Jung: Redemption

5 Commentsby   |  11.15.13  |  Second Blog Post

I would classify Jung as a Redemption philosopher because of his work with archetypes and with categorizing people as introverts or extroverts.  Rather than behaviorists who claimed everything was learned and reinforced, Jung resonated more with evolutionary psychology saying that people had a collective unconscious which was the cumulative experiences of humans throughout their entire evolutionary past.  He explained human actions as coming from inherited archetypal projections from the past.  These inherited archetypes predispose people to see things in certain ways and to respond to them accordingly, thus affecting our actions.   Jung emphasizes the inherited predispositions, but he said that the “self” synthesizes the components of the personality to bring unity and wholeness to the personality.  He said the goal of life is first to discover and understand the various parts of the personality and then to synthesize them into a harmonious unity- which he called “self actualization.”  He also described people as naturally introverted or extroverted, but that a healthy and mature individual would have a good balance of both.

I would call Jung a Redemption philosopher because he seems to add some redeeming qualities to the Evolutionary perspective.  For some, the idea that people are the way they are at birth- because of inherited traits, is a bleak idea.  However, Jung brings some hope by theorizing a synthesizing unit that brings possibility for change.  While he still believed people were products of their past with stable traits, he also believed that understanding these traits could help one to change, adapt, and thrive in the world.

Comment

5 Comments

  1. Kasey Morgan
    1:17 pm, 11.18.13

    Haley! I think your blog post is really interesting! I really like that you explain what Jung brought to the evolutionary perspective. The idea that we are born the way we are is something that is used by a lot of people who are arguing major ideas in today’s culture. I always thought that idea is very saddening because that makes change not worth the time. I like that Jung brought hope and I am glad you wrote about it!

  2. Anna Pierce
    6:21 pm, 11.18.13

    Haley. You go girl! I love this post because you integrated how evolutionary psychology applies to Jung. The strive for harmony is a redemptive quality.

  3. Tyler McCuistion
    9:14 pm, 11.18.13

    I like how you related evolutionary psychology into his theory of the collective unconscious. He explains the redemptive qualities of the collective unconscious and you explain it well.

  4. Jennifer Valenzuela
    9:48 pm, 11.18.13

    Love this! I totally agree that knowing our weaknesses can only help us and that our past does not have to define us. I also really like how you incorporated evolutionary psychology into the redemption when most people would associate this with the fall.

  5. Haley Conaway
    11:34 pm, 11.18.13

    Thanks guys! Go MYERS BRIGGS! Haha I’ve been waiting all semester to say that! 🙂

Add a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.