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Illusion is an error experienced by someone who is misled (illudere) by the [[nature ]] of evidence or the [[seductive ]] [[appearance ]] of something that deceives.

The deceiver may be personified ([[Descartes]]'s "[[evil ]] [[genius]]") or limited to a [[physical ]] or [[physiological ]] [[cause ]] (the illusions of the senses), or even an [[ontological ]] [[structure ]] (the Platonic [[myth ]] of the cave).

However, the [[subject ]] can create his own illusion by taking his desires for [[reality]].

It is this last formulation that is embodied in the [[Freudian ]] approach to illusion, defined as a belief primarily motivated by the realization of a [[desire]].

To that extent the illusion has much in common with [[dreams ]] and dreaming, where the [[philosophers ]] of antiquity had situated it.

The [[concept ]] of illusion in [[Freud ]] is gradually developed, reaching its culmination in The [[Future ]] of an Illusion (1927c).

In the [[Project ]] for a [[Scientific ]] [[Psychology ]] (1950c [1895]), illusion is confused with [[hallucination ]] in the context of perceptual illusion.

But with the [[Psychopathology ]] of Everyday [[Life ]] (1901b), the concept is further refined.

In Freud's [[case ]] it would be wrong to qualify the [[feeling ]] of déjà vu or déjà éprouvé as illusion, because theycorrespond, through [[displacement ]] and concealment, to an authentic [[unconscious ]] daydream.

Thirty-five years later in "A [[Disturbance ]] of [[Memory ]] on the Acropolis," Freud would refer to [[false ]] [[recognition ]] (déjà vu, déjà raconté) as a part of the "illusions in which we seek to accept something as belonging to our ego, just as in the derealizations we are anxious to keep something out of us" (1936a, p. 245).

There is a certain amount of ambiguity concerning the simple criterion that defines illusion as something that doesn't [[exist ]] in reality, to the extent that the concept of reality is reconsidered in [[psychoanalysis ]] as [[mental ]] reality.

Moreover, the single [[stable ]] criterion used to define illusion in psychoanalysis is a belief motivated by the realization of desire:

<blockquote>"[W]e will call a belief an illusion when a [[wish]]-fulfilment is a prominent factor in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relations to reality, just as the illusion itself sets no store by verification."<ref>1927c, p. 31</ref></blockquote>

Freud [[identifies ]] illusion as [[being ]] mostly associated with [[religion]], art, and [[philosophy]], but he also acknowledges the hypothesis that [[science ]] itself could be an illusion, although he rejects it.

In a deeper [[sense ]] the greatest illusion would be the belief in the [[happiness ]] and goodness of [[human ]] nature.

This [[pessimism]], or realism, is first associated with the illusion that lasting [[sexual ]] [[satisfaction ]] is possible ("'[[Civilized]]' Sexual [[Morality ]] and Modern Nervous [[Illness]]," 1908d) and that [[social ]] rules should be modified to procure happiness for individuals.

Freud then assumes the [[position ]] of a defender of a realist position, which includes negativity instead of ignoring it:

In fact the only [[ideal ]] he [[defends ]] is that of [[truth]].

He further distinguishes two types of illusions: those that are not harmful since the illusion is obvious, and those that are dangerous because they take the [[place ]] of an [[objective ]] apprehension of reality (philosophy, [[ideology]], and especially religion).

To the first [[category ]] belongs art, which is said to evolve from [[magic ]] and which, as an artistic illusion, produces the same [[affective ]] effects as if it involved something [[real ]] (1912-1913a).

Freud is [[forced ]] to make use of the concept of reality to determine this.

<blockquote>"The [[substitutive ]] satisfactions, as offered by art, are illusions in contrast with reality, but they are none the less psychically effective, thanks to the [[role ]] which [[phantasy ]] has assumed in mental life."<ref>1930a [1929], p. 75</ref></blockquote>

Illusion, and especially the ability to take [[pleasure ]] in it, would therefore be the result of the magical omnipotence associated with the beginnings of mental life, which led to the [[separation ]] of the life of the [[imagination ]] from the mental life grafted to reality.

