Jung, the Philologist: the role of Classical Philology in the foundations of Analytical Psychology

• Grant number: 22/04222-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: July 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Isabella Tardin Cardoso
• Grantee: Fabiana Lopes da Silveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/05981-1 - Legendary and unreachable: Jung's refiguration of Philemon, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Shamdasani (2005) argues that depth psychology has been the victim of a myth, according to which it would have been one of the "solitary creations" of S. Freud (1856-1939) and C. G. Jung (1875-1961). This project will challenge this notion and investigate an underexplored aspect in Jung's works, namely the role played by Classical Philology in the articulation of his ideas. This investigation is aligned with recent scholarship that challenges misconceptions regarding Jung and his work, such as that Jung would have derived most of his psychology from Freud, and that Jung would be a mere occultist whose work lacks any sort of scientific rigor. Although the prominence of Greco-Roman mythology in Jung's work is widely acknowledged, little attention has been drawn to the extent to which Jung was familiar with the work and methods of a series of prominent philologists of his time. Among such philologists was Kerényi (1897-1973), with whom Jung published two works about archetypes of the collective unconscious. This collaboration in the presentation of some of the most influential concepts promoted by Jung suggests that Classical Philology had a crucial role in the development of one of the most innovative scientific disciplines of the 20th century. This project intends to examine the nature of such role and, by doing so, challenge the view that Jung's works did not have the slightest degree of academic orientation. Based mostly on Jung's Symbole der Wandlung (1952), Einführung in das Wesen der Mythologie (1941), Von den Wurzeln des Bewusstseins (1954) and Das Rote Buch (2009), this project will investigate: Jung and the Anglo-Germanic Philology of the turn of the twentieth century; Jungian archetypes and Greco-Roman mythology; and Jung and language. (AU)