Cook Jung and Kierkegaard

Researching a Kindred Spirit in the Shadows
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-317-19115-5
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 258 Seiten

Reihe: Research in Analytical Psychology and Jungian Studies

Jung and Kierkegaard identifies authenticity, suffering and self-deception as key overlapping themes that connect Carl Jung’s work intimately with that of Søren Kierkegaard. There is, in the thinking of Jung and Kierkegaard, the fundamental belief in the healing potential of a religious outlook, for both these pioneering psychologists of the human condition identify and express psychological healing in terms of the religious. The significance of such similarities of thinking between Kierkegaard and Jung are fully explored within this text in order to bridge the gap between Kierkegaard’s brand of existential Christian psychology and Jung’s own unique philosophy.

Given the similarity of their work and of their personal biographies, in particular, the relationship that each had with his father, we might expect Jung to have found in Kierkegaard a kindred spirit. Yet this was not the case, as Jung viewed Kierkegaard with great scorn. That there exists such a strong comparison and extensive overlap in the life and thought of these towering figures of psychology and philosophy leads us to question why it is that Jung so strongly rejected Kierkegaard. Cook argues that such hostility is particularly fascinating given the striking similarity Jung’s own analytical psychology bears to the Christian psychology upheld by Kierkegaard.

This book fills a very real gap in Jungian scholarship, by providing the first attempt to undertake a direct comparison between Jung and Kierkegaard’s models of development. This makes the book essential reading for academics and postgraduate students with an interest in Jungian and Kierkegaard scholarship, as well as psychology, philosophy and religion more generally.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cook, Amy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse Psychoanalyse (C.G. Jung)
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part one

Preface

A holy kind of healing: an introduction

Some Striking Similarities: Personal and Psychological

Introducing Kierkegaard

Presenting Jung

The Wounds of the Father: A Shared Inheritance

An Unconventional Christianity

Part Two

Jung and Religion

The Therapeutic Value of Faith

Grounding ethics in Spirit: The Medium of Self-Creation

Suffering and the Pain of Personal Growth: Perrissem, nisi perissem

Authenticity: the creation of One’s genuine self

That Religious Neurotic: Kierkegaard on the couch

Part Three

The nature of a Kierkegaardian neurosis: Jung’s reception of Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche: Polar Opposites in the mind of Jung

Summary Of Discussion

Conclusion

Epilogue – Jung and Kierkegaard: A legacy considered

Über Autor(innen)

Amy Cook graduated from Aberdeen university in 2005 with a degree in history. She then went on to study a Master's degree in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis at Essex University, before studying another Master's in Jungian and post-Jungian studies. After a brief spell teaching overseas, Amy returned to the UK and began a PhD at Bangor University. She currently works as a researcher in the field of social sciences in North wales.