural prohibitions among the  
suppressed  classes2 indeed they are not
 even prepared to acknowledge these     
prohibitions1 intent1 as they are1 on   
the destruction of the culture  itself  
and perhaps even of the assumptions on  
which it rests4 ,these  classes are so  
manifestly hostile to culture that on   
that account the  more latent hostility 
of the better provided social strata has
 been  overlooked4 ,it need not be said 
that a culture which leaves unsatisfied 

and drives to rebelliousness so large a 
number of its members neither  has a    
prospect of continued existence1 nor    
deserves it4    ,the extent to which    
cultural rules have been                
internalized--to express it  popularly  
and unpsychologically3 the moral level  
of the members--is not  the only        
psychical asset to be considered if one 
is estimating the value  of a culture4  
,in addition there is its heritage of   
ideals and artistic  creations1 that is 
to say1 of the satisfactions they both  
yield4    ,one will be only too readily 
inclined to include among the psychical 
possessions of a culture its ideals1    
that is1 its judgements of what are  its
 loftiest and its most ambitious        
accomplishments4 ,it seems at first  as 
if these ideals would determine the     
achievements of the cultural  group2 but
 the actual process would seem to be    
that the ideals are  modelled on the    
first achievements that the co-operation
 of internal  ability and external      

circumstances made possible1 and that   
now these  first achievements are merely
 held fast by the ideal as examples to  
be  followed4 ,the satisfaction the     
ideal gives to the members of the       
culture  is thus of a narcissistic      
nature1 it is based on pride in what has
  already been successfully achieved4   
,to make this satisfaction complete  the
 culture compares itself with others    
which have applied themselves to  other 
tasks and have developed other ideals4  
,on the strength of these  differences  
every culture claims the right to       
despise the rest4 ,in this  way cultural
 ideals become a source of discord and  
enmity between  different cultural      
groups1 as can be most clearly seen     
among nations4    ,the narcissistic     
satisfaction provided by the cultural   
ideal is also one  of the forces that   
effectively counteract the hostility to 
culture  within the cultural group4 ,it 
can be shared not only by the favoured  
classes1 which enjoy the benefits of    

this culture1 but also by the           
suppressed1 since the right to despise  
those that are outside it  compensates  
them for the wrongs they suffer in their
 own group4 ,true1  one is a miserable  
plebeian1 tormented by obligations and  
military  service1 but withal one is a  
,roman citizen1 one has one's share in  
the  task of ruling other nations and   
dictating their laws4 ,this             
identification of the suppressed with   
the class that governs and  exploits    
them is1 however1 only a part of a      
larger whole4 ,thus the  former can be  
attached affectively to the latter2 in  
spite of their  animosity they can find 
their ideals in their masters4 ,unless  
such  relations1 fundamentally of a     
satisfying kind1 were in existence1 it  
would be impossible to understand how so
 many cultures have contrived to  exist 
for so long in spite of the justified   
hostility of great masses of  men4      
,different in kind is the satisfaction  
that art yields to the members of  a    

cultural group4 ,as a rule it remains   
inaccessible to the masses1 who  are    
engaged in exhausting labour and who    
have not enjoyed the benefits  of       
individual education4 ,as we have long  
known1 art offers substitutive          
gratifications for the oldest cultural  
renunciations1 still always most  deeply
 felt1 and for that reason serves like  
nothing else to reconcile  men to the   
sacrifices they have made on culture's  
behalf4 ,on the other  hand1 works of   
art promote the feelings of             
identification1 of which  every cultural
 group has so much need1 in the occasion
 they provide for  the sharing of highly
 valued emotional experiences4 ,and when
 they  represent the achievements of a  
particular culture1 thus in an          
impressive way recalling it to its      
ideals1 they also subserve a            
narcissistic gratification4    ,no      
mention has yet been made of what is    
perhaps the most important part  of the 
psychical inventory of a culture3 that  

is to say1 its--in the  broadest        
sense--religious ideas2 in other words1 
the use of which will be  justified     
later1 its illusions4                   
,,chapter ,,iii      ,wherein lies the  
peculiar value of religious ideas8      
,we have spoken of the hostility to     
culture1 produced by the pressure it    
exercises and the instinctual           
renunciations that it demands4 ,if one  
imagined its prohibitions removed1 then 
one could choose any woman who  took    
one's fancy as one's sexual object1 one 
could kill without  hesitation one's    
rival or whoever interfered with one in 
any other way1  and one could seize what
 one wanted of another man's goods      
without  asking his leave3 how splendid1
 what a succession of delights1 life    
would be6 ,true1 one soon finds the     
first difficulty3 everyone else has     
exactly the same wishes1 and will treat 
one with no more consideration  than one
 will treat him4 ,and so in reality     
there is only one single  person who can

 be made unrestrictedly happy by        
abolishing thus the  restrictions       
imposed by culture1 and that is a tyrant
 or dictator who  has monopolized all   
the means of power2 and even he has     
every reason to  want the others to keep
 at least one cultural commandment3 thou
 shalt  not kill4    ,but how           
ungrateful1 how short-sighted after all1
 to strive for the  abolition of        
culture6 ,what would then remain would  
be the state of  nature1 and that is far
 harder to endure4 ,it is true that     
nature does  not ask us to restrain our 
instincts1 she lets us do as we like2   
but she  has her peculiarly effective   
mode of restricting us3 she destroys us1
  coldly1 cruelly1 callously1 as it     
seems to us1 and possibly just through  
what has caused our satisfaction4 ,it   
was because of these very dangers  with 
which nature threatens us that we united
 together and created  culture1 which1  
amongst other things1 is supposed to    
make our communal  existence possible4  

,indeed1 it is the principal task of    
culture1 its  real raison d'tre1 to     
defend us against nature4    ,one must  
confess that in many ways it already    
does this tolerably well1  and clearly  
as time goes on it will be much more    
successful4 ,but no one  is under the   
illusion that nature has so far been    
vanquished2 few dare  to hope that she  
will ever be completely under man's     
subjection4 ,there  are the elements1   
which seem to mock at all human control3
 the earth1  which quakes1 is rent      
asunder1 and buries man and all his     
works2 the  water1 which in tumult      
floods and submerges all things2 the    
storm1 which  drives all before it2     
there are the diseases1 which we have   
only lately  recognized as the attacks  
of other living creatures2 and finally  
there  is the painful riddle of death1  
for which no remedy at all has yet been 
found1 nor probably ever will be4 ,with 
these forces nature rises up  before us1
 sublime1 pitiless1 inexorable2 thus she

 brings again to mind  our weakness and 
helplessness1 of which we thought the   
work of  civilization had rid us4 ,it is
 one of the few noble and gratifying    
spectacles that men can offer1 when in  
the face of an elemental  catastrophe   
they awake from their muddle and        
confusion1 forget all their  internal   
difficulties and animosities1 and       
remember the great common  task1 the    
preservation of mankind against the     
supremacy of nature4    ,for the        
individual1 as for mankind in general1  
life is hard to endure4  ,the culture in
 which he shares imposes on him some    
measure of privation1  and other men    
occasion him a certain degree of        
suffering1 either in  spite of the laws 
of this culture or because of its       
imperfections4 ,add  to this the evils  
that unvanquished nature--he calls it   
,fate--inflicts on  him4 ,one would     
expect a permanent condition of anxious 
suspense and a  severe injury to his    
innate narcissism to be the result of   

this state of  affairs4 ,we know already
 how the individual reacts to the       
injuries that  culture and other men    
inflict on him3 he develops a           
corresponding degree  of resistance     
against the institutions of this        
culture1 of hostility  towards it4 ,but 
how does he defend himself against the  
supremacy of  nature1 of fate1 which    
threatens him1 as it threatens all8     
,culture relieves him of this task3 it  
performs it in the same way for         
everyone4 7,it is also noteworthy that  
pretty well all cultures are the  same  
in this respect47 ,it does not cry a    
halt1 as it were1 in its task  of       
defending man against nature2 it merely 
pursues it by other methods4  ,this is a
 complex business2 man's seriously      
menaced self-esteem craves  for         
consolation1 life and the universe must 
be rid of their terrors1 and            
incidentally man's curiosity1           
reinforced1 it is true1 by the strongest
  practical motives1 demands an answer4 

,with the first step1 which is the      
humanization of nature1 much is  already
 won4 ,nothing can be made of impersonal
 forces and fates2 they  remain         
eternally remote4 ,but if the elements  
have passions that rage  like those in  
our own souls1 if death itself is not   
something  spontaneous1 but the violent 
act of an evil ,will1 if everywhere in  
nature we have about us beings who      
resemble those of our own  environment1 
then indeed we can breathe freely1 we   
can feel at home in  face of the        
supernatural1 and we can deal           
psychically with our frantic  anxiety4  
,we are perhaps still defenceless1 but  
no longer helplessly  paralysed2 we can 
at least react2 perhaps indeed we are   
not even  defenceless1 we can have      
recourse to the same methods against    
these  violent supermen of the beyond   
that we make use of in our own          
community2  we can try to exorcise them1
 to appease them1 to bribe them1 and so 
rob  them of part of their power by thus

 influencing them4 ,such a  substitution
 of psychology for natural science      
provides not merely  immediate relief1  
it also points the way to a further     
mastery of the  situation4    ,for there
 is nothing new in this situation4 ,it  
has an infantile  prototype1 and is     
really only the continuation of this4   
,for once before  one has been in such a
 state of helplessness3 as a little     
child in one's  relationship to one's   
parents4 ,for one had reason to fear    
them1  especially the father1 though at 
the same time one was sure of his       
protection against the dangers then     
known to one4 ,and so it was natural  to
 assimilate and combine the two         
situations4 ,here1 too1 as in           
dream-life1 the wish came into its own4 
,the sleeper is seized by a             
presentiment of death1 which seeks to   
carry him to the grave4 ,but the        
dream-work knows how to select a        
condition that will turn even this      
dreaded event into a wish-fulfilment3   

the dreamer sees himself in an  ancient 
,etruscan grave1 into which he has      
descended1 happy in the  satisfaction it
 has given to his archological          
interests4 ,similarly man  makes the    
forces of nature not simply in the image
 of men with whom he  can associate as  
his equals--that would not do justice to
 the  overpowering impression they make 
on him--but he gives them the           
characteristics of the father1 makes    
them into gods1 thereby following  not  
only an infantile1 but also1 as ,i have 
tried to show1 a phylogenetic           
prototype4    ,in the course of time the
 first observations of law and order in 
natural  phenomena are made1 and        
therewith the forces of nature lose     
their human  traits4 ,but men's         
helplessness remains1 and with it their 
father-longing  and the gods4 ,the gods 
retain their threefold task3 they must  
exorcise  the terrors of nature1 they   
must reconcile one to the cruelty of    
fate1  particularly as shown in death1  

