Psychological Types, Collected Works Vol. 6
Reference
Jung, C. G. (1971) Psychological Types , The collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 6. Bollingen Series XX, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J.
Introduction (1 - 7)
§4 “But everyone possesses both mechanisms, extraversion as well as introversion …” Emphasis mine. I find the use of the term mechanism interesting. It implies a 'way of doing things'. An obvious statement I guess…but it is important to note that types - in part at least - are down to the mechanisms people use to cope and get through life. The term 'coping mechanism' comes to mind for example.
§5 “But in general one could say that the introverted standpoint is one which sets the ego and the subjective psychological process above the object and the objective process, or at any rate seeks to hold its ground against the object. … sometimes the object represents …the embodiment of an idea, the idea being the essential thing. If it is the embodiment of a feeling, then again the feeling is the main thing and not the object in its own right.
The extraverted standpoint …subordinates the subject to the object, so that the object has the higher value. …”
Lots of systolic = introverted, and diastolic = extroverted physiological comparisons in relation to the flow of energy of the two mechanisms. Both are required for the 'psychic economy' but there may be a predominance, resulting in a type then.
§6 “A typical attitude always means merely the relative predominance of one mechanism.”
§7 “…individuals can be distinguished not only according to the broad distinction between introversion and extraversion, but also according to their basic psychological functions. … thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. … Each of these types may moreover be either introverted or extraverted, …”
I. The Problem of Types in the History of Classical and Medieval Thought
Jumping ahead here a bit just to put this section into context. The last para in this section;
§100 “… If I have succeeded in conveying to the reader some idea of the existence of typical differences of standpoint, my purpose will have been achieved.”
1. Psychology in the classical age: The Gnostics, Tertullian, Origen (8 - 30)
I'm not sure what Jung meant when he refers to the 'classical age', so I have gone for the period known as 'Classical antiquity' covering 8-7 century BC when Homer shows up through to 5-6 century AD.
Classical age or Classical antiquity = (from wikipedia) 'Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Greek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, North Africa and Middle East.
It is conventionally taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (8th7th century BC), and continues through the emergence of Christianity and the decline of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). It ends with the dissolution of classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity (AD 300600), blending into the Early Middle Ages (AD 6001000)'
Origen (pron.: /ˈɒrɪdʒən/; Greek: Ὠριγένης Ōrigénēs), or Origen Adamantius (184/185 – 253/254)
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (c. 160 c. 225 AD)
§8 Objective psychology is a recent development. Further, an objective psychology requires personal valuation, not just physical and/or metaphysical.
§9 The bias or rather influence of the subjective observer in science, and psychology for that matter when making observations. “ One sees what one can best see oneself. ”
§10 This is fun, Jung's opinion on having a purely objective perspective on things: “The demand that he should see only objectively is quite out of the question, for it is impossible. We must be satisfied if he does not see too subjectively.” I agree!!…but there is hope, as Jung does say that we can have a balanced subjective and objective view on things…potentially.
§11 “The recognition and taking to heart of the subjective determination of knowledge in general, and of psychological knowledge in particular, are basic conditions for the scientific and impartial evaluation of a psyche different from that of the observing subject. These conditions are fulfilled only when the observer is sufficiently informed about the nature and scope of his own personality. …”
§12 “The further we go back into history, the more we see personality disappearing beneath the wrappings of collectivity. And if we go right back to primitive pscychology …. Instead of individuality we find only collective relationship or what Lévy-Bruhl call participation mystique.”
§13 The four temperaments (or four humors):
- Sanguine : pleasure seeking and sociable
- Choleric : ambitious and leader like
- Melancholic : introverted and thoughtful
- Phlegmatic : relaxed and quiet
§14 “Gnostic philosophy established three types, corresponding perhaps to three of the basic psychological functions: thinking, feeling, and sensation. The pneumatikoi could be correlated with thinking, the psychikoi with feeling, and the hylikoi with sensation.” (Emphasis mine)
§15 The church's - or religions - view to knowledge in its ealiest beginnings was for the most part very limited. Gnosticsm focused on knowledge and thus waged against Christianity. “It is therefore understandable that the vastly superior intellectual content of Gnosis, which in the light of our present mental development has not lost but has considerably gained in vlaue, must have made the greatest possible appeal to the intellectual within the Church.”
Docetism : the doctrine, important in Gnosticism, that Christ's body was not human but either a phantasm or of real but celestial substance, and that therefore his sufferings were only apparent.
§16pp “ … Tertulian and Origan …”
§28 “A one-sided (“typical”) attitude leaves a deficiency in the adaptive performance which accumulates during the course of life, and sooner or later this will produce a disturbance of adaptation that drives the subject toward some kind of compensation. But the compensation can be obtained only by means of an amputation (sacrifice) of the hitherto one-sided attitude. This results in a temporary accumulation of energy and an overflow into channels not used consciously before though lying ready unconsciously.”
2. The theological disputes of the ancient church (31 - 34)
Σ §31 The Arian heresy (info and links below are wikipedia)
- Ebionites : Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι; derived from Hebrew אביונים ebyonim, ebionim, meaning “the poor” or “poor ones”
- Docetists : from the Greek δοκεῖν/δόκησις dokein (to seem) /dókēsis (apparition, phantom)
Cf with:
- (S) homoiousia : God the Father is “incomparable” and therefore the Son of God can not be described in any sense as “equal in substance or attributes” but only “like” (ὅμοιος, hómoios) the Father in some suborbinate sense of the term.
And
- (A) Monophysitess : (Greek: monos meaning “only, single” and physis meaning “nature”), is the Christological position that, after the union of the divine and the human in the historical Incarnation, Jesus Christ, as the incarnation of the eternal Son or Word (Logos) of God, had only a single “nature” which was either divine or a synthesis of divine and human.
- (S) Dyophysite : ( Greek: δυοφυσῖται) is a theological term used in understanding how the divine and human are related in the person of Jesus Christ, an area of study known as Christology. The term comes from the Greek and literally means “two natures.” Two natures refer to a human nature and a divine nature that exist in the one person of Jesus.
- Miaphysitism (sometimes called henophysitism) is a Christological formula of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the various churches adhering to the first three Ecumenical Councils. Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of Jesus Christ, Divinity and Humanity are united in one or single nature (“physis”), the two being united without separation, without confusion, and without alteration.
Interesting here how Jung uses these terms above in this paragraph - he talks of them as different attitudes biased either towards a more (S) sensuous and humanly perception in contrast to purely conceptual and (A) abstract standpoints.
§32 “… both hitorically and psychologically, lay the Ebionite creed of a purely human Christ with only relative (“apparent”) divinity, and the Docetist creed of a purely divine Christ with only apparent corporeality. And beneath the level in turn lies the great psychological schism. The one position (Ebionite) attaches supreme value and importance to the sensuously perceptible, whose subject, though it may not always be human and personal, is nevertheless always a projected human sensation; The other (Docetist) maintains that the chief value lies with the abstract and extra-human, whose subject is the function; in other words, with the objective process of nature, that runs its course determined by impoersonal law, beyond human sensation, of which it is the actual foundation. … Each standpoint denies the principal value of the other.”
Σ §33pp The Pelagian controversy, …original sin, “concupiscence9“
9We would rather say untamed libido, which, in the form of heimarmene (compulsion of the stars, or fate), leads a man into wrongdoing and corruption.
3. The problem of transubstantiation (35 - 39)
From wikipedia : In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation (in Latin, transsubstantiatio, in Greek μετουσίωσις metousiosis) is the doctrine that, in the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and the wine used in the sacrament is changed into the substance of the Body and the Blood of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses (the appearances, or “accidents” - species in Latin) remains as before.
§35pp Jung talks here of Paschasius Radbertus and Scotus Erigena
§37 Talking of communion and the dogma of transubstantiation there is an interesting point to be made from a typology / function point of view “It must not be overlooked, for instance, that it is precisely the belief in the reality of this miracle (that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ when taking communion) that demands a detachment of the psychic process from the purely sensual, and this cannot remain without influence on the psychic process itself. Directed thinking becomes absolutely impossible when the sensual has too high a threshold value. Because its value is too high it constanctly intrudes into the psyche, where it disrupts and destroys the function of directed thinking which is based on the exclusion of everything incompatible with thought. From this elementary consideration follows the practical importance of rites and dogmas …(very interesting)… ..what we may learn from this example is that the thinking of the introvert is incommensurable with the thinking of the extravert, since the two forms of thinking, as regards their determinants, are wholly and fundamentally different. We might perhaps say that the thinking of the introvert is rational, while that of the extravert is programmatic.” Rites and rituals for e.g. may remove the individual from the need for directed thinking so that they are fully engaged with the object and thus can suspend psychic intervention or rational thinking.
4. Nominalism and Realism (40 - 95)
a. The problem of Universals in Antiquity
This is completely out of context but I note it here as a reminder of the passage to jog the memory:
§45 “Thus “warmy” and “coldness” are thing-like for us because of the reverberation of sense-perception in the abstraction. It is exteremly difficult for us to strip the abstraction of its “thingness,” for there naturally clings to every abstraction the thing it is abstracted from. (this is like projection) In this sense the thingness of the predicate is actually an a priori. (Cf. para 48) …(moving on to energy now) … At this point the conflict arises about the “nature” of energy: whether energy is purely conceptual and abstract, or whether it is something “real.” The learned nominalist of our day is quite convinced that energy is nothing but a name, a mere counter in our mental calculus; but in spite of this, in our everyday speech we treat energy as though it were thing-like, thus sowing in our heads the greatest confusion from the standpoint of the theory of knowledge.”
§46 ”… Primitive superstition surprises us only because we have largely succeeded in de-sensualising the psychic image; we have learnt to think abstractly …”
§48 (Cf. para 45) “The reality of the predicate is given a priori since it has always existed in the human mind.” (What does that mean…'always existed'??) “Only by subsequent criticism is the abstraction deprived of the quality of reality.”
§52 Worth a read
§55 (Very much out of context, but worth reading) “When the type (generic concept) reduces the individual thing to a shadow, the type has acquired the reality of a collective idea. But when the value of the individual thing abolishes the type (generic concept), anarchic disintegration is at work. …”
b. The problem of Universals in Scholasticisn
§59 Anselm - realism and the 'ontological proof' of God. Concept or idea = existence. ∴ God exists.
§60 “Reality is simply what works in a human soul and not what is assumed by certain people to work there, and about which prejudiced generalisations are wont to be made. Even when this is done in a scientific spirit, it should not be forgotten that science is not the summa of life, that it is actually only one of the psychological attitudes, only one of the forms of human thought.”
c. Abelard's Attempt at Conciliation
§70 “Empathy and abstraction combined produce the function that underlies the concept of conceptualism. It is grounded, therefore, on the only psychological function that has any real possibility of bringing nominalism and realism together on the middle way.”
§72 “We have a psychology, a mediatory science, and this alone is capable of uniting the idea and the thing without doing violence to either.”
§73 …“Indeed, it is the great psychological achievement of both classical and medieval nominalism that it completely abolished the primitive, magical, mystical identity of the word with the thing - too completely for the type of man who has his foothold not in things but in the abstraction of the idea from things.”
I think paras 77pp are just fantastic
§76 “… Logical-intellectual expression is simply incapable, eve in the form of the sermo, of providing the mediatory formula that will be fair to the real nature of the two opposing psychological attitudes, (idea and reality) for it derives exclusively from the abstract side and lacks all recognition of concrete reality.”
§77 “… But then just that is lost which seems to the extravert the most important of all - the relation to the object. … And yet, even if his mind could, man cannot remain thus divided, for the split is not a mere matter of some off-beat philosophy, but the daily repeated problem of his relation to himself and to the world. An because this is basically the problem at issue, the division cannot be resolved by a discussion of the nominalist and realist arguments. For its solution a third, mediating standpoint is needed. Esse in intellectu lacks tangible reality, esse in re lacks mind. Idea and thing come together, however, in the human psyche, which holds the balance between them. … What indeed is reality if it is not a reality in ourselves, an esse in anima? Living reality is the product neither of the actual, objective behaviour of things nor of the formulated idea exclusively, but rather of the combination of both in the living psychological process, through esse in anima. …“
§78 “This autonomous activity of the psyche, which can be explained neither as a reflex action oto sensory stimuli nor as the executive organ of eternal ideas, is, like every vital process, a continually creative act. The psyche creates reality every day. The only expression I can use for this activity is fantasy. Fantasy is just as much feeling as thinking; as much intuition as sensation. … Fantasy, therefore, seems to me the clearest expression of the specific activity of the psyche. It is, pre-eminently, the creative activity from which the answers to all answerable questions come; it is the mother of all possibilities, where, like all psychological opposites, the inner and outer worlds are joined together in living union. Fantasy it was and ever is which fashions the bridge between the irreconcilable claims of subject and object, introversion and extraversion. In fantasy alone both mechanisms are united.” (Emphasis mine)
§79 ”… fantasy is for the most part a product of the unconscious. … It has these qualities in common with the dream, though the latter of course is involuntary and strange in a much higher degree.”
