Has anyone read The Future of an Illusion by Freud, understood it, and willing to help me? Thanks!?
College freshman honors seminar paper fyi-
I read the book, barely understood it, and have to write a letter from Freud to TS Eliot in response to Eliot's critique. This is hard for me because I really agree more with Eliot and Eliot's critiques are mostly semantics. I wrote up an outline of Eliot's arguments. Here it is:
TS Eliot’s The Criterion, an outline
Intro: stupidity appears in verbal vagueness and inability to reason
Thesis: not genius of logic or generalizing power
1. Quote from first page about human culture
a. This definition of human culture is inadequate, circular. Need to ask first what ways human is different from animal. “includes” knowledge and power-includes means equals, depends upon? Need to know what human needs are b4 know culture. Includes ~political & economic organization? Culture=social organization-defend culture against individual, culture and civilization are always imposed upon the many by the few? Doesn’t make sense unless restrict culture to maintenance of law & order…
2. Quote from page 11, essence of culture lay in conquest of nature for means of supporting life, eliminating dangers that threaten culture by suitable distribution of these among mankind
a. If essence of culture is eliminating dangers that threaten culture, this is bad reasoning-the truly cultured and civilized man is the highly efficient policeman
3. “probably a certain percentage of mankind….will always remain asocial” (Ch. 1)
a. Asocial…some contributions have been made to civilization by men who have been solitaries or rebels!
4. “it is the principal task of culture, its real raison d’être, to defend us against nature”’
a. What is us, what is nature? Is nature angry?
5. Principal thesis is enquiry is not concerned w/ value of religious doctrines as truth, but psychologically considered they are illusions.
a. Freud not concerned w/ truth of religious ideas or w/ reality of religious “objects
b. Psychological illusions vs. illusions; psychological truth vs. Ordinary truth. Doesn’t make sense !-religion as illusion in ordinary sense, illusion which society is in process of casting off
6. Quote from page 38 about definition of illusion

a. Common sense is stumped. Columbus was ‘in error’ in thinking west indies were east indies, he was not in error in thinking that he had found a new route to india, but the combination of an error with a truth does not make an illusion. It is an illusion for Freud to think that he has defined the term “illusion” when he says that an illusion is not the same as an error, indeed is not necessarily an error! He should have defined “definition”. Illusion is treated as anything that doesn’t admit of proof. Of some religion doctrines, we may compare them to delusions, but what is learned by the comparison?
7. “the riddles of the universe only reveal themselves so slowly to our enquiry to many questions science can as yet give no answer, but scientific work is our only way to the knowledge of external reality.”
a. But what is science and what are the riddles of the universe? Just restated “science is no illusion”…Freud is too sure of himself, and makes exaggerated claims.

I tried to find a copy of Eliot's critique online, but I failed miserably. Sorry.

Any help is seriously appreciated!!!