and they must make amends for the       
sufferings and privations that the      
communal life of culture has imposed  on
 man4    ,but within these there is a   
gradual shifting of the accent4 ,it is  
observed that natural phenomena develop 
of themselves from inward  necessity2   
without doubt the gods are the lords of 
nature3 they have  arranged it thus and 
now they can leave it to itself4 ,only  
occasionally1  in the so-called         
miracles1 do they intervene in its      
course1 as if to  protest that they have
 surrendered nothing of their original  
sphere of  power4 ,as far as the        
vicissitudes of fate are concerned1 an  
unpleasant  suspicion persists that the 
perplexity and helplessness of the human
  race cannot be remedied4 ,this is     
where the gods are most apt to fail us2 
if they themselves make fate1 then their
 ways must be deemed  inscrutable4 ,the 
most gifted people of the ancient world 
dimly surmised  that above the gods     
stands ,destiny and that the gods       

themselves have  their destinies4 ,and  
the more autonomous nature becomes and  
the more the  gods withdraw from her1   
the more earnestly are all expectations 
concentrated on the third task assigned 
to them and the more does  morality     
become their real domain4 ,it now       
becomes the business of the  gods to    
adjust the defects and evils of culture1
 to attend to the  sufferings that men  
inflict on each other in their communal 
life1 and to  see that the laws of      
culture1 which men obey so ill1 are     
carried out4  ,the laws of culture      
themselves are claimed to be of divine  
origin1 they  are elevated to a position
 above human society1 and they are      
extended  over nature and the universe4 
,and so a rich store of ideas is formed1
 born of the need to make  tolerable the
 helplessness of man1 and built out of  
the material offered  by memories of the
 helplessness of his own childhood and  
the childhood  of the human race4 ,it is
 easy to see that these ideas protect   

man in two  directions2 against the     
dangers of nature and fate1 and against 
the  evils of human society itself4     
,what it amounts to is this3 life in    
this  world serves a higher purpose2    
true1 it is not easy to guess the nature
  of this purpose1 but certainly a      
perfecting of human existence is        
implied4 ,probably the spiritual part of
 man1 the soul1 which in the  course of 
time has so slowly and unwillingly      
detached itself from the  body1 is to be
 regarded as the object of this         
elevation and exaltation4  ,everything  
that takes place in this world expresses
 the intentions of an  ,intelligence1   
superior to us1 which in the end1 though
 its devious ways  may be difficult to  
follow1 orders everything for good1 that
 is1 to our  advantage4 ,over each one  
of us watches a benevolent1 and only    
apparently  severe1 ,providence1 which  
will not suffer us to become the        
plaything of  the stark and pitiless    
forces of nature2 death itself is not   

annihilation1 not a return to inorganic 
lifelessness1 but the beginning  of a   
new kind of existence1 which lies on the
 road of development to  something      
higher4 ,and to turn to the other side  
of the question1 the  moral laws that   
have formed our culture govern also the 
whole universe1  only they are upheld   
with incomparably more force and        
consistency by a  supreme judicial      
court4 ,in the end all good is rewarded1
 all evil  punished1 if not actually in 
this life1 then in the further          
existences  that begin after death4 ,and
 thus all the terrors1 the sufferings1  
and  the hardships of life are destined 
to be obliterated2 the life after       
death1 which continues our earthly      
existence as the invisible part of  the 
spectrum adjoins the visible1 brings all
 the perfection that perhaps  we have   
missed here4 ,and the superior wisdom   
that directs this issue1  the supreme   
goodness that expresses itself thus1 the
 justice that thus  achieves its        

aim--these are the qualities of the     
divine beings who have  fashioned us and
 the world in general2 or rather of the 
one divine being  into which in our     
culture all the gods of antiquity have  
been condensed4  ,the race that first   
succeeded in thus concentrating the     
divine qualities  was not a little proud
 of this advance4 ,it had revealed the  
father  nucleus which had always lain   
hidden behind every divine figure2      
fundamentally it was a return to the    
historical beginnings of the idea  of   
,god4 ,now that ,god was a single       
person1 man's relations to him could    
recover the intimacy and intensity of   
the child's relation to the  father4 ,if
 one had done so much for the father1   
then surely one would be  rewarded--at  
least the only beloved child1 the chosen
 people1 would be4  ,more recently1     
pious ,america has laid claim to be     
#8,god's own country'1  and for one of  
the forms under which men worship the   
deity the claim  certainly holds good4  

,the religious ideas that have just been
 summarized have of course gone  through
 a long process of development1 and have
 been held in various  phases by various
 cultures4 ,i have singled out one such 
phase of  development1 which more or    
less corresponds to the final form of   
our  contemporary ,christian culture in 
the west4 ,it is easy to see that not   
all the parts of this whole tally       
equally well with each other1 that not  
all the questions that press for an     
answer receive one1 and that the        
contradiction of daily experience can   
only with difficulty be dismissed4  ,but
 such as they are1 these                
ideas--religious1 in the broadest sense 
of  the word--are prized as the most    
precious possession of culture1 as the  
most valuable thing it has to offer its 
members2 far more highly prized  than   
all our devices for winning the         
treasures of the earth1 for  providing  
men with sustenance1 or for preventing  
their diseases1 and so  forth2 men      

suppose that life would be intolerable  
if they did not accord  these ideas the 
value that is claimed for them4 ,and now
 the question  arises3 what are these   
ideas in the light of psychology2 whence
 do they  derive the esteem in which    
they are held2 and further1 in all      
diffidence1 what is their real worth8   
,,chapter ,,iv      ,an enquiry that    
proceeds uninterruptedly1 like a        
monologue1 is not  altogether without   
its dangers4 ,one is too easily tempted 
to push aside  thoughts that would      
interrupt it1 and in exchange one is    
left with a  feeling of uncertainty     
which one will drown in the end by      
over-decisiveness4 ,i shall therefore   
imagine an opponent who follows my      
arguments with mistrust1 and ,i shall   
let him interject remarks here and      
there4    ,i hear him saying3 #8,you    
have repeatedly used the expressions    
8culture  creates these religious       
ideas01 8culture places them at the     
disposal of  its members01 which sounds 

strange to me somehow4 ,i could not say 
why  myself1 but it does not sound so   
natural as to say that culture has made 
regulations about distributing the      
products of labour or about the  rights 
over women and children4'    ,i think1  
nevertheless1 that one is justified in  
expressing oneself thus4  ,i have tried 
to show that religious ideas have sprung
 from the same need  as all the other   
achievements of culture3 from the       
necessity for  defending itself against 
the crushing supremacy of nature4 ,and  
there was  a second motive3 the eager   
desire to correct the so painfully felt 
imperfections of culture4 ,moreover1    
there is something particularly         
apposite in saying that culture gives   
the individual these ideas1 for he      
finds them at hand1 they are presented  
to him ready-made2 he would not  be in a
 position to find them by himself4 ,it  
is the heritage of many  generations    
which he enters into and which he takes 
over as he does the  multiplication     

table1 geometry1 etc4 ,there is         
certainly a distinction in  this1 but it
 lies elsewhere1 and ,i cannot examine  
it at this point4 ,the  feeling of      
strangeness that you mention may be     
partly accounted for by  the fact that  
this stock of religious ideas is        
generally offered as a  divine          
revelation4 ,but that is in itself a    
part of the religious system1  and      
entirely leaves out of account the known
 historical development of  these ideas 
and their variations in different ages  
and cultures4    #8,another point which 
seems to me more important4 ,you would  
derive the  humanization of nature from 
the desire to put an end to human       
perplexity  and helplessness in the face
 of nature's dreaded forces1 and from   
the  necessity for establishing         
relations with1 and finally influencing1
  these forces4 ,but this explanation   
seems to be superfluous4 ,for  primitive
 man has no choice1 he has no other way 
of thinking4 ,it is  natural to him1 as 

if innate1 to project his existence     
outwards into the  world1 and to regard 
all events that come under his          
observation as the  manifestations of   
beings who fundamentally resemble       
himself4 ,it is his  only method of     
comprehension4 ,and it is by no means   
self-evident1 on the  contrary it is a  
remarkable coincidence1 that he should  
succeed in  satisfying one of his great 
wants by thus indulging his natural     
disposition4'    ,i do not find that so 
striking4 ,for do you suppose that men's
  thought-processes have no practical   
motives1 that they are simply the       
expression of a disinterested curiosity8
 ,that is surely very improbable4  ,i   
believe1 rather1 that when he           
personifies the forces of nature man is 
once again following an infantile       
prototype4 ,he has learnt from the      
persons of his earliest environment that
 the way to influence them is to        
establish a relationship with them1 and 
so1 later on1 with the same end  in     

view1 he deals with everything that     
happens to him as he dealt with  those  
persons4 ,thus ,i do not contradict your
 descriptive observation2 it  is1 in    
point of fact1 natural to man to        
personify everything that he  wishes to 
comprehend1 in order that later he may  
control it--the  psychical subjugation  
as preparation for the physical--but ,i 
provide in  addition a motive and       
genesis for this peculiarity of human   
thought4    #8,and now yet a third      
point4 ,you have dealt with the origin  
of religion  once before1 in your book  
,totem und ,tabu4 ,but there it appears 
in a  different light4 ,everything is   
the son-father relationship2 ,god is the
  exalted father1 and the longing for   
the father is the root of the need  for 
religion4 ,since then1 it seems1 you    
have discovered the factor of  human    
weakness and helplessness1 to which     
indeed the chief part in the  formation 
of religion is commonly assigned1 and   
you now transfer to  helplessness       

everything that was formerly father     
complex4 ,may ,i ask you  to enlighten  
me on this transformation8'    ,with    
pleasure4 ,i was only waiting for this  
invitation4 ,but is it really  a        
transformation8 ,in ,totem und ,tabu it 
was not my purpose to explain  the      
origin of religions1 but only of        
totemism4 ,can you from any  standpoint 
known to you explain the fact that the  
first form in which  the protecting     
deity revealed itself to men was that of
 an animal1 that  a prohibition existed 
against killing or eating this animal1  
and that  yet it was the solemn custom  
to kill it and eat it communally once a 
year8 ,it is just this that takes place 
in totemism4 ,and it is hardly to  the  
purpose to argue whether totemism should
 be called a religion4 ,it  has intimate
 connections with the later             
god-religions2 the totem animals  become
 the sacred animals of the gods2 and the
 earliest1 and the most  profound1 moral
 restrictions--the murder prohibition   

and the incest  prohibition--originate  
in totemism4 ,whether or not you accept 
the  conclusions of ,totem und ,tabu1 ,i
 hope you will admit that in that book  
a number of very remarkable isolated    
facts are brought together into a       
consistent whole4    ,why in the long   
run the animal god did not suffice and  
why it was  replaced by the human--that 
was hardly discussed in ,totem und      
,tabu1 and  other problems of the       
formation of religion find no mention   
there at  all4 ,but do you regard such a
 limitation as identical with a denial8 
,my  work is a good example of the      
strict isolation of the share that      
psycho-analytic observation can         
contribute to the problem of religion4  
,if ,i am now trying to add to it the   
other1 less deeply hidden1 part1 you    
should not accuse me of inconsistency1  
just as before ,i was accused of  being 
one-sided4 ,it is of course my business 
to point out the connecting  links      
between what ,i said before and what ,i 

