Carl Gustav Jung was born on July 26, 1875 in the family of one of the priests of the Evangelical Reformed Church in a Swiss town called Keswil. His family came from Germany: the great philosopherâs great-grandfather led a military hospital during the Napoleonic Wars, and his great-grandfatherâs brother served as Chancellor of Bavaria for some time. In our article, we will talk about Jung's philosophy. Briefly and clearly consider his main philosophical ideas.
The beginning of the philosophical path
Even in adolescence, Jung began to deny the religious ideas of his own environment. The hypocritical moralism, dogmatism, the transformation of Jesus into a preacher of Victorian morality - all this caused him genuine indignation. According to Karl, in the church everyone shamelessly talked about God, his actions and aspirations, profaning all sacred things with battered sentimentality.
It is worth noting that the essence of Jung's philosophy was traced back to his early years. So, in Protestant religious ceremonies, the young philosopher did not notice a trace of the presence of God. He believed that God once lived in Protestantism, but he had long left the corresponding temples. He met with dogmatic works. It was this that led Jung to the idea that they can be considered "an example of rare stupidity, the sole purpose of which is to conceal the truth." Young Carl Gustav held the view that living religious practice is far superior to all dogmas
Jung's Dreams
Mysticism also takes place in Jung's philosophy. In his dreams of that time, one motive played the utmost importance. So, he observed the image of an old man endowed with magical powers, which was considered as if his alter ego. In everyday life, a timid and rather introverted young man spent his life - a person at number one. In dreams, a different hypostasis of his âIâ appeared - this is person number two, who even had her own name (Filemon).
Summarizing the results of his studies at the gymnasium, Karl Gustav Jung read âThat's what Zarathustra said,â and then he was seriously scared: Nietzsche also had âpersonality number 2,â whom Zarathustra called. However, she was able to supplant the personality of the philosopher himself (by the way, this is where Nietzscheâs insanity comes from; that is exactly what Jung thought, contrary to the extremely reliable diagnosis made by the doctors). It is worth noting that the fear of the similar consequences of "dreaming" contributed to a decisive, confident and fairly rapid turn into reality. In addition, Jung had to study at the university and work simultaneously. He knew that he had to rely solely on his own strength. It was such thoughts that gradually took Karl away from the magical world of dreams.
Somewhat later, in Jungâs doctrine of two types of thinking, personal dreaming experiences also found reflection. The main goal of Jungâs psychotherapy and Jungâs philosophy is nothing more than the union of âinternalâ and âexternalâ people. It must be added that the thoughts of a mature philosopher regarding religion to one degree or another have become only the development of those moments that he experienced in his childhood.
Training sources
In determining the sources of Jung's philosophical ideas, of various teachings, it is customary to abuse the word âinfluenceâ. Naturally, in this case, influence does not mean âinfluenceâ in the literal sense of the word, when the conversation is about great theological or philosophical teachings. After all, you can only influence someone who is something of himself. Carl Gustav, in his development, was primarily inspired by Protestant theology. At the same time, he absorbed the spiritual atmosphere of his own time.
Jung's philosophy belongs to German culture. For a long time, this culture has been characterized by an interest in the âreverse, night sideâ of existence. So, at the beginning of the last century, the great romantics turned to the legends of the people, "Rhine mysticism", the mythology of Tauler and Eckhart, as well as the alchemical theology of Boehme. It is worth noting that before this, the Schelling doctors had already tried to use the philosophy of the unconscious Freud and Jung in the treatment of patients.
Past and Present
In front of Karl Gustav, the patriarchal way of life in Germany and Switzerland was breaking: the world of castles, villages, small cities was leaving. As T. Mann noted, directly in their atmosphere there was "something of the spiritual component of the people who lived in the last decades of the 15th century." These words were uttered with an underlying emotional predisposition to madness and fanaticism.
In Jung's philosophy, the present and the spiritual tradition of the past, the natural sciences and the alchemy of the 15th â 16th centuries, scientific skepticism and Gnosticism clash. The interest in the deep past as a category that constantly accompanies society today, which has been preserved and has been acting on us to this day, was characteristic of Jung in his youth. It is worth noting that at the university, Karl most of all wanted to study as an archaeologist. The fact is that âDeep Psychologyâ reminded him of archeology with its methodology.
It is known that Freud also compared psychoanalysis with this science several times, after which he regretted that the name "archeology" was nevertheless assigned to searches for cultural monuments, and not to "spiritual excavations." "Archean" is the beginning. So, âdeep psychologyâ, which removes layer by layer, gradually moves to the roots of consciousness.