<blockquote>"At the [[time ]] when the [[development ]] of the sense of reality took place, this region [imagination] was expressly exempted from the [[demands ]] of reality-testing and was set apart for the [[purpose ]] of fulfilling wishes which were difficult to carry out."<ref>1930a [1929], p. 80</ref></blockquote>

Freud emphasizes it when he distinguishes illusion from [[delusion]]:

<blockquote>"Illusions [[need ]] not necessarily be false—that is to say, unrealizable or in [[contradiction ]] to reality."<ref>1927c, p. 31</ref></blockquote>

The example chosen (the illusion of a young [[woman ]] of modest means of being able to marry a prince) is not convincing, because within the framework of erotomaniacal delusion, that same [[idea ]] (not illusory since it is realizable, Freud says) would indeed appear to contradict reality.

We could therefore say that delusion has more to do with a [[difference ]] in "[[temporality]]"—hope and expectation in one case, real [[certainty ]] on the [[other]].

The difference between the potential reality of the [[content ]] of the illusion and the belief in its actual reality is what allows [[reality testing ]] to be used to define the illusion.

Illusion primarily involves the [[Weltanschauung ]] and, in this [[regard]], Freud emphasized [[religious ]] illusion. All religious doctrines are "illusions and insusceptible of proof.

No one can be compelled to [[think ]] [[them ]] [[true]], to believe in them" (1927c, p. 31).

The desire they realize is that of being protected and loved by a [[father ]] who is more powerful than the real father.

[[Infantile ]] distress is the origin of religious need, which Freud criticizes because of the weight it places on education.

<blockquote>"If you [[want ]] to expel religion from our European [[civilization]], you can only do it by means of [[another ]] [[system ]] of doctrines; and such a system would from the outset take over all the [[psychological ]] characteristics of religion—the same sanctity, rigidity and [[intolerance]], the same [[prohibition ]] of thought—for its own [[defense]]."<ref>p. 51</ref></blockquote>

In other [[words ]] even if for Freud religion is a "serious [[enemy]]" of science, it would be an illusion to believe that it is possible to [[renounce ]] belief for the benefit of [[knowledge ]] alone.

The [[philosophical ]] illusion that believes it can deliver an [[image ]] of the [[world ]] that is coherent and without gaps is undermined by the [[progress ]] of science; and [[political ]] illusion, such as [[communism]], is an example of a [[substitute ]] for religion.

The [[struggle ]] against illusion is therefore a battle that will only yield incomplete results, following a [[process ]] of [[maturation ]] that is never realized:

<blockquote>"Since we are prepared to renounce a [[good ]] part of our infantile wishes, we can bear it if a few of our expectations turn out to be illusions."<ref>1927c, p. 54</ref></blockquote>

In psychoanalysis the concept of illusion has, in the [[work ]] of Donald Woods [[Winnicott]], undergone a completely different development than it has in Freud.

Winnicott (1953/1971) defines illusion as the necessary [[adaptation ]] of the [[mother ]] to the [[needs ]] of the [[baby]], which allows her to experiment with [[narcissistic ]] omnipotence from the beginning.

This [[phase ]] corresponds to the primary [[creativity ]] of the [[infant ]] and is prolonged during [[adulthood ]] in art and religion.

Winnicott's [[ideas ]] extended Freudian theories of the "purified pleasure ego" and the "reality [[test]]."

Winnicott postulates the [[existence ]] of "intermediate [[state ]] between a baby's inability and growing ability to recognize and accept reality" (1953, p. 90).

<blockquote>"The mother's adaptation to the infant's needs, when good enough, gives the infant the illusion that there is an [[external ]] reality that corresponds to the infant's own capacity to create."<ref>p. 95</ref></blockquote>

But illusion as a [[form ]] remains and serves as a binding factor:

<blockquote>"We can share a respect for illusory [[experience]], and if we wish we may collect together and form a group on the basis of the similarity of our illusory experiences. This is a [[natural ]] root of grouping among human beings."<ref>p. 90</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>"It is assumed here that the task of reality-acceptance is never completed, that no human being is free from the strain of relating inner and outer reality, and that relief from this strain is provided by an intermediate area of experience which is not challenged ([[arts]], religion, etc.). This intermediate area is in direct continuity with the play area of the small [[child ]] who is 'lost' in play."<ref>p. 95</ref></blockquote>

[[Psychose ]] se manifestant par des troubles de la [[perception ]] et de la production d’idées délirantes.

* [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1901b). The psychopathology of everyday life. SE,6.

* ——. (1933a [1932]). New introductory lectures on [[psycho]]-[[analysis]]. SE, 22: 1-182.* ——. (1936a). A disturbance of memory on the Acropolis (an open [[letter ]] to Romain Rolland on the occasion of his seventieth birthday). SE, 22: 239-248.