now put forward1 between the  deeper and
 the manifest motivation1 between the   
father complex and man's  helplessness  
and need for protection4    ,these      
connections are not difficult to find4  
,they consist in the  relation of the   
child's helplessness to the adult's     
continuation of it1  so that1 as was to 
be expected1 the psycho-analytic        
motivation of the  forming of religion  
turns out to be the infantile           
contribution to its  manifest           
motivation4 ,let us imagine to ourselves
 the mental life of the  small child4   
,you remember the object-choice after   
the anaclitic type1  which              
psycho-analysis talks about8 ,the libido
 follows the paths of  narcissistic     
needs1 and attaches itself to the       
objects that ensure their  satisfaction4
 ,so the mother1 who satisfies hunger1  
becomes the first  love-object1 and     
certainly also the first protection     
against all the  undefined and          
threatening dangers of the outer world2 

becomes1 if we may  so express it1 the  
first protection against anxiety4    ,in
 this function the mother is soon       
replaced by the stronger father1 and    
this situation persists from now on over
 the whole of childhood4 ,but the       
relation to the father is affected by a 
peculiar ambivalence4 ,he was  himself a
 danger1 perhaps just because of that   
earlier relation to the  mother2 so he  
is feared no less than he is longed for 
and admired4 ,the  indications of this  
ambivalence are deeply imprinted in all 
religions1  as is brought out in ,totem 
und ,tabu4 ,now when the child grows up 
and  finds that he is destined to remain
 a child for ever1 and that he can      
never do without protection against     
unknown and mighty powers1 he  invests  
these with the traits of the            
father-figure2 he creates for  himself  
the gods1 of whom he is afraid1 whom he 
seeks to propitiate1 and  to whom he    
nevertheless entrusts the task of       
protecting him4 ,thus the               

longing-for-the-father explanation is   
identical with the other1 the need  for 
protection against the consequences of  
human weakness2 the child's  defensive  
reaction to his helplessness gives the  
characteristic features  to the adult's 
reaction to his own sense of            
helplessness1 i4e4 the  formation of    
religion4 ,but it is not our intention  
to pursue further the  development of   
the idea of ,god2 we are concerned here 
with the matured  stock of religious    
ideas as culture transmits them to the  
individual4                             
,,chapter ,v      ,now to take up again 
the threads of our enquiry3 what is the 
psychological significance of religious 
ideas and how can we classify  them8    
,the question is at first not at all    
easy to answer4 ,having  rejected       
various formulas1 ,i shall take my stand
 by this one3 religion  consists of     
certain dogmas1 assertions about facts  
and conditions of  external 7or         
internal7 reality1 which tell one       

something that one has  not oneself     
discovered and which claim that one     
should give them  credence4 ,as they    
give information about what are to us   
the most  interesting and important     
things in life1 they are particularly   
highly  valued4 ,he who knows nothing of
 them is ignorant indeed1 and he who has
  assimilated them may consider himself 
enriched4    ,there are of course many  
such dogmas about the most diverse      
things of  this world4 ,every school    
hour is full of them4 ,let us choose    
geography4  ,we hear there3 ,konstanz is
 on the ,bodensee4 ,a student song adds3
 ,if you  don't believe it go and see4  
,i happen to have been there1 and can   
confirm the fact that this beautiful    
town lies on the shore of a broad       
stretch of water1 which all those       
dwelling around call the ,bodensee4 ,i  
am now completely convinced of the      
accuracy of this geographical           
statement4 ,and in this connection ,i am
 reminded of another and very           

remarkable experience4 ,i was already a 
man of mature years when ,i stood  for  
the first time on the hill of the       
,athenian ,acropolis1 between the       
temple ruins1 looking out on to the blue
 sea4 ,a feeling of astonishment        
mingled with my pleasure1 which prompted
 me to say3 then it really is  true1    
what we used to be taught at school6    
,how shallow and weak at that  age must 
have been my belief in the real truth of
 what ,i heard if ,i can  be so         
astonished to-day6 ,but ,i will not     
emphasize the significance of  this     
experience too much2 yet another        
explanation of my astonishment is       
possible1 which did not strike me at the
 time1 and which is of a wholly         
subjective nature and connected with the
 peculiar character of the  place4      
,all such dogmas as these1 then1 exact  
belief in their contents1 but not       
without substantiating their title to   
this4 ,they claim to be the  condensed  
result of a long process of thought1    

which is founded on  observation and    
also1 certainly1 on reasoning2 they show
 how1 if one so  intends1 one can go    
through this process oneself1 instead of
 accepting  the result of it2 and the   
source of the knowledge imparted by the 
dogma  is always added1 where it is not1
 as with geographical statements1       
self-evident4 ,for instance3 the earth  
is shaped like a globe2 the proofs      
adduced for this are ,foucault's        
pendulum experiment1 the phenomena of   
the horizon and the possibility of      
circumnavigating the earth4 ,since it   
is impracticable1 as all concerned      
realize1 to send every school child  on 
a voyage round the world1 one is content
 that the school teaching  shall be     
taken on trust1 but one knows that the  
way to personal  conviction is still    
open4    ,let us try to apply the same  
tests to the dogmas of religion4 ,if we 
ask  on what their claim to be believed 
is based1 we receive three answers1     
which accord remarkably ill with one    

another4 ,they deserve to be  believed3 
firstly1 because our primal ancestors   
already believed them2  secondly1       
because we possess proofs1 which have   
been handed down to us  from this very  
period of antiquity2 and thirdly1       
because it is forbidden  to raise the   
question of their authenticity at all4  
,formerly this  presumptuous act was    
visited with the very severest          
penalties1 and even  to-day society is  
unwilling to see anyone renew it4       
,this third point cannot but rouse our  
strongest suspicions4 ,such a           
prohibition can surely have only one    
motive3 that society knows very  well   
the uncertain basis of the claim it     
makes for its religious  doctrines4 ,if 
it were otherwise1 the relevant material
 would certainly  be placed most readily
 at the disposal of anyone who wished to
 gain  conviction for himself4 ,and so  
we proceed to test the other two        
arguments with a feeling of mistrust not
 easily allayed4 ,we ought to  believe  

because our forefathers believed4 ,but  
these ancestors of ours  were far more  
ignorant than we2 they believed in      
things we could not  possibly accept    
to-day2 so the possibility occurs that  
religious  doctrines may also be in this
 category4 ,the proofs they have        
bequeathed  to us are deposited in      
writings that themselves bear every     
trace of  being untrustworthy4 ,they are
 full of contradictions1 revisions1 and 
interpolations2 where they speak of     
actual authentic proofs they are        
themselves of doubtful authenticity4 ,it
 does not help much if divine           
revelation is asserted to be the origin 
of their text or only of their  content1
 for this assertion is itself already a 
part of those doctrines  whose          
authenticity is to be examined1 and no  
statement can bear its own  proof4      
,thus we arrive at the singular         
conclusion that just what might be of   
the  greatest significance for us in our
 cultural system1 the information  which

 should solve for us the riddles of the 
universe and reconcile us  to the       
troubles of life1 that just this has the
 weakest possible claim  to             
authenticity4 ,we should not be able to 
bring ourselves to accept  anything of  
as little concern to us as the fact that
 whales bear young  instead of laying   
eggs1 if it were not capable of better  
proof than  this4    ,this state of     
things is in itself a very remarkable   
psychological  problem4 ,let no one     
think that the foregoing remarks on the 
impossibility of proving religious      
doctrines contain anything new4 ,it  has
 been felt at all times1 assuredly even 
by the ancestors who  bequeathed this   
legacy4 ,probably many of them nursed   
the same doubts as  we1 but the pressure
 imposed on them was too strong for them
 to have  dared to utter them4 ,and     
since then countless people have been   
tortured  by the same doubts1 which they
 would fain have suppressed because they
  held themselves in duty bound to      

believe1 and since then many brilliant  
intellects have been wrecked upon this  
conflict and many characters have  come 
to grief through the compromises by     
which they sought a way out4    ,if all 
the arguments that are put forward for  
the authenticity of  religious doctrines
 originate in the past1 it is natural to
 look round  and see whether the        
present1 better able to judge in these  
matters1  cannot also furnish such      
evidence4 ,the whole of the religious   
system  would become infinitely more    
credible if one could succeed in this   
way  in removing the element of doubt   
from a single part of it4 ,it is at this
  point that the activity of the        
spiritualists comes in2 they are        
convinced of the immortality of the     
individual soul1 and they would         
demonstrate to us that this one article 
of religious teaching is free  from     
doubt4 ,unfortunately they have not     
succeeded in disproving the fact  that  
the appearances and utterances of their 

spirits are merely the  productions of  
their own mental activity4 ,they have   
called up the  spirits of the greatest  
of men1 of the most eminent thinkers1   
but all  their utterances and all the   
information they have received from them
  have been so foolish and so           
desperately insignificant that one could
  find nothing else to believe in but   
the capacity of the spirits for         
adapting themselves to the circle of    
people that had evoked them4    ,one    
must now mention two attempts to evade  
the problem1 which both  convey the     
impression of frantic effort4 ,one of   
them1 high-handed in its  nature1 is    
old2 the other is subtle and modern4    
,the first is the ,credo  quia absurdum 
of the early ,father4 ,it would imply   
that religious  doctrines are outside   
reason's jurisdiction2 they stand above 
reason4  ,their truth must be inwardly  
felt3 one does not need to comprehend   
them4  ,but this ,credo is only of      
interest as a voluntary confession2 as a

  decree it has no binding force4 ,am ,i
 to be obliged to believe every         
absurdity8 ,and if not1 why just this   
one8 ,there is no appeal beyond  reason4
 ,and if the truth of religious         
doctrines is dependent on an inner      
experience which bears witness to that  
truth1 what is one to make of the  many 
people who do not have that rare        
experience8 ,one may expect all men  to 
use the gift of reason that they        
possess1 but one cannot set up an       
obligation that shall apply to all on a 
basis that only exists for quite  a few4
 ,of what significance is it for other  
people that you have won  from a state  
of ecstasy1 which has deeply moved you1 
an imperturbable  conviction of the real
 truth of the doctrines of religion8    
,the second attempt is that of the      
philosophy of #8,as ,if'4 ,it explains  
that in our mental activity we assume   
all manner of things1 the               
groundlessness1 indeed the absurdity1 of
 which we fully realize4 ,they  are     

