What are symbols symbols of? Situated action, mythological bootstrapping and the emergence of the Self

This paper begins with an overview of contemporary approaches to archetype theory and notes the radical nature of certain deductions. Some argue that there is no 'archetype-as-such' as a pre-existing entity at the core of a complex driving its formation whilst the findings of current neuroscience are calling into question one very thing on which the classical theory is built--innatism. Knox's argument for image schemas raises the question as to the extent to which archetypes can be conceived in any preformationist sense. The question is then posed--to what extent can Jung's classical theory of archetypes be read in light of these current models? The case examples Jung uses to evidence the existence of archetypes, his explications of synchronicity and his own Philemon experience are then reappraised. The conclusion is drawn that it is difficult to evidence the existence of autonomous archetypes unrelated to personal affective experience. Not only would this be expected by emergent/developmental models of archetype but it can explain many of Jung's disjunctive statements about archetype constellation; the difficulties in separating personal and collective psychic content and Jung's apparent Lamarckianism. The implications of these models for theory, clinical practice and analyst training are then offered for discussion.

Section: The New Approaches To Archetype Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

A reappraisal of classical archetype theory and its implications for theory and practice

Merchant¹

2009

“…Later, Roesler () took a similar view and specified culture and socialization as central to archetype experience. Others argued for a biological base to archetypes and hence their innate a priori status (Goodwyn , ; Maloney , ; Stevens ), whilst others emphasized aspects of Dynamic Systems Theory, self‐organization and emergentism rather than a genetic underpinning to archetypes (Jones ; Hogenson , , , , ; McDowell ; Merchant, , , ; Saunders & Skar ; Knox , , ). Interestingly, Saunders and Skar, following Jung's original interest in the complex, maintain that they occur first and that ‘archetypes’ are a label arising from categorization.…”

Section: The Preceding Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

The image schema and innate archetypes: theoretical and clinical implications

Merchant¹

2016

Based in contemporary neuroscience, Jean Knox's 2004 JAP paper 'From archetypes to reflective function' honed her position on image schemas, thereby introducing a model for archetypes which sees them as 'reliably repeated early developmental achievements' and not as genetically inherited, innate psychic structures. The image schema model is used to illustrate how the analyst worked with a patient who began life as an unwanted pregnancy, was adopted at birth and as an adult experienced profound synchronicities, paranormal/telepathic phenomena and visions. The classical approach to such phenomena would see the intense affectivity arising out of a ruptured symbiotic mother-infant relationship constellating certain archetypes which set up the patient's visions. This view is contrasted with Knox's model which sees the archetype an sich as a developmentally produced image schema underpinning the emergence of later imagery. The patient's visions can then be understood to arise from his psychoid body memory related to his traumatic conception and birth. The contemporary neuroscience which supports this view is outlined and a subsequent image schema explanation is presented. Clinically, the case material suggests that a pre-birth perspective needs to be explored in all analytic work. Other implications of Knox's image schema model are summarized.

“…It is becoming increasingly clear that meaning‐making is not, as Jung would have it, a purely internal function but rather, as Jean Knox and Hogenson point out, the ability to create meaning is dependent not only on the infant's capacity to make sense of the environment ‘…through the self‐organizing properties of the human mind’ (Knox , p. 6) but also on the immersion in the world of social and cultural meanings through the mother's capacity to attribute intentionality and significance to the child's behaviour, to ‘bootstrap’ her into the symbolic world ( Hogenson , p. 73). As Jean Knox says, referring to the work of Terence Deacon () on linguistic symbols, ‘the meaning of symbols derives from the fact that they are embedded in and cross‐refer to a network of other symbols’ (, p. 316).…”

Section: Neuroaestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Language is not however the only symbolical system in which we are immersed for, as Hogenson suggests, there is increasing evidence that cultural artefacts such as myths, symbols, and I would include works of art, can undergo some form of evolutionary development along Baldwinian lines, through their interaction with preceding symbolic systems (, pp. 74–75; , p. 333).…”

Section: Neuroaestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive aesthetics of alchemical imagery

Connolly¹

2013

Jung's contribution to the understanding of the relevance of psychology to alchemy has become increasingly invalidated by the ahistorical nature of his approach, just as his tendency to ignore the importance of cognitive aesthetics for an improved comprehension of the functions of alchemical images has prevented Jungians from further extending Jung's insight of the importance of alchemy for psychology. This paper explores the history of the development of alchemical illustrations in Western Europe from the 14(th) to the 16(th) century, tracing the emergent processes over time. It is only when we take into consideration the historical dimension and the aesthetics of alchemical imagery that it becomes possible to demonstrate how the increasing use of certain aesthetic techniques such as the disjunction and recombination of separate metaphorical elements of previous illustrations, the use of compressive combinations and the use of framing devices worked to gradually increase the cognitive function and the symbolical power of the images. If alchemy is still relevant to psychotherapy it is exactly because it helps us to understand the importance of cognitive aesthetics in our approach to the images, metaphors and narratives of our patients.