Lots more to read about fantasy here…
Σ §80 “… religion offers stereotyped symbolic concepts that are meant to take the place of his unconscious once and for all. The symbolic concepts of all religions are recreations of unconscious processes in a typical, universally binding form. … Wherever we can observe a religion being born, we see how the doctrinal figures flow into the founder himself as revelations, in other words as concretisations of his unconscious fantasy. The forms welling up from his unconscious are declared to be universally valid and thus replace the individual fantasies of others.”
83pp talk about the language of psychology and the language of science. It is very interesting. Cf. this with the introduction to Atom and Archetype : The Pauli / Jung Letters, 1932-1958
§83 “… We must be content with the fact that the unconscious was suppressed. Psychologically, the suppression consists in a withdrawal of libido. The libido thus gained promotes the growth and development of the conscious attitude, … ”
§84 “It is easy to understand why all sciences have excluded the standpoints of both feeling and fantasy, and indeed it is absolutely necessary for them to do so. … Every science ultimately seeks to formulate and express its material in abstractions; thus psychology could, and actually does, grasp the processes of feeling, sensation, and fantasy in abstract intellectual form. (It is great and interesting that he says this but it is in some ways meaningless because his use of the term 'abstract intellectual form' does imply a science to understanding and thus something abstract and measurable. Notwithstanding the theory of libido, i.e. energy, his point is soon lost and the idea of these functions being assessed from an 'abstract intellectual' position is not really possible I don't think.)… Science is under all circumstances an affair of the intellect, and the other psychological functions are subordinated to it as objects. … But it is another matter when science steps over into the realm of its practical application. … The intellect, and along with it science, is now placed at the service of a creative power and purpose.”
This next paragraph is great; about science/intellect vs feeling.
§85 “… feeling and thinking are united in a third and higher principle. This higher third, as I have already indicated, can be understood either as a practical goal or as the creative fantasy that creates the goal. The goal of totality can be reached neither by science, which is an end in itself, nor by feeling, which lacks the visionary power of thought. …yet the opposition between them is so great that a bridge is needed. The bridge is already given us in creative fantasy. It is not born of either, for it is the mother of both - nay more, it is pregnant with the child, that final goal which unites the opposites.”
Σ §86 “The intellect remains imprisoned in itself just so long as it does not willingly sacrifice its supremacy by recognizing the value of other aims. … from the standpoint of the intellect everything else is nothing but fantasy. But what great thing ever came into existence that was not first fantasy? … Thus it was an historical necessity in the Christian process of culture that unbridled fantasy should be suppressed, … It must not be forgotten that creative fantasy, if not restrained within just bounds, can degenerate into the rankest of growths. But these bounds are never artificial limitations imposed by the intellect or by rational feeling; they are boundaries set by necessity and irrefutable reality.” (This reference to 'rational feeling' is interesting. Feelings derived by rational thought and conclusion. It is difficult to contain those feelings. They will snap at some point if they do not in some way take in to account the irrational.)
§87 “ Truth is not eternal, it is a programme to be fulfilled. The more “eternal” a truth is, the more lifeless it is and worthless; it says nothing more to us because it is self-evident.” I'm not really sure what this means. That said, is there anything that is an eternal truth. I can't think of one.
§88 “How fantasy is assessed by psychology, …
Freud's is a psychology of instinct, Adler's an ego-psychology. Instinct is an impersonal biological phenomenon. A psychology founded on instinct (Freud) must by its very nature neglect the ego, since the ego owes its existence to the principium individuatioinis, i.e., to individual differentiation, whose isolated character removes it from the realm of general biological phenomena. Although biological instinctive processes also contribute to the formation of the personality, …”
§89 “… since fantasies are mediating products between the ego and the instincts.”
§90 “Freudian psychology is characterised by one central idea, the repression of incompatible with-tendencies. … His neurotic difficulties are due to the fact that environmental influences, education, and objective conditions put a considerable check on the free expression of instinct. … hence the most untrammelled expression of instinct in respect of suitably chosen objects would appear to be the needful remedy.” (One just needs to find the right objects :) )
“Adler's psychology, on the other hand, is characterised by the central concept of ego-superiority. Freud's repression of instinct in respect of the object corresponds to the security of the subject in Adler. For Adler the remedy is the removal of the security that isolates the subject; for Freud it is the removal of the repression that makes the object inaccessible.”
§91 Freud is essentially extraverted and Adler introverted.
“… Overaccentuation of the one function is synonymous with repression of the other.”
§93 “Both theories reject the principle of imagination … In reality fantasies …represent …repressed extraversion in the introvert, and of repressed introversion in the extravert. But the repressed function is unconscious, and hence undeveloped, embryonic, and archaic. … The unacceptable nature of fantasy derives chiefly from this peculiarity of the unrecognised, unconscious function. … The dynamic principle of fantasy is play, a characteristic also of the child, …”
5. The Holy Communion Controversy between Luther and Zwingli (96 - 100)
II. Schiller's ideas on the Type problem (101 - 222)
1. Letters on the aesthetic education of man (101 - 212)
Friedrich Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) …was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. Why should Jung be interested in Schiller? From wikipedia:
“During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches.”
…and that would be why
a. The Superior and the Inferior Functions
§103 xRef footnote 47, §148
Schiller ⇒ intuitive, introverted thinking type
Goethe ⇒ intuitive, extraverted feeling type. “if we disregard his overriding intuition - inclines more to the extroverted side.”
§106-109 Interesting discussion about Schiller's view on the Greek's individual development and / vs collective culture in comparison of modernity. There are some notable comments about the Christian psyche. Speaking of the Greeks;
Σ §107 “A high level of individual culture was undoubtedly reached by certain exemplary personalities, but a collective culture was quite unknown to the ancient world. This achievement was reserved for Christianity. …”
Σ §108 “Just as the ancients, with an eye to individual development, catered to the well-being of an upper class by an almost total suppression of the great majority of the common people (helots, slaves), the Christian world reached a condition of collective culture by transferring this same process, as far as possible, to the psychological sphere within the individual himself - raising it, one might say, to the subjective level. …
Psychological this meant that the external form of society in classical civilisation was transferred into the subject, so that a condition was produced within the individual which in the ancient world had been external, namely a dominating, privileged function which was developed and differentiated at the expense of an inferior majority. By means of this psychological process a collective culture gradually came into existence, in which the “rights of man” were guaranteed for the individual to an immeasurably greater degree than in antiquity. … Just as the enslavement of the masses was the open wound of the ancient world, so the enslavement of the inferior functions is an ever-bleeding wound in the psyche of modern man.” Very interesting social commentary and still applicable today where human rights dominate the political landscape.
§109-111 Collective culture development and the culture development of the individual.
§118 Not to be taken out of context but a good point of note: “As has been pointed out already, it is characteristic of an imperfectly developed function to withdraw itself from conscious control and, thanks to its own autonomy, to get unconsciously contaminated with other functions. …
- a conflict that remains unresolved so long as the unconscious contaminating and disturbing force is not differentiated and subjected to conscious control.”
“Barbarism consists in one-sidedness, lack of moderation - bad measure in general.” (xRef §124 & §160)
§120 “We may therefore conjecture that it was largely the impressions of contemporary events that gave Schiller the courage to undertake this attempt to solve the conflict between the individual and the social function.” (Emphasis mine)
§124 Ha! Interesting comment not to be taken out of context: “Retrospective orientation is itself a relic of pagan thinking, for it is a well-known characteristic of the archaic and barbarian mentality that it imagined a paradisal Golden Age as the forerunner of the present evil times.” (RE 'barbarism', xRef §118 & §160)
§125 “To me it seems certain that this retrospective orientation must also have a decided influence on the choice of the methods of human education. The mind thus oriented is ever seeking support in some phantasmagoria of the past. We could make light of this were it not that the knowledge of the conflict between the types and the typical mechanisms compels us to look round for something that would establish their harmony.”
§130 “From all this it is abundantly clear that any attempt to equalise the one-sided differentiation of the man of our times has to reckon very seriously with an acceptance of the inferior, because undifferentiated, functions. (Inferior only because undifferentiated?) No attempt at mediation will be successful if it does not understand how to release the energies of the inferior functions and lead them towards differentiation. This process can take place only in accordance with the laws of energy, that is, a gradient must be created which offers the latent energies a chance to come into play.”
§131 “… that is, the conversion can be accomplished only at the expense of the superior function.”
§138 “For the introvert the idea of the ego is the continuous and dominant note of consciousness, and its antithesis for him is relatedness or proneness to affect. For the extravert, on the contrary, the accent lies more on the continuity of his relation to the object and less on the idea of the ego. …
…
For only with the introvert is the “person” exclusively the ego; with the extravert it lies in his affectivity and not in the affected ego. His ego is, as it were, of less importance than his affectivity, i.e., his relatedness. The extravert discovers himself in the fluctuating and changeable, the introvert in the constant. …”
§145 “A further result of the abstracting attitude of consciousness, and one whose significance will become more apparent in the course of our exposition, is that the unconscious develops a compensating attitude. For the more the relation to the object is restricted by abstraction (because too many “experiences” and “laws” are made), the more insistently does a craving for the object develop in the unconscious and this finally expresses itself in consciousness as a compulsive sensuous tie to the object.”
§147 Man as a creator
b. Concerning the Basic Instincts
Sensation & Thinking. xRef the quote from Schiller in §170 for a good summary of these two instincts/functions.
According to Schiller; Sensuous ⇒ Sensation. xRef §157 “Since, for Schiller, feeling has the quality of “feeling-sensation” …”
§152 I like the way Schiller describes the “sensuous”, particularly with relation to time. Jung, quoting Schiller: “The “sensuous” instinct is concerned with “setting man within the bounds of time and turning him into matter.”49 (Emphasis mine) This instinct demands
that there be change, so that time should have a content. This state of merely filled time is called sensation.
Man in this state is nothing but a unit of magnitude, a filled moment of time - or rather, he is not even that, for his personality is extinguished so long as sensation rules him and time whirls him along.
With unbreakable bonds this instinct chains the upward-striving spirit to the world of sense, and summons abstraction from its unfettered wanderings in the infinite back into the confines of the present.50“
xRef §165 where Jung discusses Schiller' view between 'matter and form', 'passivity and activity'. 'matter' ⇔ 'sensuous' and 'form' / 'activity' is more related to 'thinking'.
As an aside it is very interesting to note that Sensation is the only time and space bound function of the four functions. Assuming that is, that the other functions are not purely epiphenomenal to our physiology and biological evolution. If the latter is true or partially true then Thinking too may be more incremental or temporal in process.
xRef here there work desire that Jung mentions:
desire From Middle English desiren, from Old French desir®er, from Latin desidero (“to long for, desire, feel the want of, miss, regret”), apparently from de- + sidus (in the phrase de sidere, “from the stars”) in connection with astrological hopes. Compare consider. Compare also desiderate.
§158 The four functions as a perception of wholeness, the need for all four.
§160 (RE 'barbarism', xRef §118 & §124)
§161 “Identification with the one differentiated function means that one is in a collective state - not, of course, identical with the collective, as is the primitive, but collectively adapted so far as “the judgement of all minds is pronounced by our own” and our thought and speech exactly conform to the general expectations of those whose thinking is differentiated and adapted to the same degree. …”
§163 “This states is one of inferior extraversion, an extraversion which, as it were, detaches the individual entirely from his ego and dissolves him into archaic collective ties and identifications. He is no longer “himself,” but sheer relatedness, identical with the object and therefore with out a standpoint. … It should on no account be confused with the extraversion of the extraverted type, inclined as the introvert is to make this mistake and to display for this extraversion the same contempt which, at bottom, he always feels for his own.63”
Σ §165 Interesting interchange of words here by Jung to address what Schiller terms the 'formal function', i.e., thinking, 'form' vs 'matter' ⇔ sensation/sensuous. The two instincts / functions should be balanced, each 'depotentiated' to allow the other. Schiller says the following:
“Just as little should the depotentiation of the formal instinct (thinking) be the effect of spiritual incapacity and a feebleness of thought and will that would degrade humanity. Abundance of sensations must be its glorious source; sensuousness …”
§166 Jung then brings 'spirituality' into the discussion. xRef with §167 and the reference to Christianity and spirituality. The interchange between spirituality and thinking, i.e., the formal instinct: “With these words Schiller acknowledges the equal rights of sensuousness and spirituality.”
So here spirituality is equated with the formal instinct (as Schiller calls it), thinking, rational function. Jung goes on though to discuss reciprocity of the functions: “the idea of a “reciprocity” between the two instincts, a community of interest, or, in modern language, a symbiosis in which the waste products of the one would be the food supply of the other.”
§167 ”… If this principle (the 'predominance of the one differentiated and socially valuable function'), which, was we saw, was developed in particularly high degree by Christianity for the spiritualising of man, and then proved equally effective in furthering his materialistic ends, … The complete opposition between sensuousness and spirituality, or between the feeling-sensation and thinking of the introverted thinking type, would then be openly revealed. … a renunciation of the claim to a universally valid standpoint on the strength of one differentiated and adapted collective function.”