called #8fictions'1 but from a variety  
of practical motives we are  led to     
behave #8as if' we believed in these    
fictions4 ,this1 it is argued1  is the  
case with religious doctrines on account
 of their unequalled  importance for the
 maintenance of human society4#b ,this  
argument is not  far removed from the   
,credo quia absurdum4 ,but ,i think that
 the claim  of the philosophy of #8,as  
,if' is such as only a philosopher could
 make4  ,the man whose thinking is not  
influenced by the wiles of philosophy   
will  never be able to accept it2 with  
the confession of absurdity1 of         
illogicality1 there is no more to be    
said as far as he is concerned4 ,he     
cannot be expected to forgo the         
guarantees he demands for all his usual 
activities just in the matter of his    
most important interests4 ,i am         
reminded of one of my children who was  
distinguished at an early age by  a     
peculiarly marked sense of reality4     
,when the children were told a  fairy   

tale1 to which they listened with rapt  
attention1 he would come  forward and   
ask3 ,is that a true story8 ,having been
 told that it was not1  he would turn   
away with an air of disdain4 ,it is to  
be expected that men  will soon behave  
in like manner towards the religious    
fairy tales1  despite the advocacy of   
the philosophy of #8,as ,if'4           
,footnote #b3      ,i hope ,i am not    
doing an injustice if ,i make the author
 of the    philosophy of #8,as ,if'     
represent a point of view that is       
familiar to    other thinkers also4 ,cp4
 ,h4 ,vaihinger1 ,die ,philosophie des  
,als ob1    ,siebente und achte         
,auflage1 #aibb1 ,s4 #fh3 #8,we include 
as fictions not    merely indifferent   
theoretical operations but ideational   
constructions    emanating from the     
noblest minds1 to which the noblest part
 of mankind    cling and of which they  
will not allow themselves to be         
deprived4 ,nor    is it our object so to
 deprive them--for as practical fictions

 we    leave them all intact2 they      
perish only as theoretical truths' 7,c4 
,k4 ,ogden's translation74    ,but at   
present they still behave quite         
differently1 and in past ages1 in  spite
 of their incontrovertible lack of      
authenticity1 religious ideas  have     
exercised the very strongest influence  
on mankind4 ,this is a fresh            
psychological problem4 ,we must ask     
where the inherent strength of these    
doctrines lies and to what circumstance 
they owe their efficacy1  independent1  
as it is1 of the acknowledgement of the 
reason4                                 
,,chapter ,,vi      ,i think we have    
sufficiently paved the way for the      
answer to both these  questions4 ,it    
will be found if we fix our attention on
 the psychical  origin of religious     
ideas4 ,these1 which profess to be      
dogmas1 are not  the residue of         
experience or the final result of       
reflection2 they are  illusions1        
fulfilments of the oldest1 strongest and

 most insistent  wishes of mankind2 the 
secret of their strength is the strength
 of these  wishes4 ,we know already that
 the terrifying effect of infantile     
helplessness aroused the need for       
protection--protection through          
love--which the father relieved1 and    
that the discovery that this            
helplessness would continue through the 
whole of life made it necessary  to     
cling to the existence of a father--but 
this time a more powerful one4  ,thus   
the benevolent rule of divine providence
 allays our anxiety in face  of life's  
dangers1 the establishment of a moral   
world order ensures the  fulfilment of  
the demands of justice1 which within    
human culture have so  often remained   
unfulfilled1 and the prolongation of    
earthly existence by  a future life     
provides in addition the local and      
temporal setting for  these             
wish-fulfilments4 ,answers to the       
questions that tempt human  curiosity1  
such as the origin of the universe and  

the relation between  the body and the  
soul1 are developed in accordance with  
the underlying  assumptions of this     
system2 it betokens a tremendous relief 
for the  individual psyche if it is     
released from the conflicts of childhood
  arising out of the father complex1    
which are never wholly overcome1 and  if
 these conflicts are afforded a         
universally accepted solution4    ,when 
,i say that they are illusions1 ,i must 
define the meaning of the  word4 ,an    
illusion is not the same as an error1 it
 is indeed not  necessarily an error4   
,aristotle's belief that vermin are     
evolved out of  dung1 to which ignorant 
people still cling1 was an error2 so was
 the  belief of a former generation of  
doctors that tabes dorsalis was the     
result of sexual excess4 ,it would be   
improper to call these errors           
illusions4 ,on the other hand1 it was an
 illusion on the part of ,columbus  that
 he had discovered a new sea-route to   
,india4 ,the part played by his  wish in

 this error is very clear4 ,one may     
describe as an illusion the  statement  
of certain nationalists that the        
,indo-,germanic race is the  only one   
capable of culture1 or the belief1 which
 only psycho-analysis  destroyed1 that  
the child is a being without sexuality4 
,it is  characteristic of the illusion  
that it is derived from men's wishes2 in
  this respect it approaches the        
psychiatric delusion1 but it is to be   
distinguished from this1 quite apart    
from the more complicated structure  of 
the latter4 ,in the delusion we         
emphasize as essential the conflict     
with reality2 the illusion need not be  
necessarily false1 that is to  say1     
unrealizable or incompatible with       
reality4 ,for instance1 a poor  girl may
 have an illusion that a prince will    
come and fetch her home4 ,it  is        
possible2 some such cases have occurred4
 ,that the ,messiah will come  and found
 a golden age is much less probable2    
according to one's  personal attitude   

one will classify this belief as an     
illusion or as  analogous to a delusion4
 ,examples of illusions that have come  
true are  not easy to discover1 but the 
illusion of the alchemists that all     
metals  can be turned into gold may     
prove to be one4 ,the desire to have    
lots of  gold1 as much gold as possible1
 has been considerably damped by our    
modern insight into the nature of       
wealth1 yet chemistry no longer         
considers a transmutation of metals into
 gold as impossible4 ,thus we  call a   
belief an illusion when wish-fulfilment 
is a prominent factor in  its           
motivation1 while disregarding its      
relations to reality1 just as the       
illusion itself does4    ,if after this 
survey we turn again to religious       
doctrines1 we may  reiterate that they  
are all illusions1 they do not admit of 
proof1 and  no one can be compelled to  
consider them as true or to believe in  
them4  ,some of them are so improbable1 
so very incompatible with everything we 

have laboriously discovered about the   
reality of the world1 that we may       
compare them--taking adequately into    
account the psychological               
differences--to delusions4 ,of the      
reality value of most of them we cannot 
judge2 just as they cannot be proved1   
neither can they be refuted4 ,we  still 
know too little to approach them        
critically4 ,the riddles of the         
universe only reveal themselves slowly  
to our enquiry1 to many questions       
science can as yet give no answer2 but  
scientific work is our only way  to the 
knowledge of external reality4 ,again1  
it is merely illusion to  expect        
anything from intuition or trance2 they 
can give us nothing but  particulars1   
which are difficult to interpret1 about 
our own mental  life1 never information 
about the questions that are so lightly 
answered  by the doctrines of religion4 
,it would be wanton to let one's own    
arbitrary action fill the gap1 and      
according to one's personal estimate    

declare this or that part of the        
religious system to be more or less     
acceptable4 ,these questions are too    
momentous for that2 too sacred1 one     
might say4    ,at this point it may be  
objected3 well1 then1 if even the       
crabbed  sceptics admit that the        
statements of religion cannot be        
confuted by  reason1 why should not ,i  
believe in them1 since they have so much
 on  their side--tradition1 the         
concurrence of mankind1 and all the     
consolation they yield8 ,yes1 why not8  
,just as no one can be forced into      
belief1 so no one can be forced into    
unbelief4 ,but do not deceive  yourself 
into thinking that with such arguments  
you are following the  path of correct  
reasoning4 ,if ever there was a case of 
facile argument1  this is one4          
,ignorance is ignorance2 no right to    
believe anything is  derived from it4   
,no reasonable man will behave so       
frivolously in other  matters or rest   
content with such feeble grounds for his

 opinions or for  the attitude he       
adopts2 it is only in the highest and   
holiest things  that he allows this4 ,in
 reality these are only attempts to     
delude  oneself or other people into the
 belief that one still holds fast to    
religion1 when one has long cut oneself 
loose from it4 ,where questions  of     
religion are concerned people are guilty
 of every possible kind of  insincerity 
and intellectual misdemeanour4          
,philosophers stretch the  meaning of   
words until they retain scarcely        
anything of their original  sense2 by   
calling #8,god' some vague abstraction  
which they have created  for themselves1
 they pose as deists1 as believers1     
before the world2  they may even pride  
themselves on having attained a higher  
and purer  idea of ,god1 although their 
,god is nothing but an insubstantial    
shadow  and no longer the mighty        
personality of religious doctrine4      
,critics  persist in calling #8deeply   
religious' a person who confesses to a  

sense  of man's insignificance and      
impotence in face of the universe1      
although  it is not this feeling that   
constitutes the essence of religious    
emotion1 but rather the next step1 the  
reaction to it1 which seeks a  remedy   
against this feeling4 ,he who goes no   
further1 he who humbly  acquiesces in   
the insignificant part man plays in the 
universe1 is1 on  the contrary1         
irreligious in the truest sense of the  
word4    ,it does not lie within the    
scope of this enquiry to estimate the   
value  of religious doctrines as truth4 
,it suffices that we have recognized    
them1 psychologically considered1 as    
illusions4 ,but we need not conceal  the
 fact that this discovery strongly      
influences our attitude to what  must   
appear to many the most important of    
questions4 ,we know  approximately at   
what periods and by what sort of men    
religious  doctrines were formed4 ,if we
 now learn from what motives this       
happened1  our attitude to the problem  

of religion will suffer an appreciable  
change4 ,we say to ourselves3 it would  
indeed be very nice if there were  a    
,god1 who was both creator of the world 
and a benevolent providence1 if  there  
were a moral world order and a future   
life1 but at the same time  it is very  
odd that this is all just as we should  
wish it ourselves4 ,and  it would be    
still odder if our poor1 ignorant1      
enslaved ancestors had  succeeded in    
solving all these difficult riddles of  
the universe4                           
,,chapter ,,vii      ,having recognized 
religious doctrines to be illusions1 we 
are at once  confronted with the further
 question3 may not other cultural       
possessions1 which we esteem highly and 
by which we let our life be  ruled1 be  
of a similar nature8 ,should not the    
assumptions that regulate  our political
 institutions likewise be called        
illusions1 and is it not  the case that 
in our culture the relations between the
 sexes are  disturbed by an erotic      

illusion1 or by a series of erotic      
illusions8  ,once our suspicions have   
been roused1 we shall not shrink from   
asking  whether there is any better     
foundation for our conviction that it is
  possible to discover something about  
external reality through the  applying  
of observation and reasoning in         
scientific work4 ,nothing need  keep us 
from applying observation to our own    
natures or submitting the  process of   
reasoning to its own criticism4 ,here a 
series of enquiries  present themselves1
 which in their result should be of     
decisive  importance for constructing a 
#8,weltanschauung'4 ,we surmise1 too1   
that  such an endeavour would not be    
wasted1 and that it would at least      
partially justify our suspicions4 ,but  
the author of these pages has not  the  
means to undertake so comprehensive a   
task2 forced by necessity1 he  confines 
his work to the pursuit of a single one 
of these illusions1  that is1 the       
religious4    ,but now the loud voice of

