Does anyone know what contact either personally or through their writings, Jung had exposer to the ideas of Heidegger, Jaspers, Wittgenstein or any of the other contemprary German philosophers? If you could give me reference sources that would be much appreciated.
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Maryland
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Sun, March 19, 2006 - 12:09 PMI've read quite a bit of Jung and don't recall seeing any reference to these thinkers. A quick Google did turn this up:
koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/ph.../heidcj1.htm
If this is genuinely representative of his feelings, I can see why he wouldn't be so keen on the figures you've mentioned. The latest philosopher he treats at length in his written work is Nietzsche.
I'd recommend posting this on the Jung at Heart tribe:
JungAtHeart.tribe.net
There are some folks over there with a deep knowledge of Jung's work.
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Tue, March 21, 2006 - 3:26 PMIf we are worried about Heidegger's Nazi period, we should be a fortiori fearful of Jung, who turned his theory of archetypes seamlessly into a theory of Aryan archetypes. -
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Tue, March 21, 2006 - 3:31 PMThat's depressing. I did not know that, but sure enough:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl..._the_Nazis -
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Tue, March 21, 2006 - 3:40 PMTristan - would you elaborate on this issue? I'm not finding a clear, solid source on this issue. The most damning information the wikipedia article cites is drawn from an article that itself provides no citation for its source. A search on Amazon has likewise not produced anything substantive. -
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Thu, March 23, 2006 - 9:15 AMTo be truthful, I havn't researched it myself. I've just heard about it from two of my professors, one who thought it was something about Jung's theory of archetypes which was in itself authoritarian and laid the possibility for racism, and another who was just startled that he was so wiling to convert to the Nazi ideology and make his work fit with their program. If you look at Sluga's book on Heidegger and Naziism, she has a lot on how huge numbers of philosophers tried to out do each other at being the greatest Nazis - it was a common practice at the time.
We shoudn't forget about Frege either. -
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Thu, March 23, 2006 - 9:21 AMThanks for the info. This has come as a big surprise for me because I've read some savage critiques of Nazism by Jung.
I find it odd that the only clear references I've tracked down so far are uncited, so I'll keep looking.
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Re: Jung's connections to philosophers of his time.
Fri, March 24, 2006 - 2:14 PMThanks for your posts on the philosophers. Letme tell you what I know about Jung's connection to the Nazi's. I am reading two biographies right now, so I may gain some more information on this. On of them, however, by Frank Mclynn, is so negatively biased and selective in its presentation, that I would not trust it. I do known that Jung thought that the Nazi era is Germany was attrocious and a horrible and cruel outgrouwth of an imbalance in the German people. He explained the mass appeal of Nazi ideology to a re-emergence of the Wotan archetype, the Norhern war god, that was simmering, just below the superficial layers of Christian belief. He did not, in any way advocate or justify the Nazis in this. He was just trying to understand how a highly developed country could fall for such foolish dribble.
The so-called "anti-semitism" of Jung probably is a result of the Freudian reaction. In both biographies it shows how, everytime Jung deviates from the teachings of Freud, Freud and his followers call him anti-semitic. Freud had a real strong, and perhaps justifiable, paranoia about ani-Jewish feelings and he saw it around every corner. He had wanted to use Jung as the crown prince to make psychoanalysis palatable for the gentiles. Unfortunately for him, Jung was no lacky and had his own creative ideas, since he was in no way Freud's student but an accomplished psychologist in his own right by the time he met Freud. -
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Re: Jung's connections to his time.
Wed, June 28, 2006 - 8:22 AMTristan wrote: If we are worried about Heidegger's Nazi period, we should be a fortiori fearful of Jung, who turned his theory of archetypes seamlessly into a theory of Aryan archetypes.
From the little i know about Heidegger, and more i know about Jung, you are misinformed.
The theory of archetypes is transcultural and trans historical, so of course we see archetypal dynamics governing the rise and fall of Nazism. Others have addressed this well and articulately, thank you!
Jung may not have realized what was occurring as soon as many of us would like in hindsight, but it is obvious that his horror at what occurred during the Nazi era influenced his thinking on group psychology and the potential for the state to use psychology to control the masses in his later writings. He cautions us to notice and avoid this.
Jung's writing in the thirties and after have a very low opinion of the group/mass/mob psychology. He is concerned that the collective tends towards mediocrity and outlines his observations on the the character and qualities of this phenomena. He is full of cautionary tales. He sees the "ugly" in the psychology of the masses and tries to tincture against this with insight. For Jung, acknowledging the shadow allows it to be metabolized and integrated in a self-healing way rather than acted out unconsciously and causing harm to our fellow beings. It seems historically/contextually, Nazism certainly informs this aspect of Jung's work. And that is a good thing. Perhaps a bit of a late awakening, but awake and attempting to awaken others as well.
Which raises the question of us. Are we awake? Who are they taking now? who will they take next? how are we culprits? how bad will it be before we notice its happening again..... ah, but thats a different topic, isn't it? or is it...
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