§169 “In practice, opposites can be united only in the form of compromise, or irrationally, some new thing arising between them which, although different from both, yet has the power to take up their energies in equal measure as an expression of both and of neither. Such an expression cannot be contrived by reason, it can only be created through living.”
§171 “… But the symbol presupposes a function that creates symbols, and in addition a function that understands them. This latter function takes no part in the creation of the symbol, it is a function in its own right, which one could call symbolic thinking or symbolic understanding. … The creation of a symbol is not a rational process, …”
§171 “On account of its relative repression, the inferior function is only partly attached to consciousness; its other part is attached to the unconscious.”
§714 The individual nucleus ⇒ the Self, and the play of opposites. An 'ancient train of thought' according to Jung, going back to the Christian bishop Ptolemais and pupil of Hypatia.
Also, Jung here equates his 'creative fantasy' with Schiller' 'Play instinct', xRef §171
§175 “It is, as I have already pointed out, precisely the fantastic element that becomes associated in the unconscious with the repressed functions. Hence, if the individuality … fails to differentiate itself from the opposites, it become identical with them and is inwardly torn asunder, so that a state of agonising disunion arises.”
§178 The Symbolic third “According to Schiller, this must be a symbolic content, since the mediating position between the opposites can be reached only by the symbol. …”
§179 From where does the symbol come? Not the ego ⇒ consciousness. “… since the whole essence of consciousness is discrimination, …” i.e., establishing opposites, not uniting them.
§180 We must go to the unconscious …
§181-182 The 'mediating will'. Jung then continues to discuss the energy level of unconscious content and the 'normal' conditions where unconscious content is not conscious until the energy level of the symbolic content achieves a high enough state to break through to consciousness. However, consciousness did not precipitate this occurrence and as such is at this point is subordinate to the unconscious content coming through.
§183 “Under normal conditions, therefore, energy must be artificially supplied to the unconscious symbol in order to increase its value and bring it to consciousness. This comes about (and here we return again to the idea of differentiation provoked by Schiller) through a differentiation of the self85 from the opposites.” (So an emancipation of the Self from the one sided construct of a particular function, the 'barbarism' Jung spoke of earlier. This way, the Self does not identify with one particular function…a difficult thing todo in light of the collective goals and requirements. Key here is this is not a collective attitude but a collective value on the particular function, i.e., thinking in this day and age, logic, rationality in the west. Jung talks here of 'detachment of libido from both sides' and goes on to explain how the process occurs and brings the symbolic content to the surface. An explanation of the act of 'differentiation')
The footnote is very interesting
85[A preliminary formulation of the “self” first occurs in “the Structure of the Unconscious” (1916), Two Essays (1966 edn.), par. 512: “The unconscious personal contents constitute the self, the unconscious or subconscious ego.” Thereafter the self does not appear to have been mentioned in Jung's writings until the publication of Psychological Types (From the book cover: Published in German in 1921, R.F.C. Hull's revision of the 1923 translation by H. G. Baynes brings the terminology and style of the work into accord with the other volumes of the collected edition) …
Thus, in par. 183, the “self” appears for the first time as an entity distinct from the ego, though it is evident from the context that the term also has an affinity with the “individual nucleus” which can be differentiated from the opposing functions or opposites (par. 174). …
§184 “… This function of mediation between the opposites I have termed the transcendent function, …”
§185 “Besides the will - whose importance should not on that account be denied - we also have the creative fantasy, an irrational, instinctive function which alone has the power to supply the will with a content of such a nature that it can unite the opposites. …” (Emphasis mine)
§186 End of this paragraph, “introversion into the unconscious”
§187 Speaking of Schiller's ideas and terminology Jung says: “His mediating aesthetic function would thus be the equivalent of our symbol-forming activity (creative fantasy).”
§189 “The Indian conception teaches liberation from the opposites, … This psychological process is … known as tapas, …” Jung continues to discuss the atman and this Indian concept, brahman.
§190 “Parallel in some ways with tapas is the concept of yoga, … The aim of tapas and yoga alike is to establish a mediatory condition from which the creative and redemptive element will emerge. …”
Σ §191 “Yoga (as with tapas) introverts the relations to the object. … In this respect the Indian religious attitude is the diametrical opposite of the Christian, since the Christian principle of love is extraverted and positively demands an object. The Indian principle makes for riches of knowledge, the Christian for fulness of works.”
§192 The concept of tao in Lao-tzu.
§193 The unconscious, the objective psyche - the fact that content from the Upanishads can relate to Schiller and Schopenhauer since the wellspring of content is from the same unconscious. “It is the same as the myths and symbols, which can arise autochthonously in every corner of the earth and yet are identical, because the are fashioned out of the same whorldwide human unconscious, whose contents are infinitely less variable than are races and individuals.”
§§194 “Aestheticism” and Schiller's concept of play.
§197 “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves.”
§198 End of this para. - 'the objective to extend Schiller's view to the common man' Cf end of §200
Basically, how do we bring this sophisticated concept of tao, walking the middle road, a release from the opposites and the ability to digest content from the unconscious to achieve a more complete view of the object? When something like this requires significant commitment by the yogi's to meditation, the Indian process of tapas, etc. How does this goal become something that the common man can achieve? It is not to become 'unconscious' so to speak:
§199 “… But real consciousness is possible only when values facilitate a discrimination of contents.”
Perhaps it is religion on some level:
Σ §200 “… For religious devotion is a collective phenomenon that does not depend on individual endowment.”
§201 “There are, however, yet other possibilities. …”
At the end of para. 201 I like Jung's implication - and something to take note of I think - about the 'independent character' of a symbol.
Σ §202 “Humanity came to its gods by accepting the reality of the symbol, that is, it came to the reality of thought, which has made man lord of the earth. Devotion, as Schiller correctly conceived it, is a regressive movement of libido towards the primordial, …“
§204 The symbol-formation resulting from “devotion” is another of those collective religious phenomena that do not depend on individual endowment. …”
§204 Just an interesting comment from Jung: ”…I should add that the question of the relation of the symbol to consciousness and the conscious conduct of life has long occupied my mind. …“ He then goes on to discuss the “not inconsiderable value” of symbolic content.
§206 Schiller's bias towards beauty, 'aesthetics' and his oversight towards ugliness. However, as Jung points out, aesthetics is not equal to beauty as Schiller uses it. A more rounded perspective of aesthetics includes ugliness. “To be quite accurate, human nature is simply what it is; it has its dark and its light sides.”
§207 → Being accessible to the common man we now have the question of ”…how this mediatory condition is to be brought about.“
Schiller's perspective was that it is through §207 “the enjoyment of pure beauty” However, as Jung points out, this did not take into account the ugliness of man; §208 “Here he comes up against a barrier … the invisible “Ugliest Man,” whose discovery was reserved for our age by Nietzsche.”
§211 Very interesting para. as well as quote from Schiller about reality and appearance, the antithesis of real and unreal respectively. The symbol is both in as much as it has a uniting function and brings together both real and unreal. The use of the word appearance is slightly difficult to grasp here. Note how in the quote Schiller equates 'reality' to 'truth'. Here then Schiller seems to espouse the potential to embrace appearance and reality equally as 'a decisive step towards culture.' This little sketch helped me bring together the last part of Schiller's comments.
I'm not sure if Jung continues to use the word appearance with the same implication in the next paragraph, appearance ⇔ projection. More accurately, a false appearance ⇒ projection. I think he does, and quoting Schiller who mentions the separation of “form from being”. Form = thoughts, idea, appearance. Being = reality? It does seem that the terms reality and appearance = projection, are in use. It is very confusing.
§212 “It is well known that the unconscious, when not realised, is ever at work casting a false glamour over everything, a false appearance: it appears to us always on objects, because everything unconscious is projected. Hence, when we can apprehend the unconscious as such, we strip away the false appearance from objects, and this can only promote truth.”
2. A discussion on naïve and sentimental poetry (213 - 222)
Etymology:
- Naïve From French naïve, from Latin nativus (“native, natural”).
- Sentimental From French sentiment, itself from Latin Sentimentum : sentiō + -mentum, to think with feeling, opinion, sentiment.
§213 “Schiller's definition is very simple: “The naïve poet is Nature, the sentimental poet seeks her.” …”
§213 “His (Schiller's) division into naïve and sentimental is one which, in contrast to our type division, (introvert, extrovert etc) is not in the least concerned with the individual mentality of the poet, but rather with the character of his creative activity, or of its product.”
a. The Naïve Attitude
§216 “Lévy-Bruhl describes this relation to the object as participation mystique. This identity always derives from an analogy between the object and an unconscious content. One could also say that the identity comes about through the projection of an unconscious association by analogy with the object. … He lends his expressive function to the object and represents it in a certain way, not in the least actively or intentionally, but because it represents itself that way in him.” (Emphasis mine. This makes me think of artists and their perspective on the object. The way they can be like an 'antenna' for creative content from the personal but also collective unconscious content. Artists that have a significant impact on the collective are obviously expressing some collective content and as such they are the 'expressive function' for the unconscious content.) ”… To this extent the naïve attitude is extraverted.“
b. The Sentimental Attitude
§218 ”… the sentimental poet draws his creativity from two sources: from the object (finite reality)and/or his perception of it (infinite possibility), and from himself. … His is therefore an introverted attitude.“(Emphasis mine)
§219 “Our two mechanisms (classification of the extroverted/introverted attitude) are merely basic phenomena of a rather general nature … To help understand the naïve and sentimental types we must enlist the help of two further functions, sensation and intuition. …”
c. The Idealist and the Realist
III. The Apollinian and the Dionysian (223 - 242)
In Nietzsche
IV. The Type Problem in Human Character (243 - 274)
1. General remarks on Jordan's Types
§243 “Continuing my chronological survey of previous contributions to this interesting problem of psychological types, …“
This is a very brief overview showing the chronological view of some of the people Jung presents and discusses - whom themselves have demonstrated or 'contributed' as Jung puts it towards the concept of psychological types. This illustration is by no means exhaustive but shows some chronological context.
2. Special description and criticism of Jordan's types
a. The Introverted Woman ("The More Impassioned Woman")
b. The Extraverted Woman ("The Less Impassioned Woman")
c. The Extraverted Man ("The Less Impassioned Man")
d. The Introverted Man ("The More Impassioned Man")
V. The Type Problem in Poetry (275 - 460)
Carl Spitteler: Prometheus and Epimetheus
1. Introductory Remarks on Spitteler's Typology
§279-280 The soul as object
It is important to take the context here. That said, this is a very powerful statement as regards the structure and development of the unconscious:
§281 The unconscious, considered as the historical background of human psyche, contains in concentrated form the entire succession of engrams (imprints) which from time immemorial have determined the psychic structure as it now exists.” (Emphasis mine)
2. A comparison of Spitteler's with Goethe's Prometheus
A point about 'conscience' worth noting I thought - how it has been captured in writing as an animal.
§299 Footnote 23Cf. p. 161. Spittleler depicts the famous “conscience” of Epimetheus as a little animal. It corresponds to the animal's opportunist instinct.
§301 ”… because, psychologically speaking, God always denotes the highest value, the maximum sum of libido, the fullest intensity of life, the optimum of psychological vitality.”
3. The Significance of the Uniting Symbol
a. The Brahmanic Conception of the Problem of Opposites
b. The Brahmanic Conception of the Uniting Symbol
c. The Uniting Symbol as the Principle of Dynamic Regulation
4. The Relativity of the Symbol
a. The Worship of Woman and the Worship of the Soul
b. The Relativity of the God-concept in Meister Eckhart
5. The Nature of the Uniting Symbol in Spitteler
VI. The Type Problem in Psychopathology (461 - 483)
VII. The Type Problem in Aesthetics (484 - 504)
VIII. The Type Problem in Modern Philosophy (505 - 541)
1. William James' Types
2. The Characteristic Pairs of Opposites in James' Types
a. Rationalism versus Empiricism
b. Intellectualism versus Sensationalism
c. Idealism versus Materialism
d. Optimism versus Pessimism
e. Religiousness versus Irreligiousness
f. Indeterminism versus Determinism
g. Monism versus Pluralism
h. Dogmatism versus Scepticism
3. General Criticism of James' Typology
IX. The Type Problem in Biography (542 - 555)
X. General Description of the Types (556 - 671)
1. Introduction
§556 “ …the two basic types I have termed introverted and extraverted.” = “attitude types“
”… those more special types whose peculiarities are due to the fact that the individual adapts and orients himself chiefly by means of his most differentiated function.” = “function-types”
§557 “The attitude-types, as I have repeatedly emphasised, … are distinguished by their attitude to the object.”
§558 “As a general psychological phenomenon, therefore, the type antithesis must have some kind of biological foundation.”