 our opponent bids us to stop4 ,we are  
called to  account for our              
transgressions4    #8,archological      
interests are no doubt most             
praiseworthy1 but one does  not set     
about an excavation if one is thereby   
going to undermine  occupied            
dwelling-places so that they collapse   
and bury the inhabitants  under their   
ruins4 ,the doctrines of religion are   
not a subject that one  can be clever   
about1 as one can about any other4 ,our 
culture is built up  on them2 the       
preservation of human society rests on  
the assumption that  the majority of    
mankind believe in the truth of these   
doctrines4 ,if they  are taught that    
there is no almighty and all just ,god1 
no divine world  order1 and no future   
life1 then they will feel exempt from   
all  obligation to follow the rules of  
culture4 ,uninhibited and free from     
fear1 everybody will follow his asocial1
 egoistic instincts1 and will  seek to  
prove his power4 ,chaos1 which we have  

banished through thousands  of years of 
the work of civilization1 will begin    
again4 ,even if one  knew1 and could    
prove1 that religion was not in         
possession of the truth1  one should    
conceal the fact and behave as the      
philosophy of 8,as ,if0  demands--and   
this in the interests of the            
preservation of everybody4 ,and  apart  
from the danger of the undertaking1 it  
is also a purposeless  cruelty4         
,countless people find their one        
consolation in the doctrines of         
religion1 and only with their help can  
they endure life4 ,you would rob  them  
of what supports them1 and yet you have 
nothing better to give them  in         
exchange4 ,it has been admitted that so 
far science has not achieved  much1 but 
even if it had advanced far further1 it 
would not suffice for  men4 ,man has yet
 other imperative needs1 which can never
 be satisfied by  cold science1 and it  
is very strange--to be frank1 it is the 
acme of  inconsistency--that a          

psychologist who has always emphasized  
how much in  men's lives the            
intelligence retreats before the life of
 the instincts  should now strive to rob
 men of a precious wish-satisfaction1   
and should  want to give them in        
exchange a compensation of an           
intellectual nature4'    ,what a number 
of accusations all at once6 ,however1 ,i
 am prepared to deny  them all2 and what
 is more1 ,i am prepared to defend the  
statement that  culture incurs a greater
 danger by maintaining its present      
attitude to  religion than by           
relinquishing it4 ,but ,i hardly know   
where to begin my  reply4    ,perhaps   
with the assurance that ,i myself       
consider my undertaking to be           
completely harmless and free from       
danger4 ,this time the overestimation   
of the intellect is not on my side4 ,if 
men are such as my opponents  describe  
them--and ,i have no wish to contradict 
it--then there is no  danger of a devout
 believer1 overwhelmed by my arguments1 

being deprived  of his faith4 ,besides1 
,i have said nothing that other and     
better men  have not said before me in a
 much more complete1 forcible and       
impressive  way4 ,the names of these men
 are well known4 ,i shall not quote     
them4 ,i  should not like to give the   
impression that ,i would count myself of
  their number4 ,i have merely--this is 
the only thing that is new in my        
statement--added a certain psychological
 foundation to the critique of my  great
 predecessors4 ,it is hardly to be      
expected that just this addition  will  
produce the effect that was denied to   
the earlier attempts4  ,certainly ,i    
might be asked at this point why ,i     
write such things if ,i am  convinced of
 their ineffectiveness4 ,but we shall   
come back to that  later4    ,the one   
person this publication may harm is     
myself4 ,i shall have to  listen to the 
most unpleasant reproaches on the score 
of shallowness1  narrow-mindedness1 and 
lack of idealism and of understanding   

for the  highest interests of mankind4  
,but on the one hand these remonstrances
  are not new to me2 and on the other   
hand1 if a man has even in his early    
years learnt to face the displeasure of 
his contemporaries1 what effect  then   
can it have on him in his old age1 when 
he is certain to be soon  beyond the    
reach of all favour or disfavour8 ,in   
former times it was  different4 ,then   
utterances such as these brought with   
them a sure  foreshortening of one's    
earthly existence and a speedy approach 
of the  opportunity to gain personal    
experience of the next life4 ,but1 ,i   
repeat1  those times are over1 and      
to-day such things can be written       
without  endangering even the author2   
the most that can happen will be that in
  this or that country the translation  
and the circulation of his book  will be
 forbidden--and naturally this will     
happen just in that country  which feels
 certain of the high standard of its    
culture4 ,but one must be  able to put  

up with this also1 if one makes any plea
 for  wish-renunciation or for          
acquiescence in fate4    ,and then it   
occurred to me to ask whether the       
publication of this work  might not do  
some harm after all--not indeed to a    
person1 but to a cause3  the cause of   
psycho-analysis4 ,for it cannot be      
denied that this is my  creation1 and   
that an abundance of distrust and       
ill-will has been shown  to it4 ,if ,i  
now come forward with such displeasing  
statements1 people  will be only too    
ready to displace their feelings from my
 person on to  psycho-analysis4 ,now one
 can see1 it will be said1 where        
psycho-analysis  leads to4 ,the mask is 
fallen2 it leads to the denial of ,god  
and of an  ethical ideal1 as indeed we  
have always supposed4 ,to keep us from  
the  discovery1 we have been made to    
believe that psycho-analysis neither    
has1 nor can have1 a philosophical      
standpoint4    ,this pother will be     
really disagreeable to me on account of 

my many  fellow-workers1 several of whom
 do not at all share my attitude to     
religious problems4 ,however1           
psycho-analysis has already braved many 
storms1 and it must face this new one   
also4 ,in reality psycho-analysis  is a 
method of investigation1 an impartial   
instrument like1 say1 the  infinitesimal
 calculus4 ,even if a physicist should  
discover with the  help of the latter   
that after a certain period the earth   
will be  destroyed1 one would still     
hesitate to impute destructive          
tendencies to  the calculus itself1 and 
to proscribe it on that account4        
,nothing that ,i  have said here against
 the truth-value of religion needed the 
support of  psycho-analysis2 it had been
 said by others long before             
psycho-analysis  came into existence4   
,if one can find a new argument against 
the truth of  religion by applying the  
psycho-analytic method1 so much the     
worse for  religion1 but the defenders  
of religion will with equal right avail 

themselves of psycho-analysis in order  
to appreciate to the full the  affective
 significance of religious doctrines4   
,and now to proceed with the defence3   
clearly religion has performed  great   
services for human culture4 ,it has     
contributed much toward  restraining the
 asocial instincts1 but still not       
enough4 ,for many  thousands of years it
 has ruled human society2 it has had    
time to show  what it can achieve4 ,if  
it had succeeded in making happy the    
greater  part of mankind1 in consoling  
them1 in reconciling them to life1 and  
in  making them into supporters of      
civilization1 then no one would dream of
  striving to alter existing conditions4
 ,but instead of this what do we  see8  
,we see that an appallingly large number
 of men are discontented  with          
civilization and unhappy in it1 and feel
 it as a yoke that must be  shaken off2 
that these men either do everything in  
their power to alter  this civilization1
 or else go so far in their hostility to

 it that they  will have nothing        
whatever to do either with civilization 
or with  restraining their instincts4   
,at this point it will be objected that 
this  state of affairs is due to the    
very fact that religion has forfeited a 
part of its influence on the masses1    
just because of the deplorable  effect  
of the advances in science4 ,we shall   
note this admission and the  reasons    
given for it1 and shall make use of it  
later for our own  purposes2 but the    
objection itself has no force4    ,it is
 doubtful whether men were in general   
happier at a time when  religious       
doctrines held unlimited sway than they 
are now2 more moral  they certainly were
 not4 ,they have always understood how  
to externalize  religious precepts1     
thereby frustrating their intentions4   
,and the  priests1 who had to enforce   
religious obedience1 met them half-way4 
,god's kindness must lay a restraining  
hand upon his justice4 ,one sinned1  and
 then one made oblation or did penance1 

and then one was free to sin  anew4     
,russian mysticism has come to the      
sublime conclusion that sin is          
indispensable for the full enjoyment of 
the blessings of divine grace1  and     
therefore1 fundamentally1 it is pleasing
 to ,god4 ,it is well known  that the   
priests could only keep the masses      
submissive to religion by  making these 
great concessions to human instincts4   
,and so it was  settled3 ,god alone is  
strong and good1 man is weak and sinful4
  ,immorality1 no less than morality1   
has at all times found support in       
religion4 ,if the achievements of       
religion in promoting men's happiness1  
in adapting them to civilization1 and in
 controlling them morally1 are  no      
better1 then the question arises whether
 we are right in considering  it        
necessary for mankind1 and whether we do
 wisely in basing the demands  of our   
culture upon it4    ,let us consider the
 unmistakable character of the present  
situation4 ,we  have heard the admission

 that religion no longer has the same   
influence  on men that it used to have  
7we are concerned here with ,european   
,christian culture74 ,and this1 not     
because its promises have become        
smaller1 but because they appear less   
credible to people4 ,let us admit  that 
the reason--perhaps not the only        
one--for this change is the increase  of
 the scientific spirit in the higher    
strata of human society4  ,criticism has
 nibbled at the authenticity of         
religious documents1  natural science   
has shown up the errors contained in    
them1 and the  comparative method of    
research has revealed the fatal         
resemblance  between religious ideas    
revered by us and the mental productions
 of  primitive ages and peoples4    ,the
 scientific spirit engenders a          
particular attitude to the problems of  
this world2 before the problems of      
religion it halts for a while1 then     
wavers1 and finally here too steps over 
the threshold4 ,in this process  there  

is no stopping4 ,the more the fruits of 
knowledge become accessible  to men1 the
 more widespread is the decline of      
religious belief1 at first  only of the 
obsolete and objectionable expressions  
of the same1 then of  its fundamental   
assumptions1 also4 ,the ,americans who  
instituted the  monkey trial in ,dayton 
have alone proved consistent4 ,elsewhere
 the  inevitable transition is          
accomplished by way of half-measures and
  insincerities4    ,culture has little 
to fear from the educated or from the   
brain workers4  ,in their case religious
 motives for civilized behaviour would  
be  unobtrusively replaced by other and 
secular ones2 besides1 for the most     
part they are themselves supporters of  
culture4 ,but it is another matter  with
 the great mass of the uneducated and   
suppressed1 who have every  reason to be
 enemies of culture4 ,so long as they do
 not discover that  people no longer    
believe in ,god1 all is well4 ,but they 
discover it1  infallibly1 and would do  

so even if this work of mine were not   
published4 ,they are ready to accept the
 results of scientific thought1  without
 having effected in themselves the      
process of change which  scientific     
thought induces in men4 ,is there not a 
danger that these  masses1 in their     
hostility to culture1 will attack the   
weak point which  they have discovered  
in their taskmaster8 ,if you must not   
kill your  neighbour1 solely because    
,god has forbidden it and will sorely   
avenge it  in this or the other life1   
and you then discover that there is no  
,god so  that one need not fear his     
punishment1 then you will certainly kill
  without hesitation1 and you could only
 be prevented from this by mundane      
force4 ,and so follows the necessity for
 either the most rigorous  suppression  
of these dangerous masses and the most  
careful exclusion of  all opportunities 
for mental awakening or a fundamental   
revision of the  relation between       
culture and religion4                   