It should be noted that in Basel, archeology was not taught to students, however, Karl could not study at another university: he received a small scholarship only in his native city. Currently, the demand for graduates of the humanities and natural sciences departments of this university is quite large, but at the end of the last century the situation was the opposite. Professionally studying science had the opportunity exclusively people in material terms. A piece of bread was also guaranteed by the law, medical and theological faculties.
A specific approach to science
For whom are all these decrepit books published? Science at that time was a useful tool. It was valued solely for its applications, as well as due to its effective application in construction, industry, medicine and trade. Basel rooted in the deep past, and Zurich rushed to the same distant future. Karl Gustav noticed in such a situation the âsplitâ of the European soul. According to Jungâs philosophy, the industrial and technical civilization gave its roots to oblivion, and this was a natural phenomenon, since the soul in dogmatic theology has become ossified. As the famous philosopher believed, religion and science came into conflict for the reason that the first to some extent broke away from life experience, and the second went away from really significant problems - it adhered to pragmatism and carnal empiricism. Soon Jung's next philosophical view of this would arise: âWe have become rich in terms of knowledge, but poor in wisdom.â In the picture of the world that science has created, man is only a mechanism among others like that. So, his life loses all meaning.
That is why it became necessary to identify an area where science and religion do not refute each other, but cooperate in search of the roots of all meanings. Psychology soon became a science of sciences for Carl Gustav. From his point of view, it was she who was able to give a modern individual a holistic worldview.
The search for the "inner man"
Jungâs philosophy briefly and clearly suggests that Karl Gustav was not alone in his search for an âinner man.â Many thinkers of the late XIX - early XX centuries had the same negative attitude to the church, and to the dead cosmos of natural sciences, and even to religion. Some of them, for example, Tolstoy, Berdyaev or Unamuno, converted to Christianity and gave it a very unorthodox interpretation. The rest, having experienced a crisis of the soul, began to create philosophical teachings.
By the way, not without reason they called these areas "irrationalistic." That is how Bergson's intuitionism and James pragmatism appeared. Neither the evolution of nature, nor the world of human experiences, nor the behavior of this primitive organism can be explained by the laws of physiology and mechanics. Life is a Heraclitian stream; eternal formation; "Impulse" that does not recognize the law of identity. The cycle of substances in the natural environment, the eternal dream of the material, the pinnacles of spiritual life - these are just poles of an uncontrollable stream.
In addition to the philosophical significance of Jungâs analytical psychology as a âphilosophy of life,â it is important to consider the fashion of the occult, which, of course, touched him. For 2 years, the philosopher participated in seances. Carl Gustav became acquainted with many literary works in numerology, astrology and other "secret" sciences. Similar hobbies of students largely determined the features of Carl's later studies. From the belief that mediums establish communication with the spirits of the dead, the philosopher soon departed. By the way, the fact of such contact is also denied by the occultists.
Jung's dissertation
It is worth noting that the observations presented and Jung's philosophy, which briefly describes them, became the basis of his doctoral dissertation âOn the Psychology and Pathology of the So-called Occult Phenomenaâ (1902). It is worth noting that this work has retained its scientific significance to this day. The fact is that the philosopher gave her a psychiatric and psychological analysis of the mediumistic trance, compared it with a darkened state of mind, hallucinations. He noted that poets, mystics, prophets, founders of religious movements and sects have similar conditions to those that a specialist may encounter in patients who come too close to the sacred âfireâ, so much so that the psyche could not stand it - as a result, there was a split personality . Poets and prophets often mix with their own voice coming from the depths of a different person. However, their consciousness takes possession of this content and gives it an artistic and religious form, respectively.
All sorts of deviations can be found in them, however, there is intuition, which "far exceeds the conscious mind." So, they catch certain âancestorsâ. Subsequently, Karl Gustav defined these preforms as archetypes of the collective unconscious. Jung's archetypes in philosophy at different times arise in the human mind. They seem to pop up regardless of human will. Preforms are autonomous, they are not determined by consciousness. However, archetypes can influence him. The unity of the irrational and rational, the subject-object attitude to intuitive insight - this is what distinguishes trance from adequate consciousness and brings it closer to mythological thinking. To each individual, the world of preforms is accessible in dreams, which serve as the main source of information about the psychic unconscious.
The doctrine of the collective unconscious
Thus, Jung came to the basic concepts of the collective unconscious even before he met Freud. Their first communication took place in 1907. By that time, Carl Gustav already had a name: first of all, the verbal-associative test brought him fame, which allowed him to experimentally reveal the structure of the unconscious. In the laboratory of experimental psychopathology, which was created by Karl Gustav in Burghelzi, each of the subjects was offered a list of words. A person had to respond to them immediately, and the first word that came to his mind. The reaction time was fixed by means of a stopwatch.
