Freud, Nietzsche & Russell The Discovery and Realization of the Self in the Philosophies of Bertrand Russell, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche

With the emergence of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, human history had been introduced to new philosophies that seek to celebrate individualism and the intelligence of human beings. From the philosophical discourses proposed by Sigmund Freud, Bertrand Russell, and Friedrich Nietzsche, it becomes evident that there no longer exists subsistence to religious idols and personalities, which had been the prevalent ideology and philosophy among societies in human history's early history until the 18th century.

In the texts that follow, this paper discusses and analyzes the philosophies of the three philosophers cited earlier. With references to the following texts, "Thus spake Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Why I am not a Christian" by Bertrand Russell, and "Lecture 35: A philosophy of life" by Sigmund Freud, this paper argues that the philosophers' belief in the worth of human intelligence and capacity to achieve an understanding that goes beyond what constitutes knowledge and truth known in human society at present. That is, Freud, Russell, and Nietzsche believe that there is no substitute for human intelligence in achieving greater understanding and determining an individual's...

Prior to discussing his comparative analysis of the sciences, philosophy, arts, and religion, Freud first introduces the concept of "Weltanschauung." He identifies this term based on his own explanation, for he qualifies that this concept, if interpreted in English, would not capture its real essence. Thus, he identifies "Weltanschauung" as " ... An intellectual construction which gives a unified solution of all the problems of our existence in virtue of a comprehensive hypothesis, a construction, therefore, in which no question is left open and in which everything in which we are interested finds a place ... "
In introducing this concept, Freud conveys the message to his readers that through the science of psychology,…