,,chapter ,,viii      ,one would suppose
 that this last proposal could be       
carried out without  any special        
difficulty4 ,it is true that it would   
involve some measure of  renunciation1  
but one would gain1 perhaps1 more than  
one lost1 and a  great danger would be  
avoided4 ,but people have a horror of   
it1 as if  civilization would thereby be
 exposed to an even greater danger4     
,when  ,saint ,boniface felled the tree 
which was venerated as sacred by the    
,saxons1 those who stood round expected 
some fearful event to follow the        
outrage4 ,it did not happen1 and the    
,saxons were baptized4    ,it is        
manifestly in the interest of man's     
communal existence1 which  would not    
otherwise be practicable1 that          
civilization has laid down the          
commandment that one shall not kill the 
neighbour whom one hates1 who is  in    
one's way1 or whose property one covets4
 ,for the murderer would draw  on to    
himself the vengeance of the murdered   

man's kinsmen and the secret  envy of   
the others who feel as much inward      
inclination as he did to such  an act of
 violence4 ,thus he would not enjoy his 
revenge or his spoil for  long1 but     
would have every prospect of being      
killed soon himself4 ,even  if he could 
defend himself against single foes by   
his extraordinary  strength and caution1
 he would be bound to succumb to a      
combination of  these weaker foes4 ,if a
 combination of this sort did not take  
place1  then murder would continue      
ceaselessly1 and the end of it would be 
that  men would exterminate one another4
 ,it would be the same state of affairs 
among individuals that still prevails in
 ,corsica among families1 but  otherwise
 survives only among nations4           
,insecurity of life1 an equal  danger   
for all1 now unites men into one        
society1 which forbids the  individual  
to kill and reserves to itself the right
 to kill in the name  of society the man
 who violates this prohibition4 ,this1  

then1 is justice  and punishment4    ,we
 do not1 however1 tell others of this   
rational basis for the murder           
prohibition2 we declare1 on the         
contrary1 that ,god is its author4      
,thus1  making bold to divine his       
intentions1 we find that he has no wish1
  either1 for men to exterminate each   
other4 ,by acting thus we invest the    
cultural prohibition with a quite       
peculiar solemnity1 but at the same     
time we risk making its observance      
dependent on belief in ,god4 ,if we     
retract this step1 no longer saddling   
,god with our own wishes1 and  content  
ourselves with the social justification 
for the cultural  prohibition1 then we  
renounce1 it is true1 its hallowed      
nature1 but we  also avoid endangering  
its existence4 ,and we gain something   
else as  well4 ,through some kind of    
diffusion or infection the character of 
sanctity and inviolability1 of          
other-worldliness1 one might say1 has   
been extended from some few important   

prohibitions to all other cultural      
institutions and laws and ordinances4   
,and often the halo becomes these  none 
too well2 not only do they invalidate   
each other by making  conflicting       
decisions according to the time and     
place of their origin2  even apart from 
this they betray every sign of human    
inadequacy4 ,one can  easily recognize  
among them things which can only be the 
product of  shortsightedness and        
apprehensiveness1 the expression of     
narrow  interests1 or the result of     
inadequate hypotheses4 ,the criticism to
  which one must subject them also      
diminishes to an unwelcome extent       
people's respect for other and more     
justified cultural demands4 ,as it is  a
 delicate task to decide what ,god has  
himself ordained and what derives       
rather from the authority of an         
allpowerful parliament or a supreme     
judicial decision1 it would be an       
indubitable advantage to leave ,god out 
of the question altogether1 and to admit

 honestly the purely human  origin of   
all cultural laws and institutions4     
,along with their  pretensions to       
sanctity the rigid and immutable nature 
of these laws and  regulations would    
also cease4 ,men would realize that     
these have been  made1 not so much to   
rule them1 as1 on the contrary1 to serve
 their  interests2 they would acquire a 
more friendly attitude to them1 and     
instead of aiming at their abolition    
they would aim only at improving  them4 
,this would be an important advance on  
the road which leads to  reconciliation 
with the burden of culture4    ,but here
 our plea for a purely rational basis   
for cultural laws1 that is  to say1 for 
deriving them from social necessity1 is 
interrupted by a  sudden doubt4 ,we have
 chosen as our example the origin of the
 murder  prohibition4 ,but does our     
account of it correspond to historical  
truth8  ,we fear not2 it appears to be  
merely a rationalistic construction4    
,with  the help of psycho-analysis we   

have studied this very point in the     
history of human culture1 and supported 
by this study we are bound to  say that 
in reality it did not happen like this4 
,even in men to-day  purely reasonable  
motives are of little avail against     
passionate  impulses4 ,how much weaker1 
then1 must they have been in the        
primordial  animal man6 ,perhaps even   
now his descendants would still kill one
  another without inhibition1 if there  
had not been among those acts of  murder
 one--the slaughter of the primal       
father--which evoked an  irresistible   
emotional reaction1 momentous in its    
consequences4 ,from it  arose the       
commandment3 thou shalt not kill1 which 
in totemism was  confined to the        
father-substitute1 and was later        
extended to others1 but  which even     
to-day is not universally observed4     
,but according to arguments which ,i    
need not repeat here1 that primal       
father has been the prototype of ,god1  
the model after which later  generations

 have formed their figure of ,god4      
,hence the religious  explanation is    
right4 ,god was actually concerned in   
the origin of that  prohibition2 his    
influence1 not insight into what was    
necessary for  society1 brought it into 
being4 ,and the process of attributing  
man's  will to ,god is fully justified2 
for men1 knowing that they had brutally 
set aside the father1 determined1 in the
 reaction to their outrage1 to  respect 
his will in future4 ,and so the         
religious doctrine does give us  the    
historical truth1 though of course in a 
somewhat remodelled and  disguised form2
 our rational explanation belies it4    
,we now observe that the stock of       
religious ideas contains not only       
wish-fulfilments1 but also important    
historical memories4 ,what  matchless1  
what abundant power this combination of 
past and present must  give to religion6
 ,but with the help of an analogy we may
 perhaps feel  our way towards another  
view of the problem4 ,it is not a good  

thing to  transplant ideas far away from
 the soil in which they grew1 but we    
cannot resist pointing out the          
resemblance which forms this analogy4   
,we  know that the human child cannot   
well complete its development towards   
culture without passing through a more  
or less distinct phase of  neurosis4    
,this is because the child is unable to 
suppress by rational  mental effort so  
many of those instinctual impulsions    
which cannot later  be turned to        
account1 but has to check them by acts  
of repression1  behind which there      
stands as a rule an anxiety motive4     
,most of these  child neuroses are      
overcome spontaneously as one grows up1 
and  especially is this the fate of the 
obsessional neuroses of childhood4  ,the
 remainder can be cleared up still later
 by psycho-analytic  treatment4 ,in just
 the same way one might assume that in  
its development  through the ages       
mankind as a whole experiences          
conditions that are  analogous to the   

neuroses1 and this for the same reasons1
 because in the  ages of its ignorance  
and intellectual weakness it achieved by
 purely  affective means the instinctual
 renunciations1 indispensable for man's 
communal existence4 ,and the residue of 
these repression-like processes1  which 
took place in antiquity1 has long clung 
on to civilization4 ,thus  religion     
would be the universal obsessional      
neurosis of humanity4 ,it1  like the    
child's1 originated in the ,oedipus     
complex1 the relation to the  father4   
,according to this conception one might 
prophesy that the  abandoning of        
religion must take place with the       
fateful inexorability of  a process of  
growth1 and that we are just now in the 
middle of this  phase of development4   
,so we should form our behaviour after  
the model of a sensible teacher1  who   
does not oppose the new development     
confronting him1 but seeks to  further  
it and to temper the force of its onset4
 ,to be sure this analogy  does not     

exhaust the essence of religion4 ,if on 
the one hand religion  brings with it   
obsessional limitation1 which can only  
be compared to an  individual           
obsessional neurosis1 it comprises on   
the other hand a system  of             
wish-illusions1 incompatible with       
reality1 such as we find in an  isolated
 form only in ,meynert's amentia1 a     
state of blissful  hallucinatory        
confusion4 ,but these are only just     
comparisons1 with whose  help we can    
endeavour to understand social          
phenomena2 individual  psychology       
supplies us with no exact counterpart4  
,it has been shown repeatedly 7by       
myself1 and particularly by ,theodor    
,reik7 into what details the analogy of 
religion and the obsessional  neurosis  
may be pursued1 how much of the         
vicissitudes and peculiarities  of the  
formation of religion may be understood 
in this way4 ,and it  accords well with 
this that the true believer is in a high
 degree  protected against the danger of

 certain neurotic afflictions2 by       
accepting the universal neurosis he is  
spared the task of forming a  personal  
neurosis4    ,our knowledge of the      
historical value of certain religious   
doctrines  increases our respect for    
them1 but it does not invalidate our    
proposal  to exclude them from the      
motivation of cultural laws4 ,on the    
contrary6  ,this historical residue has 
given us the conception of religious    
dogmas  as1 so to speak1 neurotic       
survivals1 and now we may say that the  
time  has probably come to replace the  
consequences of repression by the       
results of rational mental effort1 as in
 the analytic treatment of  neurotics4  
,one may prophesy1 but hardly regret1   
that this process of  remodelling will  
not stop at dispelling the solemn air of
 sanctity  surrounding the cultural     
laws1 but that a general revision of    
these must  involve the abolition of    
many of them4 ,and this will go far to  
solve our  appointed problem of         

reconciling men to civilization4 ,we    
need not regret  the loss of historical 
truth involved in accepting the rational
  motivation of cultural laws4 ,the     
truths contained in religious doctrines 
are after all so distorted and          
systematically disguised that the mass  
of  mankind cannot recognize them as    
truth4 ,it is an instance of the same   
thing when we tell the child that       
new-born babies are brought by the      
stork4 ,here1 too1 we tell the truth in 
symbolic guise1 for we know what  that  
large bird signifies4 ,but the child    
does not know it2 he hears only  the    
distortion1 and feels that he has been  
deceived2 and we know how  often his    
refractoriness and his distrust of the  
grown-ups gets bound up  with this      
impression4 ,we have come to the        
conclusion that it is better  to avoid  
such symbolic disguisings of the truth1 
and to allow the child  knowledge of the
 real state of affairs in a way suitable
 for his stage  of intellectual         