§559 “The relation between subject and object, biologically considered, is always one of adaptation, since every relation between subject and object presupposes the modification of one by the other through reciprocal influence.” (Italics mine)
2. The Extraverted Type
a. The General Attitude of Consciousness
b. The Attitude of the Unconscious
c. The Peculiarities of the Basic Psychological Functions in the Extraverted Attitude
Thinking
§577
The Extraverted Thinking Type
§584
Feeling
§595
The Extraverted Feeling Type
§597
Summary of the Extraverted Rational Types
§601
Sensation
§604
The Extraverted Sensation Type
§606
Intuition
§610
The Extraverted Intuitive Type
§613
Summary of the Extraverted Irrational Types
§616
3. The Introverted Type
a. The General Attitude of Consciousness
§620
b. The Attitude of the Unconscious
§626
c. The Peculiarities of the Basic Psychological Functions in the Extraverted Attitude
Thinking
§628
The Introverted Thinking Type
§632
Feeling
§638
The Introverted Feeling Type
§640
Summary of the Introverted Rational Types
§644
Sensation
§647
The Introverted Sensation Type
§650
Intuition
§655
The Introverted Intuitive Type
§661
Summary of the Extraverted Irrational Types
§664
d. The Principal and Auxiliary Functions
XI. Definitions (672 - 844)
Abstraction
Extracting or differentiating an essential part of a whole…abstracting out that part to something unique and irrepresentable, no no being represented by the object or whole from which it was abstracted. It is essentially a personal process of taking information to oneself and assimilating that part.
§678 “Abstraction is an activity pertaining to the psychological functions (q.v.) in general. There is an abstract thinking, just as there is abstract feeling, sensation, and intuition (qq.v.).”
§679 “In this work I also associate abstraction with the awareness of the psycho-energic process it involves. When I take an abstract attitude to an object, I do not allow the object to affect me in its totality. … I visualise the process of abstraction as a withdrawal of libido from the object, as a backflow of value from the object into a subjective, abstract content. For me, therefore, abstraction amounts to an energic devaluation of the object. In other words, abstraction is an introverting movement of libido (v. introversion ).” (Emphasis mine)
Affect
§681 “By the term affect I mean a state of feeling characterised by marked physical innervation on the one hand a a peculiar disturbance of the ideational process on the other. I use emotion as synonymous with affect.” (Emphasis mine)
'A feeling may attain certain strength, release physical interventions and thus become an affect'. However, “… feeling can be a voluntarily disposable function, whereas affect is usually not.”
There are theories like James-Lange that derive affect 'causally from physical innervations', but Jung rather sees the two as reciprocating influences; “…affect on the one hand as a psychic feeling-state and on the other as a physiological innervation-state, each of which has a cumulative, reciprocal effect on the other.” Intensified affect may be better approximated with sensation where 'violent' physical innervations are present.
Affectivity
Anima
v. Soul
Animus
v. Soul
5. Apperception
§683 “is a psychic process by which a new content is articulated with similar, already existing contents in such a way that it becomes understood, apprehended, or “clear.”9 We distinguish active from passive apperception. … In the first case the activity lies with the ego (q.v.); in the second, with the self-enforcing new content.” (Emphasis mine). This last bit is important as the new content coming either from within or without may force itself on to an individual and maintain 'control', as so often happens with unconscious content. Also, it is important to note the existing content necessary to apperceive the new content if this process is being done consciously. The already constellated contents of the individual will decide what is important and what is not when evaluating the new contents…hence the 'self-enforcing' new content. An open mind is therefore very important, the right attitude.
Archaism
§684 “is a term by which I designate the “oldness” of psychic contents or functions (q.v.). …” = “ … primitive mentality. It is clear that archaism attaches primarily to the fantasies (q.v.) of the unconscious … which reach consciousness. An image (q.v.) has an archaic quality when it possesses unmistakable mythological parallels.10 … The relation of identity (q.v.) with an object, or participation mystique (q.v.), is likewise archaic. Concretism (q.v.) of thought and feeling is archaic; also compulsion and inability to control oneself (ecstatic or trance states, possession, etc.). Fusion of the psychological functions differentiation ….is archaic, as is also the fusion of part of a function with its counterpart, e.g., positive with negative feeling, or what Bleuler calls ambitendencey and ambivalence, and such phenomena as colour hearing. ”
It is worth noting Jung's use of this term in detail as it speaks a lot I think to Jung's view of the evolution of consciousness and his view of individuation…a more differentiated psyche that he often implies is a more evolved psyche, as opposed to 'archaic' I guess. Although in his definition of 'archaism' he does not talk of evolution or evolved psyche / consciousness.
Archetype
Assimilation
§685 “is the approximation of a new content of consciousness to already constellated subjective material … Fundamentally, assimilation is a process of apperception (q.v.), but is distinguished from apperception by this element of approximation to the subjective material.”
§686 “…assimilation …as the approximation of object to subject in general, and with it I contrast dissimilation, as the approximation of subject to object, and a consequent alienation of the subject from himself in favour of the object, whether it be an external object or a “psychological” object, for instance an idea.”
Attitude
§687 “ …attitude is a readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way. … To have an attitude means to be ready for something definite, even though this something is unconscious; for having an attitude is synonymous with an a priori orientation to a definite thing, no matter whether this be represented in consciousness or not. … As to what is or is not relevant, this is decided by the already constellated combination of contents. Whether the point of reference is conscious or unconscious does not affect the selectivity of the attitude, since the selection is implicit in the attitude and takes place automatically. It is useful however, to distinguish between the two, because the presence of two attitudes is extremely frequent, one conscious and the other unconscious …consciousness …different from that of the unconscious, a duality particularly evident in neurosis.” This can be a valuable question then to have in mind I think when considering and talking to someone…what attitude is it that is at work at any one time.
§688 “Attitude signifies expectation, and expectation always operates selectively and with a sense of direction.” Read further about conscious orientation and the compensatory nature of the psyche 'to correct the conscious attitude'. “In this sense, therefore, the duality of attitude is a normal phenomenon, and it plays a disturbing role only when the one-sidedness is excessive.”
§689 The compensatory, or rather, the unconscious attitude in juxtaposition to the conscious attitude.
§690 “The whole psychology of an individual even in its most fundamental features is oriented in accordance with his habitual attitude. … The habitual attitude is always a resultant of all the factors that exert a decisive influence on the psyche, such as innate disposition, environmental influences, experience of life, …”
Definitely worth reading on, Attitude seems quite important.
§691 “At bottom, attitude is an individual phenomenon that eludes scientific investigation. … ”
Collective
692 “I term collective all psychic contents that belong not to one individual but to many, i.e., to a society, a people, or to mankind in general. Such contents are what Lévy-Bruhl18 calls the représentations collectives of primitives, as well as general concepts of justice, the state, religion, science, etc., current among civilised man. … ” See CW9i, The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious
Compensation
Ν §693 “means balancing, adjusting, supplementing. The concept was introduced into the psychology of the neuroses by Adler.20
20The Neurotic Constitution. References to the theory of compensation, originally inspired by G. Anton, are also to be found in Gross.
Worth reading - the real nugget in the paragraph though I think is not so much the details of Adlers theory that Jung mentions but rather the theme of compensation that Adler highlighted, and that it is a process of the 'organism' (organs for Adler). This is important as it resonates with Jung's 'self regulating' ideas of the psyche as a system and therefore, in this the compensatory aspect in neurosis comes through. As Jung says at the end of the paragraph; “It corresponds to a similar function in the physiological sphere, namely, the self-regulation of the living organism.”
§694 ”… I conceive it as functional adjustment in general, an inherent self-regulation of the psychic apparatus.24 In this sense, I regard the activity of the unconscious (q.v.) as a balancing of the one-sidedness of the general attitude (q.v.) produced by the function of consciousness (q.v.). … “ Worth reading on. The para. continues with the discussion of how the tension of opposing attitudes develops and should it become too one sided, then the unconscious content will come through in the form of dreams and images as we know. The theme of enantiodromia is present here. “As a rule, the unconscious compensation does not run counter to consciousness, but is rather a balancing or supplementing of the conscious orientation. In dreams, for instance, the unconscious supplies all those contents that are constellated by the conscious situation but are inhibited by conscious selection, (See earlier discussion about how the subjective contents determine selection/direction of the conscious attitude at the exclusion of other content. Compensation can be in opposition but this is extreme when the conscious attitude has become very one-sided.) although a knowledge of them would be indispensable for complete adaptation.”
24Jung, ” On the importance of the Unconscious in Psychopathology,“ pars. 449ff.
§695 “Normally, compensation is an unconscious process, … In neurosis the unconscious appears in such stark contrast to the conscious state that compensation is disturbed. The aim of analytical therapy, therefore, is a realisation of unconscious contents in order that compensation (the process) may be re-established. ”
Concretism
§696 “By this I mean a peculiarity of thinking and feeling which is the antithesis of abstraction (q.v.). … Concretistic thinking operates exclusively with concrete concepts and percepts, and is constantly related to sensation. Similarly, concretistic feeling is never segregated from its sensuous context.”
§697 “Primitive thinking and feeling are entirely concretistic; they are always related to sensation. The thought (thinking) of the primitive has no detached independence but clings to material phenomena. Primitive feeling is equally bound to material phenomena. … Concretism, therefore, is an archaism. ” Read further for clarity on concretistic thinking in the primitive man, as well as the concretistic thinking in the civilised man - for the latter it is the inability to conceive of anything beyond the facts we behold by our senses. Scientific empiricism comes to mind for me, the age of enlightenment and the loss of symbolisation, abstraction.
§698 “Concretism is a concept which falls under the more general concept of participation mystique. Just as the latter represents a fusion of the individual with the external objects, concretism represents a fusion of thinking and feeling with the sensation, so that the object of one is at the same time the object of the other. …The result is a predominance of the sensation factor in psychological orientation. “
§699 ” The disadvantage of concretism is the subjection of the functions to sensation. Because sensation is the perception of physiological stimuli, concretism either rivets the function to the sensory sphere or constantly leads back to it. This results in a bondage of the psychological functions to the senses … So far as the recognition of facts is concerned this orientation is naturally of value, but not as regards the interpretation of facts and their relation to the individual. … concretism results in a projection of these inner factors into the objective data and produces an almost superstitious veneration of mere facts, as is precisely the case with the primitive.”
Consciousness
§700 “By consciousness I understand the relation of psychic contents to the ego, in so far as this relation is perceived as such by the ego.25 (Importantly, what it is not, i.e. what is unconscious : ) Relations to the ego that are not perceived as such are unconscious.” (Important to note here that there is still the 'relation to the ego' aspect, although it can be unconscious.) “Consciousness is the function or activity26 (or process) which maintains the relation of psychic contents to the ego. …”
Constructive
Ν §701 “Constructive means “building up.” I use constructive and synthetic to designate a method that is the antithesis of the reductive 28 The constructive method is concerned with the elaboration of the products of the unconscious (dreams, fantasies, etc.). It takes the unconscious product as a symbolic expression which anticipates a coming phase of psychological development. … Adler too recognises an anticipatory function of the unconscious.31 … We conceive the product of the unconscious, therefore, as an expression oriented to a goal or purpose (Teleological), but characterising its objective in symbolic language.33” (Emphasis mine)
28 Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, pars. 121ff.
31 The Neurotic Constitution
33Silberer ( Problems of Mysticism and Its Symbolism, pp. 241ff.) expresses himself in a similar way in his formulation of anagogic significance.
§702 Interesting… “The “free associations” of the subject are considered with respect to their aim and not with respect to their derivation .” When looking at the unconscious products in the constructive method. Cf. the compensatory aspect of the unconscious content. ”… The aim of the constructive method, therefore, is to elicit from the unconscious product a meaning that relates to the subject's future attitude. … the constructive method seeks to elucidate the symbolically expressed meaning in such a way as to indicate how the conscious orientation may be corrected, and how the subject may act in harmony with the unconscious.“
§703 Associative material, i.e. from the subject or the analysand.
Comparative material, i.e. folklore, literature, history of religion, mythology etc.
Cf. here the different 'methods'; reductive. Also, Jung differentiates here between and intellectual problem drawing on philosophical comparative material and a more intuitive problem drawing on mythology and history of religion.
§704 “The constructive method is necessarily individualistic, since a future collective attitude can develop only though the individual.” Interesting how Jung places the collective attitude development - phylogenesis, with a individual antecedent - ontogenesis. “The reductive method, on the contrary, is collective, since it leads back from the individual to basic collective attitudes or facts.” (Emphasis mine)
The following pictograms are in no way intended to be definitive but rather bring some clarity to these concept processes and methods. These processes and methods are going on constantly, event without us activity thinking about it.
From a high-level, the material used to help elucidate things is in two areas:
1) Comparative material - outside us. Things like philosophy, folklore, mythology etc.
2) Associative material - this is stuff we already have in our head, already constellated, and are able to draw on consciously, i.e. we can bring it to memory so that our ego can work with it.
