So I find myself struggling still with this archetype concept and exactly how exactly these archetypes influence a person. How many archetypes are there? Did Jung attempt to quantify them or is that somewhat against his work (I'm leading toward the latter as he seems reluctant to be overly specific about particular archetypes and to walk a fine line between describing one enough to show its existence and becoming over prescriptive with how it manifests).
I think I may buy Freud's argument that we like distruction more than I buy this whole notion of archetypes... but I worry that I am missing part of Jung's argument.
I was also struggling with archetype concept. It's too abstract. I thought that there are a lot of archetypes, however, it was hard to figure out where it is from.. I felt that Jung believed that those are internalized in us and people negotiate with different archetype through their lives but it's still confusing. Returing to psychoanalytic theory, it made me hard again...
ReplyDeleteI am much relieved to find that I am not the only one struggling with the archetype concept. And I am also struggling with the religious and Greek mythology examples because I have no idea about any of them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am wrong, but I have this impression that archetypes are figures, a person-like thing. Jung mentions that "When a situation occurs which corresponds to a given archetype, that archetype becomes activated and a compulsive appears, which, like an instinctual drive, gains its way against all reason and will, or else produces a conflict of pathological dimensions, that is to say, a neurosis." How can a situation correspond to a given archetype, for example, the great mother? In addition, I wonder is the "compulsive" conscious or unconscious?