In this novel re-examination of the archetype construct, philosopher Jon Mills and psychiatrist Erik Goodwyn engage in spirited dialogue on the origins, nature, and scope of what archetypes actually constitute, their relation to the greater questions of psyche and worldhood, and their relevance for Jungian studies and analytical psychology today.

Arguably the most definitive feature of Jung's metapsychology is his theory of archetypes. It is the fulcrum on which his analytical depth psychology rests. With recent trends in post-Jungian and neo-Jungian perspectives that have embraced developmental, relational, social justice, and postmodern paradigms, classical archetype theory has largely become a drowning genre. Despite the archetypal school of James Hillman and his contemporaries, and the archetype debates that captured our attention over two decades ago, contemporary Jungians are preoccupied with the lived reality of the existential subject and the personal unconscious over the collective transpersonal forces derived from archaic ontology.

Archetypal Ontology will be of interest to psychoanalysts, philosophers, transpersonal psychologists, cultural theorists, anthropologists, religious scholars, and scholars in many disciplines in the arts and humanities, analytical psychology, and post-Jungian studies.

Author: Jon Mills, Erik Goodwyn
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 03/28/2023
Series: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis
Pages: 140
Weight: 0.5lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.33d
ISBN: 9781032394800

About the Author

Jon Mills, PsyD, PhD, ABPP, is a Canadian philosopher and psychoanalyst. He is Honorary Professor at the Department of Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK, and a faculty member in the postgraduate programs in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, and the New School for Existential Psychoanalysis, USA. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship, and the author and/or editor of over 30 books in philosophy, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies.

Erik Goodwyn, MD, is Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, WWAMI University of Washington School of Medicine-Billings Montana affiliate. He has authored numerous publications in the field of consciousness studies, Jungian psychology, neuroscience, mythology, philosophy, anthropology, and the psychology of religion, including 5 books. He is co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Jungian Studies.