New-content
Apperception - Active
Apperception - Passive
Assimilation (process)
Assimilation is just like apperception although in this process the associative content dominates and like the Borg on Star Trek, the new content is assimilated to the prevailing attitude such that the objective identity is consumed within the associative constellations and thus loses - or it is ignored, its objective identity. What is in consciousness for the most part determines the individuals attitude. As such, the attitude is dominated by the constellated content in consciousness. This attitude choses then what is important with the objective content at, potentially, the detriment of the new objective content value so that the new ideas are lost and the lens focuses on the associative / similar aspects of the new content and this then is how it is consumed, or assimilated. So you can see in the diagram the objective content retains very little of its original identity. It is different from Apperception due to the subjective bearing on the content. Jung takes the idea of assimilation a little further and talks of 'dissimilation' and 'assimilation'. Dissimilation : where the individual is assimilated to the object. So the individual loses their subjective identity and is assimilated to the objective ideas. A little bit like passive apperception. Assimilation : as discussed above, where the objective content is consumed within the subjective content. Cf. with introjection |
Constructive method
The constructive method is the antithesis of the reductive method. The constructive method draws on comparative as well as associative material to - in the manner of association, build up the new content to be more clear and bring new understanding. The constructive method develops the idea - see the different ways of Exegesis above. I would say it is a method that uses apperception to circulate the content as in the diagram. The result is a more clear understanding of the new content with enough associative and comparative information to bring the new content in to understanding while it retains its objective identity, incorporating both new ideas and existing associative content. |
Constructive method - Intuitive approach
Reductive method
Differentiation
§705 ”…I employ the concept of differentiation chiefly with respect to the psychological functions. So long as a function is still so fused with one or more other functions - thinking with feeling, feeling with sensation, etc. - that it is unable to operate on its own, it is in an archaic condition, i.e., not differentiated, not separated from the whole as a special part and existing by itself. … As a rule, the undifferentiated function is also characterised by ambivalence and ambitendency,34 (Cf. para 684, archaism) i.e., every position entails its own negation, and this leads to characteristic inhibitions in the use of the undifferentiated function. …. Without differentiation direction is impossible, since the direction of a function towards a goal depends on the elimination of anything irrelevant. … only a differentiated function is capable of being directed.“
34Bleuler, …
Dissimilation
vs. Assimilation
Ego
§706 “By ego I understand a complex of ideas which constitutes the centre of my field of consciousness and appears to possess a high degree of continuity and identity. Hence I also speak of an ego-complex. The ego-complex is as much a content as a condition of consciousness, for a psychic element is conscious to me only in so far as it is related to my ego-complex. But inasmuch as the ego is only the centre of my field of consciousness, it is not identical with the totality of my psyche… I therefore distinguish between the ego and the self, … the self is the subject of my total psyche, which also include the unconscious. … In this sense the self would be an ideal entity which embraces the ego. In unconscious fantasies the self often appears as the supraordinate or ideal personality, … For the sake of idealisation the archaic features of the self are represented as being separate from the “higher” self, …” e.g. Mephistopheles in Goethe, the devil in Christianity, etc. The archaic elements are not differentiated, or integrated…they lie in the shadow.
Emotion
Vs. Affect Emotion is synonymous with Affect.
Empathy
§707 “is the introjection of the object. …see Chapter VII; also Projection. ”
Enantiodromia
§708 “means a “running counter to.” …
I like this quote from Heraclitus : “Men do not know how what is at variance agrees with itself.”
§709 “I use the term enantiodromia for the emergence of the unconscious opposite in the course of time. This characteristic phenomenon practically always occurs when an extreme, onesided tendency dominates conscious life; in time an equally powerful counterposition is built up, which first inhibits the conscious performance and subsequently breaks through the conscious control. ”
Extroversion
§710 “is an outward-turning of libido. … a positive movement of subjective interest towards the object. …so that no doubt can remain about his positive dependence on the object. … Extraversion is active when it is intentional, and passive when the object compels it, i.e., when the object attracts the subject's interest of its own accord, even against his will.”
Fantasy
§711 “By fantasy I understand two different things:
1. a fantasm, and
2. imaginative activity.
Fantasm
” a complex of ideas this is distinguished from other such complexes by the fact that it has no objective referent. … In so fas as psychic energy can be voluntarily directed, a fantasy can be consciously and intentionally produced, either as a whole or at least in part. … In actual everyday psychological experience, fantasy is either set in motion by an intuitive attitude of expectation, or it is an irruption of unconscious contents into consciousness.”
§712 “We can distinguish between active and passive fantasy.”
“Active fantasies are the product of intuition, i.e., they are evoked by an attitude directed to the perception of unconscious contents, as a result of which the libido immediately invests all the elements emerging from the unconscious and, by association with parallel material, bring them into clear focus in visual form.” Cf. the end of para 713 & para 714, active fantasy being a more healthy/positive participation of consciousness with unconscious content. Active fantasy requires an understanding view of what the unconscious is saying.
“Passive fantasies appear in visual form at the outset, neither preceded nor accompanied by intuitive expectation, the attitude of the subject being wholly passive.” automatisms (Janet)
§713 “It is probable that passive fantasies always have their origin in an unconscious process that is antithetical to consciousness, but invested with approximately the same amount of energy as the conscious attitude, and therefore capable of breaking through the latter's resistance.” Cf. para 714 - passive fantasy as a rule is never the expression of a unified individuality. St. Paul is a good example, Acts 9:3ff. Passive fantasy requires a critical view of what the unconscious is saying.
§715 “In fantasies as in dreams (which are nothing but passive fantasies), a manifest and a latent meaning must be distinguished. The manifest meaning is found in the actual “look” of the fantasy image, in the direct statement made by the underlying complex of ideas.”
§716 “The manifest meaning always has the character of a visual and concrete process which, because of its objective unreality can never satisfy the conscious demand for understanding.” Basically, we're screwed and aren't really going to understand it at all.
“Hence… its interpretation or latent meaning has to be sought.” Read further for comments on the reductive approach - that is most certainly valid in certain circumstances..
§717 Interesting point that must be read in context : ”…no psychological fact can ever be exhaustively explained in terms of causality alone; as a living phenomenon, it is always indissolubly bound up with the continuity of the vital process, so that it is not only something evolved but also continually evolving and creative.“
§718 “Anything psychic is Janus-faced - it looks both backwards and forwards. Because it is evolving, it is also preparing the future.” It is not sufficient to look at the purely causal explanation, i.e. what has happened to make you think/fantasise about this or that, but also what is meant, what is the intention, the aim, the purposive factor…the looking forward, the unconscious very often looks forward.
§720 ”…we might say that a fantasy needs to understood both causally and purposively.
Causally interpreted, it seems like a symptom …
Purposively interpreted, it seem like a symbol …“
Interesting side comments here about the artistic mentality :
“Because active fantasy is the chief mark of the artistic mentality, the artist is not just a re-producer of appearances but a creator and educator, for his works have the value of symbols that adumbrate lines of future development. …” Although these may be bias towards the individual or applicable to the social community.
§721 Discussion on the validity - the 'laws', of fantasy and also dream interpretation.
Imaginative activity
§722 “Imagination is the reproductive or creative activity of the mind in general.” I like that, reproductive activity of the mind. “It is not a special faculty (in its own right like the other functions) since it can come into play in all the basic forms of psychic activity, whether thinking, feeling, sensation, or intuition. Fantasy as imaginative activity is, in my view, simply the direct expression of psychic life,45 of psychic energy which cannot appear in consciousness except in the form of images (This visual element again - see above) or contents, … Fantasy as imaginative activity is identical with the flow of psychic energy. “
45Not to be confused with Active imagination - see footnote.
21. Feeling
As in function - a verb, not as in having a feeling.
§723 “I count feeling among the four basic psychological functions.
§724 “Feeling is primarily a process that takes place between the ego and a given content, a process, moreover, that imparts to the content a definite value (i.e. it implies a valuation) in the sense of acceptance or rejection (“like” or “dislike”). The process can also appear isolated, as it were, in the form of a “mood,” …” With a mood, we see the feeling process occurring regardless of the present contents, i.e. the mood may have arisen from previous content or indeed from unconscious content.
§725 “Feeling, therefore, is an entirely subjective process, which may be in every respect independent of external stimuli, though it allies itself with every sensation.48 … Hence feeling is a kind of judgement … Valuation by feeling extends to every content of consciousness, …
When the intensity of feeling increases, it turns into an affect, i.e., a feeling-state accompanied by marked physical innervations.”
§726 Concrete or “simple” feeling : In this case we say feeling is affective or as Jung calls it, feeling-sensation, i.e. mixed with other functional elements, most notably sensation.
I feel there is a lot to be said about feeling and sensation…or any function that is amalgamated with the sensation function. Cf. Concretism above.
§727 Abstract feeling : its a bit like assimilation in that abstract feeling may 'consume' the individual content within the over-riding 'mood' and thus extinguish any discernible feeling-value or a particular piece of content, i.e. it is non-differentiated. “The more concrete it is (related to my sensations), the more subjective and personal is the value conferred upon them; but the more abstract it is, the more universal and objective the value will be.” Seems to me it will be more collective based, the abstract mood 'embraces the different individual valuations and thereby abolishes them'….the over-riding value will consume the particular content, leaving it non-differentiated. “Feeling, like thinking, is a rational function, since values (Feeling Ξ Value) in general are assigned according to the laws of reason, just as concepts (Thinking Ξ Concepts) in general are formed according to these laws.” So you can change the way you feel about something…depending on how rational you are :)
§728 ”…it is impossible for an intellectual definition to reproduce the specific character of feeling at all adequately.”
§729 “The nature of valuation by feeling may be compared with intellectual apperception as an apperception of value. We can distinguish active and passive apperception by feeling.”
Active feeling : a transfer of value from the subject, an intentional valuation, a directed flow of energy = libido, a directed function, an act of will. ”…for instance loving as opposed to being in love. The latter would be undirected, passive feeling … the one is an activity, the other a passive state.”
Passive feeling : allows itself to be excited by particular content, 'which then forces the feelings of the subject to participate.' Non-rational. “Undirected feeling is feeling-intuition. … passive feeling is irrational in so far as it confers values without the participation or even against the intentions of the subject.”
A Feeling, or Feelings
§730 The content or material of the feeling function, “…discriminated by empathy. ”
22. Function (also Inferior Function)
§731 “By a psychological function I mean a particular form of psychic activity that remains the same in principle under varying condition.
From the energic standpoint a function is a manifestation of libido, ”
Two rational : Thinking and Feeling.
Two irrational : Sensation and Intuition.
Things like fantasy, will, attention are secondary phenomena that utilise the four functions. The four functions it seems are not sensibly reduced further…they are the LCD of conscious psychic functionality.
Idea
(Cf. Image)
§732 “…concept …to designate a certain psychological element …closely connected with what I term image. The image may be either personal or impersonal in origin. In the latter case it is collective and is also distinguished by mythological qualities. I then term it a primordial image. When, on the other hand, it has no mythological character, i.e., is lacking in visual qualities and merely collective, I speak of an idea. … ”
§733 “In so far, however, as an idea is the formulated meaning of a primordial image by which it was represented symbolically, its essence is not just something derived or developed, but, psychologically speaking, exists a priori, as a given possibility for thought-combinations in general. ” I find this very interesting…the psychological meaning was / is there a priori. “Hence, in accordance with its essence (but not with its formulation), the idea is a psychological determinant having an a priori existence.” This is a bit like the Gnostics, or Plato's 'ideas' and 'forms'.
Jung draws on Plato, Kant (Critique of pure reason), Schopenhauer (The world as will and idea), Hegel, Lasswitz, and Cohen. Is worth reading on the next couple of para's as the 'idea' is discussed. Importantly though Jung believes in the a priori nature of the idea and certainly the image. The rational intervention may distort the idea but the psychological idea is always there through time. Thus, he talks of the 'dual nature' of the idea; the a priori nature, and the derived aspects.
Identification
§738 “By this I mean a psychological process in which the personality is partially or totally dissimilated (v. Assimilation ). Identification is an alienation of the subject from himself for the sake of the object, in which he is, so to speak, disguised. … Identification differs from imitation in that it is an unconscious imitation, whereas imitation is a conscious copying.” Can be good in developing the youthful personality but needs to be severed when other opportunities arise…otherwise, you will get 'ambitendency', and a split individual.
§739 “Identification does not always apply to persons but also to things (e.g., a movement of some kind, a business, etc.) and to psychological functions. The latter kind is, in fact, particularly important.59 …the individual identifying with his best developed function to such an extent that he alienates himself very largely or even entirely from his original character, with the result that his tru individuality falls into the unconscious. This is nearly always the rule with people who have on highly differentiated function. It is, in fact, a necessary transitional stage on the way to individuation. “
59Supra, pars. 108f., 158ff.
§740 Note Identity is normal with family and development, identification occurs afterwards when the identity should be broken but obstacles are encountered that stop development. Identity –> Identification “A damming up of libido ensues, which seeks a regressive outlet. The regression reactivates the earlier states, among them the state of family identity. Identification with members of the family corresponds to this regressive revival of an identity that had almost been overcome. All identifications with persons come about in this way. Identification always has a purpose, namely, to obtain an advantage, to push aside an obstacle, or to solve a task in the way another individual would.”
