- Colchester, United Kingdom
Roderick Main
University of Essex, Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, Faculty Member
Carl Gustav Jung’s (1875-1961) concept of synchronicity – designating the experience of meaningful coincidence and the implied principle of acausal connection through meaning – has been extensively discussed and deployed within the field... more
Carl Gustav Jung’s (1875-1961) concept of synchronicity – designating the experience of meaningful coincidence and the implied principle of acausal connection through meaning – has been extensively discussed and deployed within the field of analytical psychology. However, there has been little success in integrating the concept into frameworks of thought beyond that of analytical psychology or operationalising it within non-Jungian programmes of research. In this article I explore the relationship of synchronicity to holistic thought as one of the more promising directions in which synchronicity could gain greater purchase within wider academic and intellectual culture. The article takes its starting point from the view that Jung’s psychological model is itself a richly articulated form of holistic thought, which would repay study in relation to its core holistic ideas, its affinities with contemporaneous currents of holism, and its influence on subsequent holism. For such a project...
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Although he was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, C.G. Jung (1875–1961) did not extensively present his novel concept of synchronicity (meaningful acausal connection) in terms of clinical observations and reflections. It remained for... more
Although he was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, C.G. Jung (1875–1961) did not extensively present his novel concept of synchronicity (meaningful acausal connection) in terms of clinical observations and reflections. It remained for subsequent analysts to follow Jung's pioneering work with more clinically focused discussions. In order to take stock of some of the main trends within this work, this paper
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... Image of Hexagram 34. (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 483) It is then left to the individualuser of the oracle to allow the meanings to combine in a way that resonates with his or her situation. Doing this, we are told, "is... more
... Image of Hexagram 34. (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 483) It is then left to the individualuser of the oracle to allow the meanings to combine in a way that resonates with his or her situation. Doing this, we are told, "is a living process. ...
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Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity.... more
Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity. Part III: Synchronicity Applied. Synchronicity and Jung's Critique of Science, Religion, and Society. Synchronicity and the Spiritual Revolution. Conclusion. The Rupture of Time.
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With characteristic rigour, erudition, and clarity Robert Segal develops in his paper a most ingenious argument that, if accepted, has unsettling implications for understanding Jung. He argues (especially pp. 378–81) that, for those who... more
With characteristic rigour, erudition, and clarity Robert Segal develops in his paper a most ingenious argument that, if accepted, has unsettling implications for understanding Jung. He argues (especially pp. 378–81) that, for those who accept them, social scientific explanations of belief in God make it improbable that God exists. The social sciences provide naturalistic explanations. If one accepts that one’s belief in God has a natural cause, such as in Freud’s theory a projected wish, then one must also accept that any supernatural cause of the belief (such as God’s existence) is redundant and, moreover, that one’s holding of the belief is based on faulty reasoning (such as the error of projection). God’s existence is made improbable because it is unlikely that a redundant cause (God) postulated on the basis of faulty reasoning (projection) actually exists. Since Segal includes psychology among the social sciences (p. 363) and claims that Jung aspires to make his psychology as scientific as a natural science (p. 364), he can treat Jung’s psychological explanation of belief in God (that it stems from projection of an archetypal God-image) as a naturalistic social scientific explanation and so can apply to it the argument summarized above. Segal’s professed aim in his paper is mainly to show that ‘Jung was wrong to deny that the psychology of religion can bear on the issue of the existence of God’ (p. 362). However, the bearing that Segal shows psychology – or any other social science – can have is negative only: reducing the likelihood that God exists. He does not draw attention to the contradiction that this exposes between the atheistic implications of Jung’s professional work and Jung’s private belief that God exists (affirmed by Segal on p. 374). In this brief response I shall suggest that some of the claims on which Segal bases his argument need to be qualified. I acknowledge that the evidence in Jung’s work to which Segal appeals does, on its own, tend towards the conclusions he draws. But I think one can point to other evidence, also in Jung’s work, which indicates that Jung, rather than being outright split between his professional and private views, was simply more ambivalent than Segal depicts about the relationship between psychology and philosophy.
