Plato and Carl Jung: Two Philosophers
How Plato's "Perfect Form" Resembles Jung's Theory of Archetype
Nov 9, 2008
All Greek philosophies relied upon a notion of a higher organizing power. This need to perceive the universe as orderly was critical to the development of Greek thought.
Beginning with the natural universe, if there was no organizing power for the trees, rocks, stars and planets, there could be no order for the inner man. Without a conception of order, the world would indeed be a random and chaotic place.
Plato's Absolute Form
However, acceptance of the notion of an ordered universe, inner or outer, depended upon whether the idea could be empirically verified. Plato’s conviction of Absolute Form was that of a sort of template of perfection pre-existent for every idea and thing in the natural world.
This belief in a transcendent and abiding order offset the notion of philosophers such as Heraclitus that the universe existed in constant change and flux. These changeless Forms, argued Plato, transcended the empirical, sensory world. However, in order for his theory to be taken seriously, it needed to be subjected to the newly popular methods of systematic inquiry.
Jung's Archetype and the Collective Unconscious
It is interesting that Carl Jung’s idea of the Collective Unconscious is so in alignment with these earlier ideas from Plato. The notion of Absolute Forms, for example, along with Jung's methods of systematic inquiry foreshadow Jung’s theories of archetype and the analytic process investigation.
According to Jung, the Collective Unconscious exists as a kind of repository for dreams, archetypes, symbols, and myths. Yet like Plato before him, Jung’s intuitively derived understanding needed empirical verification if it was to be taken seriously. Thus, in his autobiographical memoir, Memories, Dreams, and Reflection, Jung sets out to explain exactly how he arrived at his notion of the Collective Unconscious and archetype through his journey of self-observation.
Analytic Investigation Becomes Self-Inquiry
This inquiry gave Jung the confidence he sought to apply the same methods of inquiry to his clients coming to him for analysis. Thus, it was only in the aftermath of intuitive leaps of understanding, that Jung set about to verify, as did Plato, through now empirically derived evidence, the steps of systematic self-inquiry.
Not only did Plato’s ideas serve as a precursor to Jungian thought, they lay the foundation for the notion of an empirically verifiable transcendent reality; likewise, they gave rational support to the already existing belief in the gods and the Christian faith to follow.
Resources: Tarnas, R. (1993), The Passion of the Western Mind; Ellenberger, H.F. (1970), The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry.
For more understanding of Archetypes and Carl Jung, see my other articles. Check back for articles on the Archetype and the Collective Unconscious.
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