Selected Writings

by C.G. Jung, Anthony Storr (editor)

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), a physician and psychoanalyst, was Freud's most prominent follower, but his disagreement with the Freudian theory that personality formation is rooted in sexuality caused a permanent break between the two great psychologists. Jung's analysis of dream symbolism led him to develop the concept of archetypes and the collective unconscious. His revolutionary work provides fundamental insights into the function of dreams and psychic symbols in creativity, as well as a greater appreciation of the mystery at the heart of existence. Included in this volume, following an introductory essay by Robert Coles, are the following works by Jung:

Two Kinds of Thinking and The Miller Families: Anamnesis from Symbols of Transformation>

Synchronicity

The Undiscovered Self

Five Chapters from Aion>

The Phenomonology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales

Excerpts from On the Nature of the Psyche

On the Nature of Dreams

On Life After Death

Late Thoughts

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy

447 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[Michael Graeme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Dreams Memories and Reflections, this selection of Jung's "essential" writings is the best place to start in uncovering the man and his ideas.

[Mark]

I almost rated this but that wouldn't have been honest. My only vague memory of this is that reading Jung's selections at least gave me an introduction to his concept of the collective unconscious, which was very appealing to me in its notion that we all have a sort of neural Web that binds us together.

[Jafar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archetypes, collected unconscious, and synchronicity? Sound like new age hogwash to me. The writing isn't bad, but Jung was in fierce competition with Freud to see who can exctract more theories directly out of their rectums.

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Conheça todas as teorias,domine todas as técnicas,mas ao tocar uma alma humana, seja apenas outra alma humana”