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... David Tacey, Jung in the Academy: Devotions and Resis-tances, with responses by Roger Brooke, Renos Papadopoulos, and Ann ... anger and destruction'), Pygmalion ('mimesis where art becomes life through desire'),... more
... David Tacey, Jung in the Academy: Devotions and Resis-tances, with responses by Roger Brooke, Renos Papadopoulos, and Ann ... anger and destruction'), Pygmalion ('mimesis where art becomes life through desire'), Hermes, Aphrodite, Persephone, or Dionysosthen the ...
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In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have... more
In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have sought to address this by establishing greater parity between secular and religious perspectives. This paper suggests that C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, which hitherto has been largely ignored by social theory, may have something to contribute on this issue as it can be understood coherently both empirically, without reference to transcendent reality, and metaphysically, with reference to transcendent reality. It is argued that, despite his denials of any metaphysical intent, Jung does in fact engage in metaphysics and that together the empirical and metaphysical vectors of his thought result in a rich and distinctive double perspective. This dual secular and religious perspective can be seen as part of Jung's own critique of the hegemony of naturalism and secularism, which for Jung has profound social as well as clinical relevance. The concern and approach that Habermas and Taylor share with Jung on this issue may provide some grounds for increased dialogue between analytical psychology and the social sciences.
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In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jurgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have... more
In recent years a number of prominent social theorists, including Jurgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, have voiced concern about the hegemony of naturalistic, secular assumptions in the social sciences, and in their different ways have sought to address this by establishing greater parity between secular and religious perspectives. This paper suggests that C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, which hitherto has been largely ignored by social theory, may have something to contribute on this issue as it can be understood coherently both empirically, without reference to transcendent reality, and metaphysically, with reference to transcendent reality. It is argued that, despite his denials of any metaphysical intent, Jung does in fact engage in metaphysics and that together the empirical and metaphysical vectors of his thought result in a rich and distinctive double perspective. This dual secular and religious perspective can be seen as part of Jung's own critique of the hegemony of naturalism and secularism, which for Jung has profound social as well as clinical relevance. The concern and approach that Habermas and Taylor share with Jung on this issue may provide some grounds for increased dialogue between analytical psychology and the social sciences.
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Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity.... more
Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity. Part III: Synchronicity Applied. Synchronicity and Jung's Critique of Science, Religion, and Society. Synchronicity and the Spiritual Revolution. Conclusion. The Rupture of Time.
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This essay reviews the recent book by Harald Atmanspacher and Dean Rickles, Dual‐Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning. The essay aims to contextualize and clarify the book’s core argument about the theoretical and empirical... more
This essay reviews the recent book by Harald Atmanspacher and Dean Rickles, Dual‐Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning. The essay aims to contextualize and clarify the book’s core argument about the theoretical and empirical fruitfulness of decompositional dual‐aspect monism as an intervention into the mind‐body problem that ascribes a pivotal role to meaning. The variants of dual‐aspect monism discussed were developed primarily by physicists, but the essay also highlights the crucial contributions to the argument by the one non‐physicist involved, Carl Gustav Jung, as well as noting the significance of dual‐aspect monism and of the reviewed book for analytical psychology.
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ABSTRACT
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Retour page d'accueil Chercher, sur, Tous les supports. Retour page d'accueil, Plus de 1.624.000 de titres à notre catalogue ! Notice. ...
