Critique of Psychoanalysis Cg Jung

CRITIQUE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

from The Collected Works of C. G. Jung VOLUMES 4 and, 18 BOLLINGEN SERIES XX

CRITIQUE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

C. G. JUNG

TRANSLATED BY R. F. C. HULL

BOLLINGEN SERIES

First Princeton JBollingen Paperback Edition, /975

Extracted from Freud and Psychoanalysis, Vol. 4, and The Symbolic Life, Vol. 18, both in the Collected Works of C. G. Jung. All the volumes comprising the Collected Works constitute number XX in Bollingen Series, under the editorship of Herbert Read (d. 1968), Michael Fordham, and Gerhard Adler; executive edi tor, William McGuire.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise disposed of without the publisher's consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUE CARD NUMBER: 74-5639 ISBN 0-691-01801-4 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, N. J. EDITORIAL NOTE

For about six years, from 1907 to 1912, Jung practiced and wrote and presumably thought as a psychoanalyst, in close as sociation with Freud.1 The work that was to be his major state ment, Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido, proved instead to be a declaration of heresy, or at any rate of independence. When its relatively brief Part I appeared in 1911, Freud com plimented it; but the very extensive Part II, published the next year, left no question of Jung's position, though he still pro fessed himself an adherent of the psychoanalytic movement. In autumn 1912, he visited the United States to lecture in various cities. His chief appearance was at the Medical School of Ford- ham University, in the Bronx, New York, where he gave a series of nine lectures as an extension course to doctors—"a critical account of the development of the theory of psychoanalysis," he wrote Freud upon returning. "Naturally I also made room for those of my views which deviate in places from the hitherto existing conceptions, particularly in regard to the libido theory. I found that my version of psychoanalysis won over many people who until now had been put off by the problem of sexuality in neurosis. . . . I shall take pleasure in sending you a copy of my lectures in the hope that you will gradually come to accept certain innovations already hinted at in my libido paper. . . . I hope this letter will make it plain that I feel no need at all to break off personal relations with you."2 The break never theless came, scarcely two months later. Freud's last letter was written on 27 January 1913. The chief content of the present volume is the Fordham Lectures, entitled "The Theory of Psychoanalysis" though ac tually a presentation of Jung's version of psychoanalysis and

1 See The Psychoanalytic Years and (from an earlier phase of Jung's work) The Psychology of Dementia Praecox, both Princeton/Bollingen paperbacks. 2 The Freud/Jung Letters, ed. William McGuire (1974), 323 J of 11 Nov. 1912. EDITORIAL NOTE a criticism of the orthodox view. It is followed by four shorter works that carry forward Jung's critique and the evolution of his own system. In the paper "Psychoanalysis and Neurosis" (actually first read also in New York in 1912, as was recently discovered) and the other two of 1913, Jung's term is still "psy choanalysis"; by 1916, when he published his Collected Papers, the term "analytical psychology" had become current for the doctrines of the Zurich School, and Jung's prefaces to that col lection pursue the reformulation of his theories.3 The volume also contains two later critical papers, of 1930 and 1931, and a statement written to the New York Times in 1953 rehearsing, forty years after the break, Jung's critique of psychoanalysis.4 W.M.

3 For other critiques of the early period, see (1) Psychology of the Unconscious, tr. from Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido by B. M. Hinkle (1916, out of print)—in 1952, Jung brought out a thoroughgoing revision whose tr. is entitled Symbols of Transformation (CW 5); and (2) Two Essays in Analytical Psychology (CW 7), including the early versions in an appendix (Princeton/Bollingen paper back). ι Other critical comments on psychoanalysis occur frequently throughout Jung's later writings. TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NOTE V The Theory of Psychoanalysis ι Shorter Papers General Aspects of Psychoanalysis 147 Psychoanalysis and Neurosis 161 Some Crucial Points in Psychoanalysis 170 Prefaces to "Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology" 208 Introduction to Kranefeldt's "Secret Ways of the Mind" 216 Freud and Jung: Contrasts 225 Appendix: Answers to Questions on Freud 233

