The Archetypal & Scientific Significance of the Red Book

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Part of the series Jung’s Red Book. Purchase the compilation for 40% off the price of individual titles!

Topics: Active Imagination, CG Jung, Religion & Spirituality, Self and Self-Psychology.

The Archetypal & Scientific Significance of the Red Book

Jung’s theory of archetypes is generally considered one of the defining features of his system of psychology.   The theory of archetypes also forms the foundation for clinical interpretation of dreams, complexes, and deeper disorders of the psyche.  At the same time, the theory has been one of the most controversial aspects of Jung’s system, both within the Jungian community and among critics of Jung’s theories.  Much of the controversy surrounding the theory of archetypes has taken the form of arguments about the scientific basis for the theory, an aspect of the theory that Jung himself initiated.  The publication of the Red Book brings both the foundations for the theory of archetypes, and the precise meaning of Jung’s more scientific comments on the theory into greater relief, and allows us to understand at a deeper level precisely what Jung considered to be at the center of the theory.  This lecture will outline the history of controversy that has surrounded the theory of archetypes since Jung first used the term in 1919, and explore how the publication of the Red Book sheds light on the foundations of the theory.  While the Red Book will not finally resolve the issues surrounding this central theme in Jungian theory and practice, it nevertheless sheds an important light on Jung’s thought and intentions.

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1. Articulate the history surrounding Jung’s theory of archetypes, and the controversies that have grown up around the theory.
2. Describe the importance of the theory of archetypes for both the theory and practice of Jungian psychology and psychotherapy.
3. Understand the significance of the Red Book for the development of the theory of archetypes, and the insight it offers into the scientific controversies surrounding the theory.

George B. Hogenson, PhD, LCSW is a Jungian analyst, and past President of the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University, an M.A. in clinical social work from the University of Chicago, and the diploma in analytical psychology from the Chicago Institute. A member of the editorial board of The Journal of Analytical Psychology, he is the author of Jung’s Struggle with Freud and numerous articles and book chapters on Jung and analytical psychology. His research focuses on the emergence of psychological phenomena from complex dynamic systems.

© 2011 George Hogenson
℗ 2011 CG Jung Institute of Chicago