Identity
§741 “I use the term identity to denote a psychological conformity. It is always an unconscious phenomenon since a conscious conformity would necessarily involve a consciousness of two dissimilar things, and, consequently, a separation of subject and object, in which case the identity would already have been abolished. Psychological identity presupposes that it is unconscious. It is characteristic of primitive mentality and the real foundation of Participation Mystique, which is nothing but a relic of the original non-differentiation of subject and object, and hence of the primordial unconscious state.” Bold!!
§742 A brief run down of where identity most happens … “Identity is responsible for the naïve assumption that the psychology of one man is like that of another, … But identity also makes possible a consciously collective, social attitude, which found its highest expression in the Christian ideal of brotherly love.”
Image
§743 ”…a concept derived from poetic usage, namely, a figure of fancy or fantasy-image, which is related only indirectly to the perception of an external object.” It is not an hallucination in that it does not as a rule replace reality, or become pathological.
§744 Although it does not replace reality it can take on psychic reality, that can be even more important.
§745 The image is a “homogeneous product with a meaning of its own. The image is a condensed expression of the psychic situation as a whole, of unconscious contents pure and simple.” Unconscious contents …“that are momentarily constellated. … Accordingly the image is an expression of the unconscious as well as the conscious situation of the moment. The interpretation of its meaning, therefore, can start neither from the conscious alone nore from the unconscious alone, but only from their reciprocal relationship.”
§746 “I call the image primordial when it possesses an archaic character.60 … It then expresses material primarily derived from the collective unconscious, …” Read further for Collective image vs. Personal image.
60A striking example of an archaic image is that of the ssolar phallus, Symbols of Transformation, pars. 151ff.
Λ §747 “The primordial image, elsewhere also termed archetype,61 is always collective, i.e., it is at least common to entire peoples or epochs. …” I find this comment - and the rest of this paragraph interesting - from the perspective of the unconscious content and the primordial image. I'd have thought it better to say the image should be termed 'archetypal' as opposed to termed 'archetype'. I can see it being archetypal, but as an archetype - these images are potentially going to change if they are common to an epoch. These images being common across cultures as he later goes on to say makes sense too, but then they are archetypal, not an archetype. This is interesting to me from the time perspective too, will these images change over time - I think they will. Will their archetypal character (or 'motif' as Jung says later) change…no, they won't.
§748 This paragraph is really tricky to understand - Jung discussing how images, particularly the primordial image, arises. He considers the point from a causal point of view. The paragraph is tricky to sum up so from a very basic point of view : He starts with the view of Richard Semon; that images are mnemic, or engrams resulting from the influence of nature on man. “From this standpoint it is a psychic expression of the physiological and anatomical disposition. If one holds the view that a particular anatomical structure is a product of environmental conditions working on living matter, then the primordial image, … would be the product of equally constant and universal influences from without, …” However, Jung asks why solar myths for example do not contain content of the sun but rather the processes appear in allegorised form? Cf. Exegesis diagram above RE Allegory. For Jung this “points to an independent collaboration of the psyche, …” I.e. there is nature and the inherent life, the psyche - or as he puts it, the 'given constitution of the organism. “Accordingly, the primordial image is related just as much to certain palpable, sel-perpetuating, and continually operative natural processes (i.e. nature) as it is to certain inner determinants of psychic life and of life in general.”
§749 “The primordial image is thus a condensation of the living process. It gives a co-ordinating and coherent meaning both to sensuous (i.e. sensation, what we see, nature, and phenomena as living beings) and to inner perceptions, …”
Cf. Seems to be a contradiction here.
§750 “The primordial image is the precursor of the idea and its matrix. …”
Jung continues here on a somewhat philosophical note about the idea, developing by reason to a concept, and the release of energy/libido.
§754 “The primordial image is an inherited organisation of psychic energy, an ingrained system, which not only gives expression to the energic process but facilitates its operation. It shows how the energic process has run its unvarying course from time immemorial, while simultaneously allowing a perpetual repetition of it by means of an apprehension or psychic grasp of situations so that life can continue into the future. It is thus the necessary counterpart of instinct, which is a purposive mode of action presupposing an equally purposive and meaningful grasp of the momentary situation. This apprehension is guaranteed by the pre-existent primordial image. It represents the practical formula without which the apprehension of a new situation would be impossible.” wtf!!??
Imago
Individual
§755 “The psychological individual, or his individuality, has an a priori unconscious existence, but exists consciously only so far as a consciousness of his peculiar nature is present, … The psychic individuality is given a priori as a correlate of the physical individuality, although, as observed, it is at first unconscious. A conscious process of differentiation, or individuation, is needed to bring the individuality to consciousness, i.e., to raise it out of the state of identity with the object. The identity of the individuality with the object is synonymous with its unconsciousness. …”
Individuality
§756 “Everything that is not collective is individual, everything in fact that pertains only to one individual and not to a larger group of individuals. …”
Individuation
§757 “… Individuation, therefore, is a process of differentiation, having for its goal the development of the individual personality.”
§758 “Since individuality is a prior psychological and physiological datum, it also expresses itself in psychological ways. (and then of course in physical ways too :) … As the individual is not just a single, separate being, but by his very existence presupposes a collective relationship, it follow that the process of individuation must lead to more intense and broader collective relationships and not to isolation.”
§759 “Individuation is closely connected with the transcendent function (v. symbol ), wince this function creates individual lines of development which could never be reached by keeping to the path prescribed by collective norms.”
§760 “Under no circumstances can individuation be the sole aim of psychological education. Before it can be taken as a goal, the education aim of adaptation to the necessary minimum of collective norms must first be attained.” Although, as Jung goes on to say in the next paragraph…there is always to some extent an opposition to the collective norms in the struggle to find differentiation and thus individuation. Interestingly though :
§761 “A norm is the product of the totality of individual ways, and its justification and beneficial effect are contingent upon the existence of individual ways that need from time to time to orient to a norm. A norm service no purpose when it possesses absolute validity. …” Should definitely read further….I like it as it shows that the norm is necessary to orientate ones self - like religion. People are fantastic at adaptation, but then they must break out - like my box theory. “The more a man's life is shaped by the collective norm, the greater is his individual immorality.”
§762 “Individuation is practically the same as the development of consciousness out of the original state of identity. …”
Inferior Function
§763 “This term is used to denote the function that lags behind in the process of differentiation. Experience show that it is practically impossible, … for anyone to develop all his psychological functions simultaneously.” In general we develop the one that is naturally ours or the one that is going to serve us best in society for success. Regarding the undeveloped functions : … “These functions may properly be called inferior in a psychological but no psychopathological sense, since they are in no way morbid but merely backward as compared with the favoured function.”
Ν §764 “Thus in normal cases the inferior function remains conscious, at least in its effect; but in a neurosis it sinks wholly or in part into the unconscious. For, to the degree that the greater share of libido is taken up by the favoured function, the inferior function undergoes a regressive development; it reverts to the archaic stage and becomes incompatible with the conscious, favoured function. When a function …lapses into the unconscious, its specific energy passes into the unconscious too. …So with the inferior function: energy left to it passes into the unconscious and activates it in an unnatural way, giving rise to fantasies on a level with the archaicised function.”
Instinct
§765 “…an impulsion towards certain activities. … Every psychic phenomenon is instinctive that does not arise from voluntary causation but from dynamic impulsion, irrespective of whether this impulsion comes directly from organic, extra-psychic sources, or from energies that are merely released by voluntary intention - in the latter case with the qualification that the end-result exceeds the effect voluntarily intended. In my view, all psychic processes whose energies are not under conscious control are instinctive. Thus affects are as much instinctive processes as they are feeling processes. Psychic processes which under ordinary circumstances are function of the will, …can, in abnormal circumstances, become instinctive processes when supplied with unconscious energy. This phenomenon occurs whenever …”
repression of incompatible contents
fatigue,
intoxication
morbid cerebral conditions in general
“an abaissement du niveau mental (Janet) ensues - when, in a word, the most strongly feeling-toned processes are no longer, or not yet, under conscious control. ” Cf. this with automatised processes that he goes on to mention.
Intellect
§766 “I call directed thinking intellect.” Cf. CW 5, paras. 11ff.
Introjection
§768 “Psychologically speaking, introjection is a process of assimilation, while projection is a process of dissimilation. Introjection is an assimilation of object to subject, projection a dissimilation of object from subject through the expulsion of a subjective content into the object (v. projection, active). Introjection is a process of extraversion, since assimilation to the object requires empathy and an investment of the object with libido. ” Read more for passive introjection Ξ 'transference phenomena in neurosis' and active introjection Ξ 'empathy as a process of adaptation'.
Introversion
§769 “…means an inward-turning of libido, in the sense of a negative relation of subject to object.” I would not mis-read the word 'negative' here as a bad thing necessarily. It is negative as in to 'negate' I think, not negative as in 'bad'. “Interest does not move towards the object but withdraws from it into the subject. … the object is of secondary importance.”
It can be active or passive. “It is active when the subject voluntarily shuts himself off from the object, passive when he is unable to restore to the object the libido streaming back from it.”
35. Intuition
§770 “(Latin. intueri, 'to look at or into').”
From Witionary : “From Medieval Latin intuitio (a looking at, immediate cognition), from Latin intueri (to look at, consider), from in (in, on) + tueri (to look, watch, guard, see, observe).”
“It is the (psychological) function that mediates perceptions in an unconscious way.”
So if there is an unconscious way to do something, it will be something akin to intuition. We have no idea how it works, but we know the results, or can feel the results of the mediation. I am curious about this unconscious way. This next bit helps clarify this unsettling idea a bit I think:
“The peculiarity of intuition is that it is neither sense perception (Sensation function), nor feeling, nor intellectual inference (Thinking function), although it may also appear in these forms.” I find this curious in that he doesn't say of the other functions, for example: The peculiarity of thinking is that it is neither sense perception (Sensation function), nor feeling, nor intuitive inference (Intuition function) …etc because a function is not like the other functions. Does this put intuition in to a unique category. It is the most under-developed in social narrative I think. We say things like, I think about this and that, I feel this and that, I smelt, touched, experienced etc. We don't ever say 'I had an intuition about you', or I intuited that…etc. It is the function we can least define…and hence it carries a mystical element about it.
“In intuition a content presents itself whole and complete, without our being able to explain or discover how this content came into existence. Intuition is a kind of instinctive apprehension, …” (Emphasis mine)“… Like sensation, it is an irrational function of perception. ” (Emphasis mine) …is it just irrational in the process of 'perception“ or in general?…or does the term 'perception' cover the full spectrum of the function(s)? “As with sensation, its contents have the character of being “given,” in contrast to the “derived” or “produced” character of thinking and feeling contents. (Very interesting this next point) Intuitive knowledge possesses an intrinsic certainty and conviction, … Intuition shares this quality with sensation, whose certainty rests on its physical foundation. The certainty of intuition rests equally on a definite state of psychic “alertness” of whose origin the subject is unconscious.” I would add here though that the 'certainty' of intuition can often be overpowered by the rational functions…more so than sensation whose certainty lies in reality, and is more easily corroborated and shared/demonstrated. Not so for intuition though, as we do not know its source, and thus our confidence in our intuition may be quickly attacked by the more rational stance of the modern mind. A true intuitive notion though is …with the right conviction, unwavering I think.
§771 “Intuition may be subjective or objective ….”
… “We may also distinguish concrete and abstract forms of intuition, according to the degree of participation on the part of sensation.”
§772 “Like sensation, intuition is a characteristic of infantile and primitive psychology. …”
“It counterbalances the powerful sense impressions of the child and the primitive by mediating perceptions of mythological images, the precursors of ideas. ” (Cf. with image ) “It stands as the compensatory relationship to sensation and, like it, is the matrix out of which thinking and feeling develop as rational functions.” (Emphasis mine - I'm curious about this word the 'matrix')
§773 “Everyone whose general attitude is oriented by intuition belongs to the intuitive type 68” Cf. here the closing statements of the other function types…it is the attitude that biases the individual towards their type. Whereas when Jung mentioned the introverted type it was due to introversion being habitual that defined someone as an introverted type…I just mention this distinction as a curiosity.
“In abnormal cases intuition is in large measure fused together with the contents of the collective unconscious and determined by them, and this may make the intuitive type appear extremely irrational and beyond comprehension.” As it would when any other function were inflated or dominated by unconscious content.
Irrational
§774 “I use this term not as denoting something contrary to reason, but something beyond reason, something, therefore, not grounded in reason.” Cf. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle …I think Jung sees synchronicity as irrational but a fact.
§775 An interesting discussion on the irrational as an existential factor. A rationally explained world would be a Utopian ideal. In reality, much of our rational explanations are derived from posited facts that exclude the unexplained at our convenience. We can only go so far 'back' before we hit the unexplained, or rather, irrational. This is true for empirical facts too. For example, we live in a galaxy and orbit the sun every 365 days. This is an empirical fact, however, why this is so…what is the rationale behind 365 days, we don't know. The rational argument falls short.
