Are Archetypes Essential?. Issue 3 (11th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Colman, Warren
• Is Part Of: Journal of analytical psychology. Volume 63:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 336
• Page End: 346
• Publication Date: 2018-05-11
• Subjects: affect -- anima -- archetypes -- emergence -- essentialism -- ground of being -- symbols; affect -- anima -- archétypes -- émergence -- essentialisme -- fondement de l'existence -- symboles; Affekt -- Anima -- Archetypen -- Emergenz -- Essentialismus -- Seinsgrund -- Symbole; affetto -- anima -- archetipo -- emergente -- essenzialismo -- contesto ontologico -- simboli; аффект -- анима -- архетип -- возникновение (emergence) -- эссенциализм -- основа сущего -- символы; afecto (emociones) -- anima -- arquetipos -- emergencia -- esencialismo -- fundamento del ser -- símbolos; 情绪 -- 阿尼玛 -- 原型 -- 涌现 -- 本质主义 -- 存在的根基 -- 象征; Jungian psychology -- Periodicals; 131.3405
• DOI: 10.1111/1468-5922.12414
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8774

Abstract

Abstract: This paper distinguishes between Jung's theoretical discourse regarding the archetypes and his phenomenological account of numinous experience. For this author, the initial attraction of 'my Jung' came from both the vivid Romanticism of his descriptions of the anima and the apparent 'ground of being' offered by his theory of archetypes. However, the essentialism inherent to archetypal theory in general and the anima in particular has necessitated a re‐evaluation of Jung's theory in terms of emergence theory. My own version of this emphasises the role of symbols in the constitution of affect through collective human action in the world. In this reconfiguration, the visceral energy of numinous experience is retained while the problematic theory of archetypes is no longer needed.