development4                            
,,chapter ,,ix      #8,you allow        
yourself contradictions which are hard  
to reconcile with one  another4 ,first  
you declare that a work like yours is   
quite harmless2 no  one will let himself
 be robbed of his religious faith       
through such  discussions4 ,but since1  
as became evident later1 it is your aim 
to  disturb this faith1 one may ask3 why
 in fact do you publish it8 ,at  another
 point1 however1 you admit that it might
 be dangerous1 indeed  very dangerous1  
for a man to discover that people no    
longer believe in  ,god4 ,docile though 
he had been hitherto1 now he would throw
 off all  allegiance to the laws of     
culture4 ,your whole argument that the  
religious motivation of the cultural    
commandments signifies a danger for     
culture rests1 in fact1 on the          
assumption that the believer can be made
  into an unbeliever4 ,but that is a    
complete contradiction4    #8,and here  
is another contradiction3 you admit on  

the one hand that man  will not be      
guided by intelligence2 he is ruled by  
his passions and by  the claims of his  
instincts2 but on the other hand you    
propose to  replace the affective basis 
of his allegiance to culture by a       
rational  one4 ,let who can understand  
this4 ,to me it seems a case of either  
the  one or the other4    #8,besides1   
have you learnt nothing from history8   
,once before such an  attempt to        
substitute reason for religion was made1
 officially and in  the grand manner4   
,surely you remember the ,french        
,revolution and  ,robespierre1 and also 
how short-lived and how deplorably      
ineffectual the  experiment8 ,it is     
being repeated in ,russia at present1   
and we need not  be curious about the   
result4 ,do you not think we may assume 
that man  cannot do without religion8   
#8,you have said yourself that religion 
is more than an obsessional  neurosis4  
,but you have not dealt with this other 
aspect of it4 ,you are  content to work 

out the analogy with the neurosis4 ,men 
must be freed  from a neurosis4 ,what   
else is lost in the process does not    
trouble you4'    ,probably these        
apparent contradictions have arisen     
because ,i have been  dealing too       
hastily with complicated matters1 but we
 can make up for  this to some extent4  
,i still maintain that in one respect my
 work is  quite harmless4 ,no believer  
will let himself be led astray by these 
or  by similar arguments4 ,a believer   
has certain ties of affection binding   
him to the substance of religion4 ,there
 are certainly a vast number of  other  
people who are not religious in the same
 sense4 ,they obey the laws  of         
civilization because they are           
intimidated by the threats of religion1 
and they fear religion so long as they  
consider it as a part of the  reality   
that restricts them4 ,these are the     
people who break free as soon  as they  
dare to give up their belief in its     
reality value2 but arguments  have no   

effect on them either4 ,they cease to   
fear religion when they  find that      
others do not fear it1 and of these ,i  
have asserted that they  would learn of 
the decline of religious influence even 
if ,i did not  publish my work4    ,but 
,i suppose you yourself attach more     
value to the other contradiction  with  
which you tax me4 ,since men are so     
slightly amenable to reasonable         
arguments1 so completely are they ruled 
by their instinctual wishes1 why  should
 one want to take away from them a means
 of satisfying their  instincts and     
replace it by reasonable arguments8     
,certainly men are like  this1 but have 
you asked yourself whether they need be 
so1 whether their  inmost nature        
necessitates it8 ,can an anthropologist 
give the cranial  index of a people     
whose custom it is to deform their      
children's heads by  bandaging them from
 their earliest years8 ,think of the    
distressing  contrast between the       
radiant intelligence of a healthy child 

and the  feeble mentality of the average
 adult4 ,is it so utterly impossible    
that  it is just religious up-bringing  
which is largely to blame for this      
relative degeneration8 ,i think it would
 be a very long time before a  child who
 was not influenced began to trouble    
himself about ,god and the  things      
beyond this world4 ,perhaps his thoughts
 on these matters would  then take the  
same course as they did with his        
ancestors2 but we do not  wait for this 
development2 we introduce him to the    
doctrines of religion  at a time when he
 is neither interested in them nor      
capable of grasping  their import4 ,is  
it not true that the two main points in 
the modern  educational programme are   
the retardation of sexual development   
and the  early application of religious 
influence8 ,so when the child's mind    
awakens1 the doctrines of religion are  
already unassailable4 ,but do you       
suppose that it is particularly         
conducive to the strengthening of the   

mental function that so important a     
sphere should be closed to it by the    
menace of hell pains8 ,we need not be   
greatly surprised at the feeble         
mentality of the man who has once       
brought himself to accept without       
criticism all the absurdities that      
religious doctrines repeat to him1  and 
even to overlook the contradictions     
between them4 ,now we have no  other    
means of controlling our instincts than 
our intelligence4 ,and how  can we      
expect people who are dominated by      
thought-prohibitions to attain  the     
psychological ideal1 the primacy of the 
intelligence8 ,you know too  that women 
in general are said to suffer from      
so-called #8physiological               
weak-mindedness'1 i4e4 a poorer         
intelligence than the man's4 ,the fact  
itself is disputable1 its interpretation
 doubtful2 but it has been  argued for  
the secondary nature of this            
intellectual degeneration that  women   
labour under the harshness of the early 

prohibition1 which  prevented them from 
applying their mind to what would have  
interested  them most1 that is to say1  
to the problems of sexual life4 ,so long
 as a  man's early years are influenced 
by the religious thought-inhibition and 
by the loyal one derived from it1 as    
well as by the sexual one1 we  cannot   
really say what he is actually like4    
,but ,i will curb my ardour and admit   
the possibility that ,i too am  chasing 
after an illusion4 ,perhaps the effect  
of the religious  thought-prohibition is
 not as bad as ,i assume1 perhaps it    
will turn out  that human nature remains
 the same even if education is not      
abused by  being subjected to religion4 
,i do not know1 and you cannot know     
either4  ,it is not only the great      
problems of this life that seem at      
present  insoluble2 there are many      
smaller questions also that are hard to 
decide4 ,but you must admit that there  
is here the justification for a  hope   
for the future1 that perhaps we may dig 

up a treasure which can  enrich culture1
 and that it is worth while to make the 
experiment of a  non-religious          
education4 ,should it prove             
unsatisfactory1 ,i am ready to  give up 
the reform and to return to the earlier1
 purely descriptive  judgement3 man is a
 creature of weak intelligence who is   
governed by his  instinctual wishes4    
,there is another point in which ,i     
wholeheartedly agree with you4 ,it is1  
to be sure1 a senseless proceeding to   
try and do away with religion by  force 
and at one blow--more especially as it  
is a hopeless one4 ,the  believer will  
not let his faith be taken from him1    
neither by arguments  nor by            
prohibitions4 ,and even if it did       
succeed with some1 it would be a  cruel 
thing to do4 ,a man who has for decades 
taken a sleeping draught is  naturally  
unable to sleep if he is deprived of it4
 ,that the effect of  the consolations  
of religion may be compared to that of a
 narcotic is  prettily illustrated by   

what is happening in ,america4 ,there   
they are now  trying--plainly under the 
influence of petticoat government--to   
deprive  men of all stimulants1         
intoxicants and luxuries1#c and to      
satiate them  with piety by way of      
compensation4 ,this is another          
experiment about the  result of which we
 need not be curious4    ,footnote #c3  
,i4e4 tea1 alcohol1 and tobacco4    ,and
 so ,i disagree with you when you go on 
to argue that man cannot in  general do 
without the consolation of the religious
 illusion1 that  without it he would not
 endure the troubles of life1 the       
cruelty of  reality4 ,certainly this is 
true of the man into whom you have      
instilled  the sweet--or                
bitter-sweet--poison from childhood on4 
,but what of the  other1 who has been   
brought up soberly8 ,perhaps he1 not    
suffering from  neurosis1 will need no  
intoxicant to deaden it4 ,true1 man will
 then find  himself in a difficult      
situation4 ,he will have to confess his 

utter  helplessness and his             
insignificant part in the working of the
 universe2  he will have to confess that
 he is no longer the centre of creation1
 no  longer the object of the tender    
care of a benevolent providence4 ,he    
will  be in the same position as the    
child who has left the home where he was
  so warm and comfortable4 ,but1 after  
all1 is it not the destiny of           
childishness to be overcome8 ,man cannot
 remain a child for ever2 he must       
venture at last into the hostile world4 
,this may be called #8education  to     
reality'2 need ,i tell you that it is   
the sole aim of my book to draw         
attention to the necessity for this     
advance8    ,you fear1 probably1 that he
 will not stand the test8 ,well1 anyhow1
 let  us be hopeful4 ,it is at least    
something to know that one is thrown on 
one's own resources4 ,one learns then to
 use them properly4 ,and man is  not    
entirely without means of assistance2   
since the time of the deluge  science   

has taught him much1 and it will still  
further increase his  power4 ,and as for
 the great necessities of fate1 against 
which there is  no remedy1 these he will
 simply learn to endure with            
resignation4 ,of  what use to him is the
 illusion of a kingdom on the moon1     
whose revenues  have never yet been seen
 by anyone8 ,as an honest crofter on    
this earth  he will know how to         
cultivate his plot in a way that will   
support him4  ,thus by withdrawing his  
expectations from the other world and   
concentrating all his liberated energies
 on this earthly life he will  probably 
attain to a state of things in which    
life will be tolerable for  all and no  
one will be oppressed by culture any    
more4 ,then with one of  our comrades in
 unbelief he will be able to say without
 regret3                            ,let
 us leave the heavens                   
,to the angels and the sparrows4        
,,chapter ,x      #8,that does sound    
splendid4 ,a race of men that has       

renounced all  illusions and has thus   
become capable of making its existence  
on the  earth a tolerable one6 ,but ,i  
cannot share your expectations4 ,and    
this1  not because ,i am the pig-headed 
reactionary you perhaps take me for4    
,no2  it is because ,i am a sensible    
person4 ,it seems to me that we have now
  exchanged rles2 you prove to be the   
enthusiast1 who allows himself to  be   
carried away by illusions1 and ,i       
represent the claims of reason1 the     
right to be sceptical4 ,what you have   
just stated seems to me to be  founded  
on errors1 which after your precedent ,i
 may call illusions  because they betray
 clearly enough the influence of your   
wishes4 ,you  indulge in the hope that  
generations which have not experienced  
the  influence of religious teaching in 
early childhood will easily attain  the 
wished-for primacy of the intelligence  
over the life of the  instincts4 ,that  
is surely an illusion2 in this decisive 
point human  nature is hardly likely to 