After that, the test became more complicated: with the help of various instruments, the physiological reactions of the individual to certain words that acted as stimuli were recorded. The main thing that turned out to be discovered was the presence of those expressions to which people did not find a quick response. In some cases, the length of the selection of the word reaction was lengthened. Often, the subjects fell silent for a long time, stuttered, âdisconnectedâ or reacted not in one word, but in a whole sentence and so on. At the same time, people did not realize that the answer to one word, which is an incentive, for example, took them a much longer period of time than to another.
Jung's inference
So, Carl Gustav made the conclusion that such violations in response arise due to peculiar âcomplexesâ charged with mental energy. As soon as the stimulus word âtouchedâ this complex, the individual participating in the experiment showed signs of a minor emotional upset. After some time - thanks to the experiment - numerous "projective tests" appeared, which are widely used in personnel selection and medicine. In addition, a device so far removed from pure science as the âlie detectorâ was developed.
The philosopher was of the opinion that this test is able to identify certain fragmentary personalities located outside the boundaries of consciousness in the human psyche. It is worth noting that in schizophrenics, personality dissociation is more pronounced than in healthy people. In the end, this leads to the collapse of the personality, the destruction of consciousness. So, a whole pool of âcomplexesâ remains in place of the once existing personality.
Subsequently, the philosopher delimited the categories of the complex of the personal unconscious and the archetype of the collective unconscious. It should be noted that it is archetypes that resemble individuals. If earlier madness could be explained by âdemon possessionâ that came to the soul from the outside, then it turned out by Carl Gustav that their legion originally existed in the soul. So, in the presence of certain circumstances, they triumphed over the "I" - one of the components of the psyche. In the soul of any person there are a large number of personalities. Each of them has its own "I". At times, they try to declare themselves, to come to the surface of consciousness. An ancient utterance could be applied to the Jungian interpretation of the psyche: "The undead do not have their own appearance - it walks in disguises." However, there should be a reservation in the fact that the psychic life itself, and not the âundead,â has various kinds of masks.
Of course, the ideas presented by Karl Gustav are associated not only with psychological experiments and psychiatry. They seemed to be "rushing in the air." It is interesting to know that K. Jaspers spoke with a sufficient degree of anxiety about the aesthetization of various deviations of the mental plane. In his opinion, it was in this way that the âspirit of the time" expressed itself. In the works of a number of writers, interest in the âlegions of demonsâ that inhabited the very depths of the soul, as well as in the âinner manâ, which is radically different from the outer shell, increased.
Often this interest, like that of Karl Gustav, merged with the teachings of the religious plan. Itâs enough to mention G. Meyrink, an Austrian writer whose philosophers often referred to novels (âAngel in the Western Windowâ, âGolemâ, âWhite Dominicanâ and so on). In the books of Meyrink, theosophy, occultism, and oriental teachings constituted, as it were, a frame of reference in order to contrast the metaphysical-miraculous reality with the world of everyday common sense, for which this reality is considered âinsaneâ. Naturally, both Plato and the apostle Paul knew about such a contrast (âDid God turn the wisdom of this world into madness?â). In addition, he could be encountered in European literature (Shakespeare, Cervantes, Calderon and others). This contrast served as a hallmark of German romanticism, literary works of Dostoevsky and Gogol, as well as many writers of our century.
Conclusion
So, we examined the basic philosophical ideas and thoughts of Carl Gustav both in theory and on specific examples. In conclusion, it should be noted that the meeting of the philosopher with psychoanalysis cannot be called accidental, as is the break with Freud, which occurred somewhat later. In the philosophy of Freud and Jung, the interpretation of the unconscious is fundamentally different. Although Karl Gustav owed much to Freud, he considered P. Janet and E. Bleiler his mentors.
Bleiler wrote about situations of split personality, as well as about âautistic thinking,â which was opposed to ârealisticâ in any case. It was he who introduced into psychiatry a term such as âschizophreniaâ (in other words, schism, split personality). From Jane, Jung primarily inherited the energy concept of the psyche, according to which the reality of the world in one way or another requires a certain amount of energy, and with the weakening of its flow, the level of consciousness decreases.
Today, a whole series of Jung's literary works is known: "Man and his Symbols", "Red Book", "Psychology and Alchemy", "Psychological Types" and so on. It is worth noting that the circumstances of the publication of each of the books are quite unusual. They are already interesting in this, which directly relate to their content and design.