Comments, additions, and corrections are welcome.
Please send them to
Michael Kagan
Le Moyne College Department of Philosophy
Syracuse, NY 13214
Email: KAGAN@maple.lemoyne.edu
(This section was the file http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/JUNGPW.html)
These notes are based on "Marriage as a Psychological Relationship"[from M. Mahowald's anthology (ed.) Philosophy of
Woman, second edition (Hackett, 1983), pp. 320-323], Henri Ellenberger'sDiscovery of the Unconscious [(Basic Books,
Inc., 1970), pp. 657-748], and Joseph Campbell's (editor) The PortableJung [Penguin Books, 1976, Copyright Viking
Press, 1971).
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Animus/Anima and the problem of projection
Jung in Campbell, p.146, problem of projection; 147 bungling and blaming.
"The Shadow can be realized only through a relation to a partner, andanima and animus only through a relation to a
partner of the opposite sex, because only in such a relation do suchprojections become operative." Jung in Campbell,
p., 161.
The goal of individuation (Pindarian "become what thou art").
Theory of types [p. 702, Ellenberger, for mnemonic]
Task of the last half of life, the goal being wisdom--
Discuss briefly Jung's encounter with Pueblo and some African culturein the 1920s, as well as his work with Richard
Wilhelm and Chinese philosophy and his wide reading in Gnosticism,and other Western and Eastern mystical traditions.
enantiodromia - Heraclitean return to the opposite. E.g., the routein Dante. [pp. 712-713, Ellenberger]
Discuss Jung's own "creative illness" and [Ellenberger, p. 671, Jung'saudible anima experience]. Introduce the
expression " Jungian slip " meaning a consciously unintended manifestationof the unconscious that reveals insight."
"Marriage as A Psychological relationship"
(Some cites from the less abridged text in Jung/Campbell (J/C); othersfrom that in Jung/Mahowald (J/M)
Unconsciousness varies inversely with freedom of choice in marriage(J/C, p. 165). Generally the child is motivated
where the parent thwarted (J/C, 165).
Discuss the "anima type" (Jung/Mahowald, p 321)
The animus projection can be insightful (J/M, 322); describe the oldwise man and the great mother. Relate utility of
unconscious projection to the different understanding of the valueof the unconscious in Jung (as opposed to Freud;
compare to Advaita-Vedanta).
Relate this to the role of pathology in growth, and the Jungian claimthat "one understands nothing psychological unless
one has experienced it oneself." (J/M, p. 323). Remember Jung's audibleanima experience (Ellenberger, p. 671. )Relate
this to Jung's concluding comment on the same page (J/M, p. 323; J/C,p. 177).
One standard criticism of Jung concerns the racism and sexism that somehave seen in his life and work. These should
be mentioned so new readers aren't surprised to find them. Ellenbergeroffers a spry defense (pp. 676-677, Discovery.).
My own opinion is that we should always be sensitive to even the appearanceof racism and sexism in a thinker's life and
work in order to determine if they have damaged the work in some way.Also, in some unusual cases where, for
example, the writer is a better person as a writer than elsewhere,the writer may be actually be able to use the personal
knowledge of evil in his/her own (perhaps rare) better moments as awriter to promote the good. Consider, as a possible
example of this, Jung's discussion of the Shadow.
Other criticisms would be on the same lines as many of the critiquesof Freud's work. The additional emphasis on racial
memory and identity in Jung's work leaves him open to the same criticismsof the inheritance of acquired characteristics
we discussed with respect to the Freudian theory of the primal hordein Totem and Taboo.
If Freud can be criticized for being too closed to insights from religion,Jung may be open to the opposite charge; though
the charge must be tempered with Jung's own belief that one cannotunderstand psychological understanding from
anywhere unless one has experienced it. If by this, he means that onlythe confused can understand confusion, or the
addict addiction, he is open to certain obvious criticisms, but ifunderstanding an experience requires one to know what it
feels like, then he has a point.
Also Jung seems to be open to changes of carrying biological determinismof psychology too far, with his belief that Jews
and Aryans have different psychologies, his hesitance about using non-nativemethods, and his strong delineation of
innate differences between male and female psychology.