BIBLIOGRAPHY 239

INDEX 245

THE THEORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

[Written originally in German under the title Versuch einer Darstellung der psychoanalytischen Theorie and translated (by Dr. and Mrs. M. D. Eder and Miss Mary Moltzer) for delivery as a series of lectures under the present title at the medical school of Fordham University, New York, in September 1912. The Ger man text was published in the Jahrbuch fiir psychoanalytische und psycho· pathologische Forschungen (Vienna and Leipzig), V (1913; reprinted as a book the same year); the English, in five issues of the Psychoanalytic Review (New York): I (1913/14) 1-4 and II (1915) : 1. The latter was then republished in the Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series, No. 19 (New York, 1915). The analysis of a child in the last chapter had been previously presented as "t)ber Psychoanalyse beim Kinde" at the First International Congress of Pedagogy, Brussels, August 1911, and printed in the proceedings of the Congress (Brussels, 1912), II, 332-43. [A second edition of the German text, with no essential alterations, was pub lished in 1955 (Zurich). The present translation is made from this edition in consultation with the previous English version. [The text of the 1913 and 1955 editions in German is uninterrupted by head ings, but at the author's request the original division into nine lectures (ascer tained from an examination of the manuscript) has here been preserved. This arrangement differs from that of the previous English version, which is divided into ten lectures; the chapter and section headings there introduced have in general been retained, with some modifications. A number of critical passages inserted at a later stage into the original manuscript and included in the German editions were omitted from the previous English version, together with the foot notes. In the present version these passages are given in pointed brackets (). —EDITORS.]

FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION

In these lectures I have attempted to reconcile my practical ex periences in psychoanalysis with the existing theory, or rather, with the approaches to such a theory. It is really an attempt to outline my attitude to the guiding principles which my hon oured teacher Sigmund Freud has evolved from the experience of many decades. Since my name is associated with psychoanal ysis, and for some time I too have been the victim of the whole sale condemnation of this movement, it will perhaps be asked with astonishment how it is that I am now for the first time defining my theoretical position. When, some ten years ago, it came home to me what a vast distance Freud had already trav elled beyond the bounds of contemporary knowledge of psycho- pathological phenomena, especially the psychology of complex mental processes, I did not feel in a position to exercise any real criticism. I did not possess the courage of those pundits who, by reason of their ignorance and incompetence, consider themselves justified in making "critical" refutations. I thought one must first work modestly for years in this field before one might dare to criticize. The unfortunate results of premature and superficial criticism have certainly not been lacking. Yet the great majority of the critics missed the mark as much with their indignation as with their technical ignorance. Psychoanalysis continued to flourish undisturbed and did not trouble itself about the unscientific chatter that buzzed around it. As every one knows, this tree has waxed mightily, and not in one hemi sphere only, but alike in Europe and America. Official critics meet with no better success than the Proktophantasmist in Faust, who laments in the Walpurgisnacht: Preposterous! You still intend to stay? Vanish at oncel You've been explained away. The critics have omitted to take it to heart that everything that exists has sufficient right to its own existence, and that this FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS holds for psychoanalysis as well. We will not fall into the error of our opponents, neither ignoring their existence nor denying their right to exist. But this enjoins upon us the duty of apply ing a just criticism ourselves, based on a proper knowledge of the facts. To me it seems that psychoanalysis stands in need of this weighing-up from inside. It has been wrongly suggested that my attitude signifies a "split" in the psychoanalytic movement. Such schisms can only exist in matters of faith. But psychoanalysis is concerned with knowledge and its ever-changing formulations. I have taken as my guiding principle William James's pragmatic rule: "You must bring out of each word its practical cash-value, set it at work within the stream of your experience. It appears less as a solution, then, than as a program for more work, and more par ticularly as an indication of the ways in which existing realities may be changed. Theories thus become instruments, not an swers to enigmas, in which we can rest. We don't lie back upon them, we move forward, and, on occasion, make nature over again by their aid." 1 In the same way, my criticism does not proceed from aca demic arguments, but from experiences which have forced themselves on me during ten years of serious work in this field. I know that my own experience in no wise approaches Freud's quite extraordinary experience and insight, but nonetheless it seems to me that certain of my formulations do express the ob served facts more suitably than Freud's version of them. At any rate I have found, in my teaching work, that the conceptions I have put forward in these lectures were of particular help to me in my endeavours to give my pupils an understanding of psycho analysis. I am far indeed from regarding a modest and tem perate criticism as a "falling away" or a schism; on the contrary, I hope thereby to promote the continued flowering and fructifi cation of the psychoanalytic movement, and to open the way to the treasures of psychoanalytic knowledge for those who, lacking practical experience or handicapped by certain theoretical pre conceptions, have so far been unable to master the method. For the opportunity to deliver these lectures I have to thank my friend Dr. Smith Ely JelliflEe, of New York, who kindly in-

