Enantiodromia: Fundamentos filosóficos da Psicologia Analítica e oposições na estrutura da psique humana

Abstract

This work aims to present the philosophical bases showed in the analytical, or complex, psychology (Silveira, 1981), of Carl Gustav Jung – a psychiatric doctor – and his other students, wives and friends. More specifically, we talk about the concept of enantiodromia (Jung, 2015), a term often associated with Jung, but previously developed in the philosophy of the pre-Socratic Heraclitus of Ephesus (Bornheim, 1998). For Heraclitus, every force needs an opposing force that moves it, just like the well-known Yin Yang of Chinese Taoism, which indicates how evil has the principle of good and good has the principle of evil (Jung, 2013, p. 136). Obviously, such a comparison only serves to illustrate the proximity of thought that exists in different cultures for the same observed fact, which will be duly explained. That said, enantiodromia, in addition to being treated as a philosophical concept, is also seen as a phenomenon. This phenomenon, as something that can be observed and analyzed by scientific methods in nature2, in the present work generates questions regarding the concrete, but also abstract, limit of it as a concept. Now, in fact, everything has its opposite, extremities that transform into becoming, as heat is recognized from the empirical fact of recognizing cold. What exists between these extremities is called becoming, the process of transformation from one state or form to another state or form that is opposite. Now, as you can see, the previous definitions explain this phenomenon in its most concrete, most observable limit, so to speak. But, as Jung himself said in the definitions of his work Psychological Types, it is necessary, to overcome any drawbacks of the overvaluation of the methodology of natural sciences, to rely on very precise concepts (Jung, 2015, p. 385). In this case, it is not a criticism of science, but of the appreciation of the scientific method as something fixed. The scientific paradigm can and should be changed as new problems arise (French, 2009). Therefore, my work is to cover a relationship that begins with Heraclitus theoretical approach to the relationship of opposites and how it relates to Jung's office work. If we remember correctly, Heraclitus was known as a philosopher of nature, as his philosophy was based on its observation. Thus, the work will be divided into three chapters. The first, obviously after the introduction of the topic, will talk about the concepts of the conscious and unconscious in the structure of the human psyche, defining here two subjects of the human individual. In the second, the cores of consciousness and unconsciousness, known as ego and self, will be understood. It is important to separate them, as will be seen. In the third, the deepest archetypes of Jung's collective unconscious will be treated, animus and anima, known by the masculine and feminine characteristics determined by the Western human being. All chapters are linked, in a sense, by the concept of enantiodromia due to the high layers of opposition that exist beyond what has been described here. Finally, Jung says, also in his definitions in the work Psychological Types, that enantiodromia is a term he uses to designate unconscious oppositions to the course of time (Jung, 2015, p. 405). In this case, I am talking about occurrences in which a person takes a certain position throughout their life, but unconsciously creates an equally powerful opposition. For example, it is said by Jung that Nietzsche deified the German artist named Richard Wagner, but upon being disappointed in him upon discovering that he was an anti-Semite, he took a completely hateful and disgusting position against him, an extremely opposite and very sudden position. However, this work wishes to demonstrate how enantiodromia permeates Jung's works beyond the way the psychotherapist indicated in 1921, when he was still young, as there are oppositions present in the concepts known as conscious and unconscious, ego and self, personal unconscious and collective unconscious, anima and animus, among others that are not pointed out as enantiodromia directly, but are layers of opposing forces in the structure of the psyche that maintain a balance in its full functioning of what we consider the mind of human individuals, men and women.