Jung, like Freud, wasn't that concerned with experimental confirmationof his psychological understandings and findings.
For Jung, it seems these were, for him, part of his personal experience(e.g., Jung's own experience of the anima). It
may be helpful to see him as one who applied the methods of Raja Yogato the exploration of the psyche (See Huston
Smith's discussion of Raja Yoga in The World's Religions), and notethat this approach, as William James pointed out in
Varieties of Religious Experience, has an authority for those who experienceit that it lacks for others.
Pragmatic criticism would not only need to examine the utility of Jungiantherapy, but also might want to examine the
influence of Jung on other thinkers and writers like Joseph Campbelland Robertson Davies.
--Michael Kagan, April 21, 1996
The examples of anima/animus projection given in class are, of course,culture-laden in their particulars. It is the attribution of somethingwithin one's anima/animus onto the other person INSTEAD of actually consideringthe situation that reveals the anima/animus projection.
For example, a particular man may project his anima onto a particularwoman (she's adjusting her make-up while waiting at a red light) and saythat SHE'S VAIN JUST LIKE A WOMAN, projecting some kind of version (influencedby HIS anima) of what he would be like if he were doing that activity INSTEADof actually reflecting on the available data and realizing that he cannotpossibly be perceiving her motivation (he doesn't know her, doesn't knowwhere she's going or why).
Jung and many Jungians understand anima/animus projections tobe deeply based in the collective unconscious and expect to find (and believethey have found) these archetypes in a variety of cultures.
Some archetypal figures like anima/animus they believe they havediscerned transculturally include the wicked mother (consider Kali, Lillith,some fairy tales), the wise old man, the trickster, the crone, and thegreat mother.
For more information, explanation, and evidence from Jungian perspectives,see Jean Benedict Raffa's The Bridge to Wholeness: A Feminine Alternativeto the Hero Myth (San Diego: LuraMedia, 1992) and Joseph Campbell'sThe Hero with a Thousand Faces, Second edition (Bollingen SeriesXVII. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968; First Princeton/Bollingenpaperback printing, 1972).
M. Kagan
April 23, 1996.
Last changed April 25, 1996
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 00:28:14 -0500
From: "JEFFREY W. BREEDLOVE" <glasseye@compuserve.com>
Subject: ANIMA
Sender: "JEFFREY W. BREEDLOVE" <glasseye@compuserve.com>
To: Michael Kagan <KAGAN@maple.lemoyne.edu>
X-VMS-To: IN%"KAGAN@maple.lemoyne.edu" "Michael Kagan"
The way your concluding notes read it sounds as if projections stemfrom
the collective aspect of the anima.
Jung believed on the one hand in the personal anima( your example)and the
collective aspect which is not capable of being integrated into a man's
conscious personality. To say Jung understood anima/animus projections
(such as your example) to stem from the collective is very inaccurate.
Jung understood the autonomy of archetypes. The anima as an elemental
being. This is the collective nature of the archetype. Standing outside
space and time the anima in collectively personified form may havelittle
or nothing to do with a man's self fulfilling projections. Thepersonal
projections may be resolved with moral effort on part of individual. Jung
had said that the collective aspect lies so deeply buried within the
collective unconscious that he doubted even few people would encounterthis
aspect of the anima at all.
Jung certainly believed that archetypes manifested themselves, at least
occasionally, in physical events and in states of mind at the sametime.
This is a far cry from a projection, this is fate and he named this
phenomenon synchronicity.
"Once the exploration of the unconscious has led the conscious mindto an
experience of the archetype, the individual is confronted with theabysmal
contradictions of human nature, and this confrontation in turn leadsto the
possibility of a direct experience of light and darkness, of Christand the
devil. For better or worse there is only a bare possibility ofthis, and
not a guarantee; for experiences of this kind cannot of necessity be
induced by any human means. There are factors to be consideredwhich are
not under our control. Experience of the opposites has nothingwhatever to
do with intellectual insight or with empathy. It is more whatwe would
call fate." JUNG