1 [Pragmatism (1907), p. 53.] THE THEORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS vited me to take part in the Extension Course at Fordham Uni versity, in New York. The nine lectures were given in Sep tember 1912. I must also express my best thanks to Dr. Gregory, of Bellevue Hospital, for his ready assistance at my clinical demonstrations. Only after the preparation of these lectures, in the spring of 1912, did Alfred Adler's book Uber den nervosen Charakter [The Nervous Constitution] become known to me, in the sum mer of that year. I recognize that he and I have have reached similar conclusions on various points, but here is not the place to discuss the matter more thoroughly. This should be done elsewhere. C. G. J. Zurich, autumn 1912

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

Since the appearance of the first edition in 1913 so much time has elapsed, and so many things have happened, that it is quite impossible to rework a book of this kind, coming from a long- past epoch and from one particular phase in the development of knowledge, and bring it up to date. It is a milestone on the long road of scientific endeavour, and so it shall remain. It may serve to call back to memory the constantly changing stages of the search in a newly discovered territory, whose boundaries are not marked out with any certainty even today, and thus to make its contribution to the story of an evolving science. I am therefore letting this book go to press again in its original form and with no essential alterations. C- G. J. October 1954 1. A REVIEW OF THE EARLY HYPOTHESES zo3 It is no easy task to lecture on psychoanalysis at the present time. I am not thinking so much of the fact that this whole field of research raises—I am fully convinced—some of the most difficult problems facing present-day science. Even if we put this cardinal fact aside, there remain other serious difficulties which interfere considerably with the presentation of the ma terial. I cannot offer you a well-established, neatly rounded doc trine elaborated from the practical and the theoretical side. Psychoanalysis has not yet reached that point of development, despite all the labour that has been expended upon it. Nor can I give you a description of its growth ab ovo, for you already have in your country, dedicated as always to the cause of prog ress, a number of excellent interpreters and teachers who have spread a more general knowledge of psychoanalysis among the scientifically-minded public. Besides this, Freud, the true dis coverer and founder of the movement, has lectured in your country and given an authentic account of his views. I, too, have already had the great honour of lecturing in America, on the experimental foundation of the theory of complexes and the application of psychoanalysis to education.1 204 In these circumstances you will readily appreciate that I am afraid of repeating what has already been said or already been published in scientific journals. Another difficulty to be con sidered is the fact that quite extraordinary misconceptions pre vail in many quarters concerning the nature of psychoanalysis. At times it is almost impossible to imagine what exactly these erroneous conceptions might be. But sometimes they are so pre posterous that one is astonished that anyone with a scientific background could ever arrive at ideas so remote from reality. Obviously it would not be worth while to cite examples of these curiosities. It will be better to devote time and energy to discuss ing those problems of psychoanalysis which by their very nature give rise to misunderstandings. 1 [The Clark Lectures. See "The Association Method," Coll. Works, Vol. 2, and "Psvchic Conflicts in a Child," Vol. 17] 6