A good explanation of rational vs irrational functions:
§776 “In this sense thinkin is a directed function, and so is feeling. When these functions are concerned not with a rational choice of objects, or with the qualities and interrelations of objects, but with the perception of accidentals which the actual object never lacks, they at once lose the attribute of directedness and, with it, something of their rational character, because they then accept the accidental. The begin to be irrational. The kind of thinking of feeling that is directed to the perception of accidentals, and is therefore irrational, is either intuitive or sensational. … ” worth reading on.
Libido
Cf. CW5 - the Concept of Libido
§778 ” … psychic energy. 70 Psychic energy is the intensity of a psychic process, its psychological value. This does not imply an assignment of value, whether moral, aesthetic, … Neither do I understand libido as a psychic force. “
Objective Level
§779 “When I speak of interpreting …” Emphasis mine, noteworthy that the immediate context for the term 'objective level' is used when interpreting; dreams, fantasies etc.
“Freud's interpretation of dreams is almost entirely on the objective level, since the dream wishes refer to real objects, or to sexual processes …”
Orientation
§780 “I use this term to denote the general principle governing an attitude. …”
Participation Mystique
§781 ”…is a term derived from Lévy-Bruhl.71 It denotes a peculiar kind of psychological connection with objects, and consists in the fact that the subject cannot clearly distinguish himself from the object but is bound to it by a direct relationship which amounts to partial identity. The identity results from an a priori oneness of subject and object. …. Among civilised peoples it usually occurs between persons, seldom between person and a thing (as in the more primitive mind). In the first case it is a transference relationship … In the second… identification with a thing or the idea of a thing.“ (Emphasis mine)
71 How Natives Think. He also came up with the term “représentations collectives,” Cf. CW 9i
Persona
V. Soul
Power-Complex
§782 “I occassionally use this term to denote the whole complex of ideas and strivings which seek to subordinate all other influences to the ego, … ”
Projection
§783 ”.. means the expulsion of a subjective content into an object; it is the opposite of introjection. Accordingly it is a process of dissimilation ( assimilation ), by which a subject content becomes alienated from the subject as is, so to speak, embodied in the object. … “ Painful, incompatible contents, AND positive content too (low self esteem) that are 'inaccessible' to the individual. This next bit is very important:
“Projection results from the archaic identity of subject and object, but is properly so called only when the need to dissolve the identity with the object has already arisen.” Cf. here the story Jung tells of the native projecting the spirit into the tree etc…and Jung goes on to describe when it becomes projection…although I can't remember where that is now. “This need arises when the identity becomes a disturbing factor, i.e., when the absence of the projected content is a hindrance to adaptation and its withdrawal into the subject has become desirable. ” (Emphasis mine)
Empathy
§784 “We may distinguish passive and active projection. … The active form is an essential component of the act of empathy. Taken as a whole, empathy is a process of introjection, since it brings the object into intimate relation with the subject. (Cf. with active Introjection ) In order to establish this relationship, the subject detaches a content - a feeling, for instance - from himself, lodges it in the object, thereby animating it, and in this way draws the object into the sphere of the subject. The active form of projection is, however, also an act of judgement, the aim of which is to separate the subject from the object. … Projection, accordingly, is a process of introversion since, unlike introjection, it does not lead to ingestion and assimilation but to differentiation and separation of subject from object. Hence it plays a prominent role in paranoia, which usually ends in the total isolation of the subject.”
Psyche
V. Soul
Rational
§785 “The rational is the reasonable, that which accords with reason. I conceive reason as an attitude whose principle it is to conform thought, feeling, and action to objective values. … The rational attitude which permits us to declare objective values as valid at all is not the work of the individual subject, but the product of human history.”
Reason
§786 “Most objective values - and reason itself - are firmly established complexes of ideas handed down through the ages. (There is discussion here with reference to Schopenhauer) … Human reason, accordingly, is nothing other than the expression of man's adaptability to average occurrences, which have gradually become deposited in firmly established complexes of ideas that constitute our objective values. Thus the laws of reason are the laws that designate and govern the average, “correct,” adapted attitude. Everything that is “rational” that accords with these laws, everything that contravenes them is “irrational”.” Emphasis mine - I find it interesting Jung's use of the word 'adapted'. The human being is nothing if not adaptable. We are amazing in our ability to adapt and become adjusted to a situation. Anything from living in extreme places to living without sight or loosing a limb. I'm not saying we would chose that, and many people would chose to rather die than stay in a certain situation, but on the whole, we are able to adapt - both physically, and psychologically. It is quite amazing really.
§787 ” Thinking and feeling are rational functions in so far as they are decisively influenced by reflection. “ That is not to say I would imagine that you cannot have irrational thoughts or feelings. “They function most perfectly when they are in the fullest possible accord with the laws of reason. The irrational functions, sensation and intuition, are those whose aim is pure perception; for, as far as possible, they are forced to dispense with the rational … ” Worth reading on. So we have:
Reflection: Thinking, Feeling.
Perception: Intuition, Sensation.
45. Reductive
§788 ”…means “leading back.” I use this term to denote a method of psychological interpretation which regards the unconscious product not as a symbol but semiotically, as a sign or symptom of an underlying process. … The reductive method is oriented backwards, in contrast to the constructive method, … The interpretive methods of both Freud and Adler are reductive, since in both cases there is a reduction to the elementary processes of wishing or striving, “
46. Self
72 Footnote is interesting.
§789 “As an empirical concept, the self designates the whole range of psychic phenomena in man. It expresses the unity of the personality as a whole. But in so far as the total personality, on account of its unconscious component, can be only in part conscious, the concept of the self is, in part, only potentially empirical and is to that extent a postulate. …”
§790 “Empirically, the self appears in dreams, myths, and fairytales in the figure of the “supraordinate personality” ( Ego ), such as a king, hero, prophet, saviour, etc., or in the form of a totality symbol, such as the circle, square, quadratura circuli, cross, etc. When it represents a complexio oppositorum, … conceived as a totality and unity in which the opposites are united. Since such a concept is irrepresentable - tertium non datur ('no third thing.' Cf with ' Tertium Comparationis') - it is transcendental on this account also.”
§791 “Its empirical symbols, on the other hand, very often possess a distinct numinosity, i.e., an a priori emotional value, as in the case of the mandala,73, … It thus proves to be an archetypal idea ( Idea; Image ), …”
47. Sensation
§792 “Sensation is the psychological function that mediates the perception of a physical stimulus. It is, therefore, identical with perception. … Sensation is related not only to external stimuli but to inner ones, i.e., to changes in the internal organic processes.”
§793 “Primarily, therefore, sensation is sense perception - perception mediated by the sense organs and “body-senses”…. …it conveys to the mind the perceptual image of the external object; and on the other hand, it is an element of feeling, since through the perception of bodily changes it gives feeling the character of an affect. …” Then there is the question of whether or not sensation lies to us?…or is it simply our interpretation that lies to us? We can easily be tricked by what we see…but actually, what we see is what there is, it is our interpretation, what we think we're seeing that is deceiving us, as in magic tricks. So the sense organ does not lie…although, there are some tricks you can play I think to fool your skin touch/feel sensation for e.g., or what you hear. But actually, the sense organ isn't lying, the physiological organ only relays what it senses. So it is the mind, the psyche that interprets and this can often lie to us. In fact, it can even over-rule the sense organs, or intercept them to impose aspects that are not in reality. This must be in the psyche, as the sense organ does not lie. Also, there is a time element here albeit incredibly brief. The time it takes for the sense organ to receive something and then the time it take for that signal to reach our brain, our perception.
- t0 : Event time - when the event happens. Light hits the falling leaf. The light then travels to our eyeball, our sense organ.
- t1 : The time it takes for the light to reach our eyeball.
- t2 : The time it takes for our body to send signals from the eyeball to our brain for us then to perceive the falling leaf.
- t? : The time (if there is) it takes for our psyche to process
By the time t2 happens the leaf has fallen that much further. Given the speed of light, this is a mute example, but the principle is still the same. We then must wonder if perhaps there is another perception organ - perhaps intuition - that can perceive things more immediately, when they actually happen? There are any number of fun discussions around this topic.
§794
Concrete sensation “never appears in “pure” form, but is always mixed up with ideas, feelings, thoughts.”
Abstract sensation ” …might be termed “aesthetic” in so far as, obeying its own principle, it detaches itself from all contamination with the different elements in the perceived object and from all admixtures of thought and feeling, … Abstract sensation is found chiefly among artists. Like every abstraction, it is a product of functional differentiation, and there is nothing primitive about it.“
“The primitive form of a function is always concrete, i.e., contaminated ( Archaism, Concretism ). Concrete sensation is a reactive phenomenon, while abstract sensation, like every abstraction, is always associated with the will, i.e., with a sense of direction. …”
§795 “Sensation is strongly developed in children and primitives, … I regard sensation as conscious, and intuition as unconscious, perception. …”
§796 This is quite key I reckon to sensation…we're pretty screwed on a number of levels when it comes to sensation. For e.g. although it shuts down a bit, our sensation function doesn't stop when we sleep…it is tightly coupled to the body. For the most part, thinking, feeling and intuition shut down when we sleep. This does make me wonder though as Jung regards sensation as a conscious function (see above)…so this must be, in his view, the psychological perception of function…when it registers. Strange then that he does not seem to talk of the corporeal aspect of sensation very much, i.e. the function in the body. Although he mentions something of it below from the pathological perspective “Since sensation is an elementary phenomenon, it is given a priori, and, unlike thinking and feeling, is not subject to rational laws. I therefore call it an irrational function, …“
Pathological sensation is at either extreme; abnormally strong or weak. This is primarily due to abnormal fusion with another function, “It ceases as soon as the function with which sensation is fused is differentiated in its own right.” (Emphasis mine)
48. Soul
§797 ”… to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious.” (Cf. this with footnote 72, paragraph 789 - the definition of the Self is very similar. I see the psyche - in its totality - the thing that allows the Self. The psyche is not different for each person, the Self is…the Self is like the entelechy of the Psyche, thus making it unique. However, without the Self to realise the potential of what the Psyche has to offer, would it even be there? As humans, the difference is in the Self, not the psyche I think. Like the genes that make us, they are the same for each of us…we all have the same genes, building blocks, but none of us are the same. The psyche / Self interaction is not as discrete as combinations of genes - so the analogy falls short.
“By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a “personality.” It would be sad if Jung thought of the soul as purely a complex…or perhaps he sees Spirit as something more metaphysical? It would be good to Cf. the Egyptian ideas of Ba and Ka here I think.
Ka = the vital spark that keeps the body alive. It was related to food, so almost like our engine.
Ba = the soul, the personality that continues beyond death. It was what made us unique. Egyptian symbol of a bird with human head.
Soul as a functional complex or "personality"
§798-799 Jung is here spending a little time on the matter of how we as an individual may have in us autonomous complexes, or personalities that come to bear depending on the social circumstance. He uses the example of a man who has a work life and a family or home life and how very often the two are very different. As to which is the real personality??…his answer in para 799 is interesting; ”…such a man has no real character at all: he is not individual but collective, the plaything of circumstance and general expectations.” How sad is that! He goes on though, giving some answer of hope… “Were he individual, he would have the same character despite the variation of attitude. … he neither would nor could prevent his Individuality. ” It is possible though, for us to fool even ourselves - if we are not individual - as to what our real personality/attitude is. We take on a persona …da.da.da.dummm!!
Soul as persona
§800 “… The man who identifies with this mask I would call “personal” as opposed to “individual.”“
For persona, see: 79 Two Essays on Analytical Psychology CW7, pars. 243ff.
§801 Jung continues here with his example of the work and home personalities, or “personae”…and that ”…the real individuality is different from both.” (most likely)
“The persona is thus a functional complex that comes into existence for reasons of adaptation or personal convenience. … The persona is exclusively concerned with the relation to objects.”
Jung goes on here (top of p466) about the relation to the subject. I like his description. The description is not the whole picture but is very interesting and well written. Here he talks about the subject as those aspects that arise from the unconscious and speak to us. It is not the 'subject' as in us, our consciousness, or our conscious ego. But rather, “The subject, conceived as the “inner object,” is the unconscious.” This is not the closing definition, but needs to be taken in context here. At the start of the paragraph Jung says of the communications that come from the inner object - the subject - as opposed to the external object, as “vague, dim stirrings, feelings, thoughts, and sensations…etc.” …all very difficult to pin down. No wonder he goes on to say:
“It is readily understandable that this inner attitude, by reason of its extremely intimate and inaccessible nature, is far more difficult to discern than the outer attitude, which is immediately perceived by everyone. …”
Importantly too - he mentions - these vague communications or content “…usually have their origin, not in the reasons consciously ascribed to them, but in perceptions of unconscious processes. Dreams naturally belong to this class of phenomena, …” He goes on to give examples of the different ways people deal with this content.
