Projection theory

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The projection theory is an atheistic explanation of the meaning of religion and God .

Ludwig Feuerbach

According to Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872), God is the sum of all desires for immortality , perfection , bliss , equality of a person who does not recognize these as his own desires, but rather projects them onto a deity. The human being is portrayed as the negative extreme with emphasis on qualities such as finite, sinful, imperfect and powerless. As a contrast, imagine this person with his deity provided with the properties of his desires, just as he wishes to be himself: infinite, eternal, perfect, powerful and above all holy.

This deity is used to subordinate a power to others, with the authority to pass laws that are observed by all members of society. In this way, every person secures his protection against attacks by his fellow human beings on his natural right . At the same time, however, he loses part of his wishes as part of himself, so religion and the idea of ​​a god should be viewed negatively. Feuerbach comes to the demand that theology must become anthropology and physiology . Man must become the highest being for man. Man should go from being a friend of God to being a friend of man.

Feuerbach himself did not use the term projection in his writings critical of religion ("Wesen des Christianentums", "Wesen der Religion").

Two hundred years before Feuerbach, the Polish philosopher Kazimierz Łyszczyński advocated the projection theory.

Paul Tillich

The German theologian Paul Tillich (1886–1965) has often dealt with Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud's accusations of projection . B. in a review of the book on "Psychoanalysis and Religion" by Erich Fromm . According to Tillich, two things are confused with one another: “What is projected and what it is projected onto, that is, the 'picture' and the 'projection screen'. There can be no doubt that, figuratively speaking, the stuff of which the gods were formed comes from human experience. Good and bad experiences of childhood (God - the 'father') and later life were at work. «The images that these people have of God may well bear the stamp of their experiences, wishes, fears and hopes. But the projection screen that people need to make the images visible is something else: »That in no way means that the 'projection screen', that is, God, the ultimate ground of all being and meaning, the ground and goal of our existence, is itself a projection. "

So why does this ›projection‹ create the image of God, the image of an infinite, divine, unconditional, absolute and not just another double image of ourselves? We live in a world that only gives us to do with finite, conditioned phenomena, and yet we find in ourselves "an awareness of something absolute", there is something for each of us "that concerns us unconditionally" and our ultimate concern Interest applies. Faith takes this as a sign of God: "We should fear, love and trust God above all things."

Quotes

  • Homo Homini Deus est (man is a god to man / man should become god to man / man is the human god) - Ludwig Feuerbach, "Das Wesen des Christianentums"
  • The pious speaks (rhyme 38)
“God loves us because he created us! -
"Man created God!"
And shouldn't love what he created?
Should it even be denied because he created it?
It limps, it bears the devil's hoof. ”- Friedrich Nietzsche , Diejoyliche Wissenschaft

See also

literature

  • Ludwig Feuerbach: Das Wesen des Christianentums , Leipzig 1841, 4th ed. 1883, [Reprint] Stuttgart: Reclam 2005 ( ISBN 3-15-004571-1 )
  • Thilo Holzmüller: Projection - a questionable term in Feuerbach reception? In: New Journal for Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion , Volume 28, 1986, pp. 77-100.

Individual evidence

  1. Poland analyzes on laender-analysen.de
  2. ^ Paul Tillich, "Psychoanalysis and Religion," in: Paul Tillich, Collected Works , Vol. XII, Stuttgart 1971, pp. 333–336.