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Jung, Deleuze, and the problematic whole David Henderson, Christian McMillan, and Roderick Main Proposed panel (1.5 hours = 3 x 20-minute papers + 30 minutes discussion) for presentation at ‘The Spectre of the “Other” in Jungian... more
Jung, Deleuze, and the problematic whole David Henderson, Christian McMillan, and Roderick Main Proposed panel (1.5 hours = 3 x 20-minute papers + 30 minutes discussion) for presentation at ‘The Spectre of the “Other” in Jungian Psychology’, 2017 Multidisciplinary Conference of Jungian Psychology, Cape Town, South Africa, 27-30 July 2017 This panel is based on work undertaken by members of ‘“One world”: logical and ethical implications of holism’, a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) ( https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com ; http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/projects?ref=AH/N003853/1). The project aims to determine key strands of thinking underpinning contemporary holism, especially within the field of psychotherapy, and what ethical implications might most reasonably be drawn from such thinking. It focuses on the influential but contrasting concepts of the whole in the works of the depth psychologist C. G. Jung and the post-structuralist philosophe...
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In this paper I shall present and comment on an extensive series of synchronistic experiences in which spiritual meaning is conspicuously present. I shall bring this spiritual meaning into focus both phenomenologically, through discussing... more
In this paper I shall present and comment on an extensive series of synchronistic experiences in which spiritual meaning is conspicuously present. I shall bring this spiritual meaning into focus both phenomenologically, through discussing some of the experiencers' own responses to their experiences, and analytically, through teasing out some of the spiritual aspects arguably implicit in synchronicity as such. This neglected spiritual meaning which I hope to elicit is the Sinn that I would like to see put back into synchronicity.
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Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity.... more
Introduction. A Radical Challenge. Part I: The Theory of Synchronicity. Synchronicity and Analytical Psychology. Intellectual Difficulties. Part II: Synchronicity in Context. Sources and Influences. Religion, Science, and Synchronicity. Part III: Synchronicity Applied. Synchronicity and Jung's Critique of Science, Religion, and Society. Synchronicity and the Spiritual Revolution. Conclusion. The Rupture of Time.
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Routledge
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This international, interdisciplinary conference will explore the possibilities and problems to which the concept of holism gives rise, both academically and in practice. Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of... more
This international, interdisciplinary conference will explore the possibilities and problems to which the concept of holism gives rise, both academically and in practice. Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of holism being invoked, as in holistic science, holistic spirituality, holistic healthcare, and holistic education. While there are different varieties of holism, each case implies a perspective in which the whole of a system is considered to be more important than the sum of its parts. Advocates of holism associate it with desirable qualities such as inclusion, integration, balance, and wider vision and champion it as a remedy for the fragmentation that is considered to beset the modern world. Critics argue that holism is vague, erases differences, and, by subordinating individual elements to a superior whole, ultimately leads to totalitarianism.
Research Interests: Psychoanalysis, Holistic Medical Practice, Jungian psychology, Jungian psychology (Religion), Jung, and 22 moreJungian and post-Jungian psychology, Deleuze, Psychoanalysis and religion, Holistic Education, Holistic Nursing, Carl G. Jung, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Holistic medicine, Psychoanalysis and Politics, Holism, Holistic Approaches, Holistic Health, Politics and Philosophy of Psychoanalysis., Holistic child development, Carl Jung, The role of Creative Arts and Music Education can play in a holistic educational paradigm to ease the transition for preschoolers moving into a more formal school setting, Holistic, Deleuze and Guattari, Contiental Philosophy, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Jungian Analytical Psychology, and Holistic Healing
This international, interdisciplinary conference will explore the possibilities and problems to which the concept of holism gives rise, both academically and in practice. Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of... more
This international, interdisciplinary conference will explore the possibilities and problems to which the concept of holism gives rise, both academically and in practice.
Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of holism being invoked, as in holistic sciences, holistic spirituality, holistic healthcare, and holistic education. While there are different varieties of holism, each case implies a perspective in which the whole of a system is considered to be more important than the sum of its parts.
Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of holism being invoked, as in holistic sciences, holistic spirituality, holistic healthcare, and holistic education. While there are different varieties of holism, each case implies a perspective in which the whole of a system is considered to be more important than the sum of its parts.