§802 “These entirely different ways of dealing with the stirrings of the unconscious are just as habitual as the attitudes to the outer object. The inner attitude, therefore, is correlated with just as definite a functional complex as the outer attitude. …” Emphasis mine. He goes on to say here how the outer persona - attitude to the external object - may be diametrically opposed to - or in contrast (opposite) to - the inner attitude.
Soul as anima
§803 “We can, therefore, speak of an inner personality with as much justification as, … an outer personality.” See above para's
“I call the outer attitude, .. the persona; the inner attitude, …the anima 80.” Reading footnote 80, Jung in this section talks of anima for soul in the man, and animus in the woman. Sometimes he uses Soul when considering both men and woman. Read the footnote. Cf. with the start of para. 805.
“The same autonomy that very often characterizes the outer attitude is also claimed by the inner attitude, the anima. …” (Emphasis mine)
§804 “As to the character of the anima, my experience confirms the rule that it is, by and large, complementary to the character of the persona. … Thus his anima contains all those fallible human qualities his persona lacks. If the persona is intellectual (thinking attitude/function), the anima will quite certainly be sentimental (feeling attitude/function). The complementary character of the anima also affects the sexual character, as I have proved to myself beyond a doubt. A very feminine woman has a masculine soul (animus), and a very masculine man has a feminine soul (anima). … ” Note the interchange of soul and anima/animus here. Its seems redundant to say it; 'a masculine animus,' but keep in mind this is in the discussion of the soul, so the overriding attitude to the inner object is such, the character is thus more masculine, or more feminine as the examples are given.
§806 “As to its common human qualities, the character of the anima can be deduced from that of the persona. … ” However, regarding a mans true identity…if he is identified with his persona, “…nothing can be deduced about them in this way. We can only be certain that when a man is identical with his persona, his individual qualities will be associated with the anima.” Thats pretty bold as it assumes no individual qualities are part of the persona constellation. “This association frequently gives rise in dreams to the symbol of psychic pregnancy, a symbol that goes back to the primordial image of the hero's birth. The child that is to be born signifies the individuality, which, though present, is not yet conscious.”
§807 “ Identity with the persona automatically leads to an unconscious identity with the anima because, when the ego is not differentiated from the persona, it can have no conscious relation to the unconscious processes. … ” Worth reading to the end of this paragraph as Jung very briefly talks of the enantiodromia that occurs when someone is completely their outward role, they will 'infallibly succumb to the inner processes' at some point.
Soul-Image (Anima/Animus)
Cf. footnote 80
§808 “The soul-image is a specific image among those produced by the unconscious. … Sometimes these images are of quite unknown or mythological figures. … In every case where the individuality is unconscious, and therefore associated with the soul, the soul-image has the character of the same sex.” The same sex as the soul-image, i.e. anima for man, animus for woman. “In all cases where there is an identity with the persona, and the soul accordingly is unconscious, the soul-image is transferred to a real person. (Projected) This person is the object of intense love or equally intense hate (or fear). … ”
§809 “For a man, a woman is best fitted to be the real bearer of his soul-image, because of the feminine quality of his soul; for a woman it will be a man.”
This next bit is really encouraging…
“Wherever an impassioned, almost magical, relationship exists between the sexes, it is invariably a question of projected soul-image. …” i.e. if you're happy in your relationship, there is something wrong :)
“Conversely, it may also happen that the soul-image is not projected but remains with the subject, and this results in an identification with the soul because the subject is then convinced that the way he relates to his inner processes is his real character. In that event the persona, being unconscious, will be projected on a person of the same sex, thus providing a foundation for many cases of open or latent homosexuality, and of father-transferences in men or mother-transferences in women. … identification with the soul produces an attitude predominantly oriented to the perception of inner processes, and the object is deprived of its determining power.”
§810 “If the soul-image is projected, the result is an absolute affective tie to the object. If it is not projected, (i.e. identification with the soul) a relatively unadapted state develops, which Freud has described as narcissism. …” I'm a little confused here, because he goes on to say this in the next para:
§811 “If the soul-image is not projected, a thoroughly morbid relation to the unconscious gradually develops. The subject is increasingly overwhelmed by unconscious contents, which his inadequate relation to the object makes him powerless to assimilate (you need some projection, object relation, to assimilate ) or put to any kind of use, so that the whole subject-object relation only deteriorates further.”
“In a normal man the soul-image is not distinguished by any particular clarity, purity, or depth, but is apt to be rather blurred.”
Subjective Level
§812 “…interpreting a dream or fantasy on the subjective level, I mean that the persons or situations appearing in it refer to subjective factors entirely belonging to the subject's own psyche. As we know, the psychic image of an object is never exactly like the object … It is the product of sense perception and apperception, …” Feels a bit picky pointing it out, but this means there are at least two node of interpretation before the object reaches our understanding: our senses, our psychic apperception. “…our apperception is conditioned by unpredictable subjective influences which render a correct knowledge of the object extraordinarily difficult.”
“In practical psychology, therefore, we would do well to make a rigorous distinction between the image or imago of a man and his real existence. Because of its extremely subjective origin, the imago is frequently more an image of a subjective functional complex than of the object itself. … it is better to regard it (the imago ) as an image of the subjective relation to the object.”
51. Symbol
§814 “Symbolic and semiotic meanings are entirely different things. … A symbol always presupposes that the chosen expression is the best possible description or formulation of a relatively unknown fact, which is none the less known to exist or is postulated as existing.”
§815 “A view which interprets the symbolic expression as an intentional paraphrase or transmogrification of a known thing is allegoric. ”
§816 “So long as a symbol is a living thing, it is an expression for something that cannot be characterised in any other or better way. The symbol is alive only so long as it is pregnant with meaning. But once its meaning has been born out of it, … then the symbol is dead, i.e., it possesses only an historical significance. … For every esoteric interpretation the symbol is dead, …”
§817 “It is, .. quite impossible to create a living symbol …from known associations. …Every psychic product, … may be regarded as a symbol, provided that we accept the expression as standing for something that is only divined and not yet clearly conscious.”
§818 “Whether a thing is a symbol or not depends chiefly on the attitude of the observing consciousness; for instance, on whether it regards a given fact not merely as such but also as an expression for something unknown.” He goes on to say - quite interestingly - that some content is clearly, and can only be symbolic; “…products whose symbolic character does not depend merely on the attitude of the observing consciousness, but manifests itself spontaneously in the symbolic effect they have on the observer. Such products are so constituted that they would lack any kind of meaning were not a symbolic one conceded to them.”
§819 “… A symbol really lives only when it is the best and highest expression for something divined but not yet known to the observer. It then compels his unconscious participation and has a life-giving and life-enhancing effect. ” (Emphasis mine)
§820 A symbol embraced by a community, the “…common factor must be something that is still so primitive that its ubiquity cannot be doubted.”
Ν §821 “There are, of course, neurotics who regard their unconscious products, which are mostly morbid symptoms, as symbols of supreme importance. Generally, however, this is not what happens. On the contrary, the neurotic of today is only too prone to regard a product that may actually be full of significance as a mere “symptom.””
§822 “It is left to our discretion and our critical judgment to decide whether the thing we are dealing with is a symptom or a symbol.”
§823 A symbol is “… neither rational or irrational. … for it is composed not only rational but also of irrational data supplied by pure inner and outer perception.” It has the capacity to stimulate all the functions; thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition.
§824 A symbol created of both the 'highest spiritual aspirations' and the 'most primitive levels of the psyche.' Definitely worth reading this paragraph.
“But when there is full parity of the opposites attested by the ego's absolute participation in both, this necessarily leads to a suspension of the will, for the will can no longer operate when every motive has an equally strong counter-motive. Since life cannot tolerate a standstill, a damming up of vital energy results, and this would lead to an insupportable condition did not the tension of opposites produce a new, uniting function that transcends them. This function arises quite naturally from the regression of libido caused by the blockage. All progress having been rendered temporarily impossible by the total division of the will (This is really important - both positions must be accepted, the will must fall away) the libido streams backwards, as it were, to its source. In other words, the neutralisation and inactivity of consciousness bring about an activity of the unconscious, where all the differentiated functions have their common, archaic root, and where all contents exist in a state of promiscuity of which the primitive mentality still shows numerous vestiges.” (Emphasis mine)
§825 “From the activity of the unconscious there now emerges a new content, constellated by thesis and antithesis in equal measure and standing in a compensatory relation to both.” (The transcendent function) “It thus forms the middle ground on which the opposites can be united.” The process goes on to repeat as the ego will tend to a particular side…the ego cannot maintain both positions. However, the repeat process occurs on a 'higher plane' in the next cycle…and so it goes.“whereupon an identification of the ego with the most favoured function ( inferior function ) ensues. Consequently, the process of division will be repeated later on a higher plane.”
§826 “If, however, as a result of the stability of the ego, neither side succeeds in dissolving the mediatory product, this is sufficient demonstration that it is superior to both. …”
§828 “I have called this process in its totality the transcendent function, …” He call's it transcendent as it 'facilitates a transition from one attitude to another.'
52. Synthetic
Cf. Constructive
53. Thinking
§830 “…one of the four basic psychological functions. … It is an apperceptive activity, and as such may be divided into active and passive thinking. Active thinking is an act of will, passive thinking is a mer occurrence. …” (Also, Cf. CW5 'Two kinds of thinking', Directed and Symbolic thinking.) This next bit is very interesting: “Active thinking, accordingly, would correspond to my concept of directed thinking. 85 Passive thinking was inadequately described in my previous work as “fantasy thinking.”86 Today I would call it intuitive thinking.”
86 Ibid., par. 20
§831 Jung clearly relates thinking to judgement, whether intentional or not. By judgement, he means linking a course of thinking by means of a concept, a concept around which one is focused. He therefore places thinking like 'associative thinking' (linking of ideas by association) as 'mere ideation,' and not thinking per se.
54. Transcendent function
Cf. Symbol
55. Type
§835 “ … in this particular work, a type is a characteristic specimen of a general attitude occurring in many individual forms. … the four basic psychological functions: thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition. When any of these attitudes is habitual, … I speak of a psychological type. These… may be divided into two classes according to the quality of the basic function, i.e., into the rational and the irrational. The thinking an feeling types belong tot he former class, the sensation and intuitive types to the latter. A further division into two classes is permitted by the predominant trend of the movement of libido, namely introversion and extraversion. ”
56. Unconscious
§837 “The concept of the unconscious is for me an exclusively psychological concept, and not a philosophical concept of a metaphysical nature. In my view the unconscious is a psychological borderline concept, which covers all psychic contents or processes that are not conscious, i.e., not related to the ego in any perceptible way. My justification for speaking of the existence of unconscious processes at all is derived simply and solely from experience, and in particular from psychopathological experience, …”
§838 This next bit is quite interesting; discussing how we might conjecture as to the state, boundaries or processes of the unconscious: “… Conjectures linking up the unconscious state with cerebration and physiological processes belong equally to the realm of fantasy. It is also impossible to specify the range of the unconscious, i.e., what contents it embraces. Only experience can decide such questions.” This places the unconscious - in Jung's view - firmly outside physiological grasp. It must therefore lie elsewhere, or overlap in to 'elsewhere'. What/where that is, I don't know. I believe we have a spirit and are in touch with a metaphysical realm beyond our corporeal / physiological bounds and as such… there is a world out there we only just touch on, a vast world. I think our unconscious plays in this domain :) This is important when you think of the neurological sciences and the work being done there - can we ever truly understand the human psyche by the neurological sciences?…this postulate of the unconscious by Jung would say 'no', we cannot. I agree with that.
§839 Memories and content falling below consciousness into unconsciousness through 'loss of their energic value.' Also through repression (Freud), and through dissociation of personality as a “result of violent affect or nervous shock, or through the collapse of the personality in schizophrenia (Bleuler).”
§840 By sense perception we may take on psychic content through unconscious apperception, even though we may not be consciously aware of the content. Also: “Finally, experience also teaches that there are unconscious psychic associations - mythological images, for instance - which have never been the object of consciousness and must therefore be wholly the product of unconscious activity.”
§842 “Our experience so far of the nature of unconscious contents permits us, however, to make one general classification. We can distinguish a personal unconscious, … in addition to these personal unconscious contents, there are other contents which do not originate in personal acquisitions, but in the inherited possibility of psychic functioning in general, i.e., in the inherited structure of the brain. (even though just earlier - para 838 - it would seem Jung put the unconscious content scope beyond the physiological??) … I call these content the collective unconscious. … so unconscious psychic activity produces dreams, fantasies, etc. … A dream presents itself to us: we do not consciously create it. …”
843 “The functional relation of the unconscious processes to consciousness may be described as compensatory, …”
Will
§844 “I regard the will as the amount of psychic energy at the disposal of consciousness. Volition would, accordingly, be an energic process that is released by conscious motivation. … The will is a psychological phenomenon that owes its existence to culture and moral education, but is largely lacking in the primitive mentality.”
something