alter4 ,if ,i am not mistaken--one knows
 so  little of other                    
civilizations--there are even to-day    
peoples who do not  grow up under the   
pressure of a religious system1 and they
 come no  nearer your ideal than the    
others4 ,if you wish to expel religion  
from  our ,european civilization you can
 only do it through another system of   
doctrines1 and from the outset this     
would take over all the  psychological  
characteristics of religion1 the same   
sanctity1 rigidity  and intolerance1 the
 same prohibition of thought in         
self-defence4  ,something of this sort  
you must have in justice to the         
requirements of  education4 ,for you    
cannot do without education4 ,the way   
from sucking  child to civilized man is 
a long one2 too many young people would 
go  astray and fail to arrive at their  
life tasks in due time if they were     
left without guidance to their own      
development4 ,the doctrines made use  of
 in their education will always confine 

the thought of their riper  years1      
exactly as you reproach religion with   
doing to-day4 ,do you not  observe that 
it is the ineradicable natural defect of
 our1 of every1  culture that it imposes
 on the child1 governed by his instincts
 and  intellectually weak1 the making of
 decisions to which only the matured    
intelligence of the grown-up can do     
justice8 ,but owing to the fact that    
mankind's development through the ages  
is concentrated into a few years  of    
childhood culture cannot do otherwise1  
and it is only by affective  influence  
that the child can be induced to        
accomplish the task assigned  to it4    
,and so this is the outlook for your    
8primacy of the intellect04    #8,and   
now you should not be surprised if ,i   
intervene on behalf of  retaining the   
religious system of teaching as the     
basis of education and  of man's        
communal life4 ,it is a practical       
problem1 not a question of  reality     
value4 ,since we cannot1 for the sake of

 the preservation of our  culture1      
postpone influencing the individual     
until he has become ready  for          
culture--many would never be so         
anyhow--and since we are obliged to     
press some system of teaching on the    
growing child which shall have the      
effect on him of a postulate that does  
not admit of criticism1 it seems  to me 
that the religious system is by far the 
most suitable for the  purpose2 of      
course just on account of that          
quality--its power for  wish-fulfilment 
and consolation--by which you claim to  
have recognized it  as an 8illusion04   
,in face of the difficulty of           
discovering anything  about reality1    
indeed the doubt whether this is        
possible for us at all1  we must not    
overlook the fact that human needs are  
also a part1 and  indeed an important   
part1 of reality1 and one that concerns 
us  particularly closely4    #8,i find  
another advantage of religious doctrine 
in one of its  peculiarities1 to which  

you seem to take particular exception4  
,it admits  of an ideational refinement 
and sublimation1 by which it can be     
divested  of most of those traces of a  
primitive and infantile way of thinking 
which it bears4 ,what is then left is a 
body of ideas which science no  longer  
contradicts and which it cannot         
disprove4 ,these modifications of       
religious doctrine1 which you have      
condemned as half-measures and          
compromises1 make it possible to bridge 
the gap between the uneducated  masses  
and the philosophical thinker1 and to   
preserve that common bond  between them 
which is so important for the protection
 of culture4 ,with  it you would have no
 need to fear that the poor man would   
discover that  the upper strata of      
society 8no longer believe in ,god04 ,i 
think ,i have  shown by now that your   
endeavour reduces itself to the attempt 
to  replace a proved and affectively    
valuable illusion by one that is        
improved and without affective value4'  

,you shall not find me impervious to    
your criticism4 ,i know how difficult   
it is to avoid illusions2 perhaps even  
the hopes ,i have confessed to are  of  
an illusory nature4 ,but ,i hold fast to
 one distinction4 ,my  illusions--apart 
from the fact that no penalty is imposed
 for not sharing  them--are not1 like   
the religious ones1 incapable of        
correction1 they  have no delusional    
character4 ,if experience should        
show--not to me1 but  to others after me
 who think as ,i do--that we are        
mistaken1 then we shall  give up our    
expectations4 ,take my endeavour for    
what it is4 ,a  psychologist1 who does  
not deceive himself about the difficulty
 of  finding his bearings in this world1
 strives to review the development of   
mankind in accord with what insight he  
has won from studying the mental        
processes of the individual during his  
development from childhood to  manhood4 
,in this connection the idea forces     
itself upon him that  religion is       

comparable to a childhood neurosis1 and 
he is optimistic  enough to assume that 
mankind will overcome this neurotic     
phase1 just as  so many children grow   
out of their similar neuroses4 ,these   
pieces of  knowledge from individual    
psychology may be inadequate1 their     
application to the human race           
unjustified1 the optimism without       
foundation2 ,i grant you the uncertainty
 of all these things4 ,but often  we    
cannot refrain from saying what we      
think1 excusing ourselves on the  ground
 that it is given for no more than it is
 worth4    ,and there are two points    
that ,i must dwell on a little longer4  
,first1  the weakness of my position    
does not betoken any strengthening of   
yours4  ,i think you are defending a    
lost cause4 ,we may insist as much as we
 like  that the human intellect is weak 
in comparison with human instincts1 and 
be right in doing so4 ,but nevertheless 
there is something peculiar about  this 
weakness4 ,the voice of the intellect is

 a soft one1 but it does not  rest until
 it has gained a hearing4 ,ultimately1  
after endlessly repeated  rebuffs1 it   
succeeds4 ,this is one of the few points
 in which one may be  optimistic about  
the future of mankind1 but in itself it 
signifies not a  little4 ,and one can   
make it a starting-point for yet other  
hopes4 ,the  primacy of the intellect   
certainly lies in the far1 far1 but     
still  probably not infinite1 distance4 
,and as it will presumably set itself   
the same aims that you expect to be     
realized by your ,god--of course  within
 human limits1 in so far as external    
reality1 1 allows  it--the brotherhood  
of man and the reduction of suffering1  
we may say  that our antagonism is only 
a temporary and not an irreconcilable   
one4  ,we desire the same things1 but   
you are more impatient1 more exacting1  
and--why should ,i not say it--more     
selfish than ,i and those like me4 ,you 
would have the state of bliss to begin  
immediately after death2 you ask  of it 

the impossible1 and you will not        
surrender the claim of the  individual4 
,of these wishes our god #d will realize
 those which  external nature permits1  
but he will do this very gradually1 only
 in the  incalculable future and for    
other children of men4 ,compensation for
 us1  who suffer grievously from life1  
he does not promise4 ,on the way to this
  distant goal your religious doctrines 
will have to be discarded1 no  matter   
whether the first attempts fail1 or     
whether the first  substitute-formations
 prove to be unstable4 ,you know why2 in
 the long  run nothing can withstand    
reason and experience1 and the          
contradiction  religion offers to both  
is only too palpable4 ,not even the     
purified  religious ideas can escape    
this fate1 so long as they still try to 
preserve anything of the consolation of 
religion4 ,certainly if you  confine    
yourself to the belief in a higher      
spiritual being1 whose  qualities are   
indefinable and whose intentions cannot 

be discerned1 then  you are proof       
against the interference of science1 but
 then you will  also relinquish the     
interest of men4    ,footnote #d3       
,the twin gods - of the ,dutchman       
,multatuli4    ,and secondly3 note the  
difference between your attitude to     
illusions and  mine4 ,you have to defend
 the religious illusion with all your   
might2 if  it were discredited--and to  
be sure it is sufficiently menaced--then
 your  world would collapse1 there would
 be nothing left for you but to despair 
of everything1 of culture and of the    
future of mankind4 ,from this  bondage  
,i am1 we are1 free4 ,since we are      
prepared to renounce a good  part of our
 infantile wishes1 we can bear it if    
some of our expectations  prove to be   
illusions4    ,education freed from the 
burden of religious doctrines will not  
perhaps  effect much alteration in man's
 psychological nature2 our god  is  not 
perhaps a very powerful one2 he may only
 fulfil a small part of what  his       

forerunners have promised4 ,if we have  
to acknowledge this1 we shall  do so    
with resignation4 ,we shall not thereby 
lose our interest in the  world and in  
life1 for we have in one respect a sure 
support which you  lack4 ,we believe    
that it is possible for scientific work 
to discover  something about the reality
 of the world through which we can      
increase  our power and according to    
which we can regulate our life4 ,if this
  belief is an illusion1 then we are in 
the same position as you1 but  science  
has shown us by numerous and significant
 successes that it is no  illusion4     
,science has many open1 and still more  
secret1 enemies among  those who cannot 
forgive it for having weakened religious
 belief and for  threatening to         
overthrow it4 ,people reproach it for   
the small amount it  has taught us and  
the incomparably greater amount it has  
left in the  dark4 ,but then they forget
 how young it is1 how difficult its     
beginnings1 and how infinitesimally     

small the space of time since the  human
 intellect has been strong enough for   
the tasks it sets it4 ,do we  not all do
 wrong in that the periods of time which
 we make the basis of  our judgements   
are of too short duration8 ,we should   
take an example from  the geologist4    
,people complain of the unreliability of
 science1 that she  proclaims as a law  
to-day what the next generation will    
recognize to be  an error and which it  
will replace by a new law of equally    
short  currency4 ,but that is unjust and
 in part untrue4 ,the transformation of 
scientific ideas is a process of        
development and progress1 not of        
revolution4 ,a law that was at first    
held to be universally valid proves  to 
be a special case of a more             
comprehensive law1 or else its scope is 
limited by another law not discovered   
until later2 a rough approximation  to  
the truth is replaced by one more       
carefully adjusted1 which in its  turn  
awaits a further approach to perfection4

 ,in several spheres we have  not yet   
surmounted a phase of investigation in  
which we test hypotheses  that have soon
 to be rejected as inadequate2 but in   
others we have  already an assured and  
almost immutable core of knowledge4     
,finally an  attempt has been made to   
discredit radically scientific endeavour
 on the  ground that1 bound as it is to 
the conditions of our own organization1 
it can yield nothing but subjective     
results1 while the real nature of       
things outside us remains inaccessible  
to it4 ,but this is to disregard        
several factors of decisive importance  
for the understanding of  scientific    
work4 ,firstly1 our organization1 i4e4  
our mental apparatus1  has been         
developed actually in the attempt to    
explore the outer world1  and therefore 
it must have realized in its structure a
 certain measure  of appropriateness2   
secondly1 it itself is a constituent    
part of that  world which we are to     
investigate1 and readily admits of such 

investigation2 thirdly1 the task of     
science is fully circumscribed if we    
confine it to showing how the world must
 appear to us in consequence of  the    
particular character of our             
organization2 fourthly1 the ultimate    
findings of science1 just because of the
 way in which they are attained1  are   
conditioned not only by our organization
 but also by that which has  affected   
this organization2 and1 finally1 the    
problem of the nature of  the world     
irrespective of our perceptive mental   
apparatus is an empty  abstraction      
without practical interest4    ,no1     
science is no illusion4 ,but it would be
 an illusion to suppose that  we could  
get anywhere else what it cannot give   
us4                                     
----------------------------------------
--------------------------------        
,,transcriber',s ,,notes        ,typos  
fixed2 non-standard spelling and dialect
 retained4    ,used numbers for         
footnotes4    ,enclosed italics font in 

underscores4