The impact of James's Varieties of Religious Experience on Jung's work.

Summary

William James and Carl Jung both shaped modern psychology, and James's work influenced Jung's theories. This article examines their intellectual relationship, focusing on James's Varieties of Religious Experience and its impact on Jung's emphasis on subjective experience. It argues that Jung's encounter with James helped move him away from psychoanalysis and shaped his views on religious experience and the unconscious.

Study at a glance

Abstract

William James (1842-1910) is recognized as one of the main proponents of the then-emergent field of scientific psychology in the 19th century, and Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) is regarded as one of the most prolific authors within the fields of psychiatry and psychology of the 20th century. Previous studies have highlighted the practical and theoretical impact of James on the work of Jung. The present article makes use of detailed research for a deeper look at their theoretical relationship, with a focus on James's (1902/2010) Varieties of Religious Experience. This text, written in 1902, was particularly important for Jung's emphasis on fundamental subjective experience, which he evaluated in the book Psychology and Religion (Jung, 1938/1973). Moreover, we investigate important aspects of dynamic psychology developed by James, which Jung advanced in some of his works, particularly in "On the Nature of the Psyche" (Jung, 1946/1975a), an essay included in Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche. We focus on the idea that Jung's acquaintance with James led him to move away from psychoanalysis. In addition, their meeting shaped Jung's view regarding religious experience and influenced the formulation of his concept of the unconscious. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).