The Individuation Process in Post-Modernity

C. G. Jung defined individuation as the process of differentiation from the general collective psychology—from the norms and the values of the society in which the individual is immersed. Accordingly, individuation occurs in relation to the culture of the time and the zeitgeist. During the second half of life, the process, according to Jung, takes the shape of a lifetime dynamic dialogue between the ego and the unconscious contents, aiming to reach psychic completeness. One of the participants in this dialogue is the ego, and since the ego necessarily develops inside a culture, this part of the individuation process also occurs in relation to the culture of the time. We are now fully immersed in post-modernity, and the zeitgeist is represented by the society of technology. In relation to this totally new scenario, do we still deal with the same individuation process described by Jung? How many of our patients confront themselves with the Self and its symbols, stepping toward some kind of psychic totality? This article hints at different forms of individuation reflective of our post-modern technologically dominated times, and it touches upon the concept of the end of meaning and the “death of God.” Considering this epochal passage, we might be compelled to outline a further form of individuation: that of a conscious revolt of the ego toward its basic ingredients (will to power, primary narcissism, and need of identity) and toward the old image of the Self, so similar to that God that should be dead.     

On Impediments to the Process of Individuation

A clinical case is presented at length with a view to understanding how the healthy fear of incest, which favours the process of individuation, may come into conflict with the fear of leaving childhood and becoming adult. Among the consequences of this conflict is a sort of paralysis or impediment to living which may be converted into hate. The inquiry mainly regards anxiety, fear, hate and aggression as factors which conspire in holding an individual back from his path in life. The affects are taken into consideration in accordance with Fromm's theory of aggression and his ''syndrome of decay'' diagnostic scheme, which results from the confluence and interaction of incestuous symbiosis, narcissism and destructiveness. Emphasis is placed on mechanisms of repression and splitting of hate not employed in aggression. Repressed and split hate may sustain para-hallucinatory symptoms and produce terror. This view offers an explanation of the perturbing symptomatology that afflicted the patient presented here and also shows the power of hate as a bond, as concomitant cause of the mother fixation and as obstacle to the process of individuation.     

The Mystery in the Kitchen: Culinary Creativity

This article highlights the impact of technology on the ability of individuals to be creative within society. The role of computers in the creative act is explored from a broad perspective to allow for the discovery of general principles of creativity. Insight into the barriers that individuals must overcome to function creatively in the information age are then presented. To this end, the process by which creativity occurs is reviewed, and the consequences of the development of technology and the impact of computers on creativity are discussed. Examples of computers used to facilitate creativity are then illustrated. Finally, the necessary conditions for creativity to exist in society are highlighted, and suggestions are offered for the coexistence of creativity and technology in the future.     

Longing for the Feminine: Reflections on Love,Sexual Orientation,Individuation, and the Soul

This article is a collaboration that represents several years of dialogue about our topic, alongside the individual depth work done by each of us to overcome the negativities that often poison collaborations and feeling connections: envy, enmeshment, and passivity. It is the unique expression of two women working together in a co-creative process pulsed by feminine principles. Diane is a Jungian analyst and has spent her life close to the unconscious. Fran is a writer, educator, and lifelong student of mystical paths. The article gives an account of Diane's longing for the divine feminine and the particular meaning it has for her as a lesbian in this time of global upheaval. In particular, her story highlights the psychic suffering that individuals go through when their same-sex attractions and love orientation are judged as psychologically “immature” or religiously “sinful.” Neither Christian-based “conversion therapy” nor Jungian analysis turned Diane into a heterosexual woman. Her story reveals the benefit of Jung's depth psychology even as it underscores the singularity of every person's individuation process. The article's unusual format is a tandem of Diane's first-person sharing of her soul's journey and Fran's witnessing of the journey's profound significance. We found that both voices were needed. Truth requires not only the one who lives a journey with courage but also the one who witnesses it with a loving heart. Ultimately, we see the personal journeys of gays and lesbians as significant to the larger context of the evolution of human consciousness.     

On the Relationship Between Naturalistic Semantics and Individuation Criteria for Terms in a Language of Thought

Naturalistically minded philosophers hope to identify a privileged nonsemantic relation that holds between a mental representation m and that which m represents, a relation whose privileged status underwrites the assignment of reference to m. The naturalist can accomplish this task only if she has in hand a nonsemantic criterion for individuating mental representations: it would be question-begging for the naturalist to characterize m, for the purpose of assigning content, as 'the representation with such and such content'. If we individuate mental representations using the tools of dynamical systems theory, we find that a given mental representation, characterized nonsemantically, emerges in the cognitive system as the result of causal interactions between the subject and her environment. At least for the most basic of our mental representations, I argue that the dynamical systems-based approach to individuation increases the plausibility of a theory that assigns reference as a function of the subject's causal history. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Individuation of Actions

I argue against a view of the individuation of actions endorsed most notably by Hornsby and Davidson. This is the view that in, for example, Anscombe's case of the pumping man, we have a single action which can be described, variously, as a pumping, a poisoning and so on. I argue that, even in the area of the standard arguments against this view, such as that based on the logic of 'by' and the argument from temporal dimensions, the case against the Davidson-Hornsby view has not been made as strong as it ought to have been. I show how those standard arguments can be strengthened; and I argue that the principal considerations adduced in support of the view do not in fact lend it the support that they have been widely thought to lend it. I conclude that the view should be rejected.     

个体化概念辨析

个体化过程是当代儿童青少年发展与教育研究中的重要课题。然而,由于该研究领域处于持续发展变化之中,目前研究者关于个体化概念的看法存在着诸多分歧。文章从个体化理论及概念涵义的发展、个体化测量及操作性定义的发展两个角度对目前研究中的个体化概念进行了分析和总结,在此基础上对现有概念进行了整合：个体化是个体在认知与情感等领域中,在逐渐形成亲子联结的新形式的同时,不断发展独立自主品质的过程。文章还对个体化与相关概念之间的关系进行了辨析。     

从盖梯尔问题的解决看真之理论的转变

传统符合论的真之定义存在的致命缺陷已广为人知。盖梯尔问题的产生与传统真之概念存在着某种深层次的关联,从陈晓平教授的语境主义解决方案出发,分析了真之概念的实用主义特征和与之相关的多元性特征。从真概念的多义性和单义性的矛盾入手,分析了他所提出的"T′模式"、"语言性事实"等关键性概念,进而对其"真之符合多元论"做出评价。     

Mysteries of the Psychoanalytic Process: Reflections on Chaos,Complexity, and Emergence

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - Psychoanalysis is inherently messy and mysterious. The mysteries of the psychoanalytic process are viewed through the lens of chaos and complexity theory....     

系统论指导个体化肿瘤综合治疗

从系统论的理论出发,指出对于肿瘤的综合治疗,应该强调整体性和个体化的原则,在进行恶性肿瘤的综合治疗中,必须考虑具体患者的具体病情.     

系统论指导个体化肿瘤综合治疗

从系统论的理论出发,指出对于肿瘤的综合治疗,应该强调整体性和个体化的原则,在进行恶性肿瘤的综合治疗中,必须考虑具体患者的具体病情。