''Two Essays on Analytical Psychology'' is volume 7 of ''
The Collected Works of C. G. Jung'', presenting the core of
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
's views about
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. Known as one of the best introductions to Jung's work, the volumes includes the essays "The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious" (1928; 2nd edn., 1935) and "On the Psychology of the Unconscious" (1943).
Historically, the essays mark the end of Jung's close association with
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
, showing his attempt to integrate the work of Freud and
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( , ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, family constellation and birth order ...
into a comprehensive framework. To show the development of his thinking, an appendix in later editions also includes original versions of the essays "New Paths in Psychology" (1912) and "The Structure of the Unconscious" (1916)—both of which were discovered after Jung's death.
Extensive detailed abstracts of each chapter are available online.
"On The Psychology of the Unconscious"
The first section, On the Psychology of the Unconscious, includes these chapters:
# Psychoanalysis
# The Eros Theory
# The Other Point of View: The Will to Power
# The Problem of the Attitude-Type
# The Personal and the Collective Unconscious
# The Synthetic or Constructive Method
# The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
# General Remarks on the Therapeutic Approach
# Conclusion.
Sections 1-3
Jung uses the first three parts of this essay to place
his psychological school in the intellectual tradition of
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
,
Pierre Janet,
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
, and
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( , ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, family constellation and birth order ...
. Jung gives a brief account of the historical development of
Psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
, particularly Freud and
Breuer's case history of
Anna O
Bertha Pappenheim (27 February 1859 – 28 May 1936) was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association (''). Under the pseudonym Anna O., she was also one of Josef Breuer's best-documented pat ...
, and covers some of Freud's early theorizing on
neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
,
the unconscious
The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations.
Even though these processes exis ...
,
dream interpretation
Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. Although associated with some forms of psychotherapy, there is no reliable evidence that understanding or interpreting dreams has a positive impact on one's mental health.
In m ...
,
wish fulfillment
A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.
In fiction
In fiction a ...
, and the incest-wish of the
Oedipus Complex
The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...
.
While Freud explained neurosis through
sexual motivations,
Adler explained those same conflicts as arising from a
power principle. Jung addresses Adler's concepts of
superiority/inferiority and
compensation and Nietzsche's writings on the
will to power
The will to power (german: der Wille zur Macht) is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in humans. However, the concept was never systematic ...
.
Sections 4-8
Jung moves to introduce his own theories by claiming that both Freud and Adler are largely correct, but that each of their theories interprets the world from the point-of-view of a particular temperament. Jung uses this as an example of his theory of
personality types
In psychology, personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Personality types are sometimes distinguished from personality traits, with the latter embodying a smaller grouping of behavioral tendenc ...
and the distinction between
introversion and extraversion.
Next Jung looks at the problem of
transference
Transference (german: Übertragung) is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which the "feelings, attitudes, or desires" a person had about one thing are subconsciously projected onto the here-and-now Other. It usually concerns feelings from a ...
in the therapeutic context and posits that there is more than infantile personal unconscious content being
projected
Projected is an American rock supergroup consisting of Sevendust members John Connolly and Vinnie Hornsby, Alter Bridge and Creed drummer Scott Phillips, and former Submersed and current Tremonti guitarist Eric Friedman. The band released t ...
: there are
archetypal patterns of behavior and fantasy imagery. Jung distinguishes the
personal unconscious
In analytical psychology, the personal unconscious is Carl Jung's term for the Freudian unconscious, as contrasted with the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious. Often referred to by him as "No man’s land," the personal unconscious is l ...
(which he relates to his concept of the
shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...
) from the
collective unconscious
Collective unconscious (german: kollektives Unbewusstes) refers to the unconscious mind and shared mental concepts. It is generally associated with idealism and was coined by Carl Jung. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious is populat ...
, which he describes variously in this essay as containing "primordial images," "inherited possibilities of human imagination," "
thought-forms," "motifs," "dominants," and "archetypes." Jung explains that archetypes have a powerful emotional fascination akin to a religious experience.
Jung elaborates on his theories by going through some examples of his method of dream interpretation, and amplifying the material provided by connecting it with archetypal figures such as the shadow, the
magician/wise old man, and
the hero undertaking the night sea journey. Jung maintains that there is great healing potential in a thoughtful integration of the unconscious.
"The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious"
The second essay, The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious, is split into two parts: the first broadly is about the risks of a confrontation with the collective unconscious; and the second part is about Jung's method for a more constructive engagement with this psychic material.
This section includes:
# The Effects of the Unconscious Upon the Conscious
#* The Personal and the Collective Unconscious
#* Phenomena Resulting from the Assimilation of the Unconscious
#* The Persona as a Segment of the Collective Psyche
#* Negative Attempts to Free the Individuality from the Collective Psyche
# Individuation
#* The Function of the Unconscious. Anima and Animus
#* The Technique of Differentiation between the Ego and the Figures of the Unconscious
#* The Mana-Personality
Part One – The Effects of the Unconscious Upon Consciousness
Jung gives some examples of how
consciousness
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
becomes "inflated," which he defines as "an extension of the personality beyond individual limits, in other words, a state of being puffed up." This runs the gamut between megalomania and
self-abnegation. Jung stresses the importance of maintaining the distinction between the personal and the collective, to maintain the integrity of
the individual personality and allow it to grow in the individuation process.
Next, Jung defines his concept of
the persona, the social roles that a person performs, as a segment of the collective psyche that is incorrectly felt to be personal. Jung advises that people should free their individuality from the collective psyche but gives several examples of the dangers inherent in this process.
Jung goes through the problem of a collapse of the conscious attitude, which he calls a return to the original chaos. Different suboptimal resolutions to this crisis are explored, including a "regressive restoration of the persona," which is a retreat to a mode of being that one has already outgrown and an avoidance of future growth and risk. Another partial solution is called "identification with the collective psyche," where
the collapsed ego allows itself to be swallowed by the unconscious. Jung points out that this is the beginning of the renewal process of the hero's journey but that people can lose themselves in the
belly of the whale.
Part Two – Individuation
Jung calls ''
individuation
The principle of individuation, or ', describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinct from other things.
The concept appears in numerous fields and is encountered in works of Leibniz, Carl Gustav Jung, Gunther Anders, Gilbert Sim ...
'' a "coming to selfhood" and "self-realization." He says that "the aim of individuation is nothing less than to divest oneself of the false wrappings of the persona on the one hand and of the suggestive power of primordial images on the other." Jung posits that the function of the unconscious is to compensate the conscious attitude, and that the two systems together form a totality called
The Self.
The individuation process involves allowing the unconscious to communicate with consciousness, and one main channel by which that happens is through
a dream figure that is contra-sexual to the ego. Jung describes the anima as a means of relating to the unconscious, just as the persona is a means of relating to society. Jung provides some case studies to illustrate his 'technique of differentiation between the ego and the figures of the unconscious' and encourages the active production of fantasy imagery in his patients as a way of integrating the unconscious.
Jung describes how integrating the anima with the ego fills the ego with a sort of magical knowledge (''
mana
According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a ...
''), and this state of ego inflation is described as possession by the archetype of the magician (''the mana personality''). Jung advises cultivating a second, superordinate center of personality, away from the ego yet not completely unconscious, which Jung calls the Self, as a container for
this psychic energy from the unconscious.
References
* Jung, C.G. (1967). ''Two Essays on Analytical Psychology'', Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 7, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
* Jung, C.G. (1992). ''Two Essays on Analytical Psychology'', Second Edition, Collected Works of C. G. Jung, London: Routledge.
{{Jungian psychology
Works by Carl Jung
Analytical psychology