Archetype Revisited: An Updated Natural History of the Self

407 Pages·2015·1.835 MB·English

by  Anthony Stevens

Archetype Revisited
Archetype: A Natural History of the Self, fi rst published in 1982, was a ground-
breaking book; the fi rst to explore the connections between Jung’s archetypes
and evolutionary disciplines such as ethology and sociobiology, and an excellent
introduction to the archetypes in theory and practical application as well.
C. G. Jung’s ‘archetypes of the collective unconscious’ have traditionally
remained the property of analytical psychology, and have commonly been dis-
missed as ‘mystical’ by scientists. But Jung himself described them as biological
entities, which, if they exist at all, must be amenable to empirical study. In the
work of Bowlby and Lorenz, and in studies of the bilateral brain, Anthony Stevens
has discovered the key to opening up this long-ignored scientifi c approach to the
archetypes, originally envisaged by Jung. At last, in a creative leap made possible
by the cross-fertilisation of several specialist disciplines, psychiatry can be inte-
grated with psychology, with ethology and biology. The result is an immensely
enriched science of human behaviour.
In Archetype Revisited, Stevens considers the enormous cultural, social and
intellectual changes that have taken place since the publication of the original
edition, and includes:
• A chapter on The Archetypal Masculine and Feminine, refl ecting recent
research fi ndings and developments in feminist thinking
• Commentary on the intrusion of neo-Darwinian thinking into psychology and
psychiatry
• Analysis of what has happened to the archetype in terms of our understanding
of it and our responses to it.
This Classic Edition of the book includes a new preface by the author and a fore-
word by Paul Gilbert.
Anthony Stevens has spent his professional life working as a Jungian analyst,
psychiatrist and writer. He is a graduate of Oxford University and in addition to
a Doctorate in Medicine has two degrees in Psychology. He is a Senior Member
of the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists and a Member of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists. His previous books include Archetype: A Natural His-
tory of the Self and Evolutionary Psychiatry: A New Beginning, with John Price.
This page intentionally left blank
Archetype Revisited
An Updated Natural History of the Self
Classic Edition
Anthony Stevens
Classic Edition published 2015
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2015 Anthony Stevens
The right of Anthony Stevens to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2002
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stevens, Anthony.
Archetype revisited : an updated natural history of the self /
Anthony Stevens. — Classic edition.
pages cm
Rev. ed. of: Archetypes, a natural history of the self, 1982.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875–1961. 2. Archetype (Psychology)
3. Jungian psychology. 4. Self. 5. Sociobiology. I. Stevens,
Anthony. Archetypes, a natural history of the self. II. Title.
BF175.5.A72S75 2016
155.2′644—dc23
2015005718
ISBN: 978-1-138-82468-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-82469-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74051-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to Peter Francis Scott
and is in loving memory of Honor Irene Champernowne
A note on the cover image
The cover image is derived from a woodcut in a seventeenth-century French
c arpenter’s manual. It shows the plan of a spiral staircase (‘the archetype’) beside
the fi nished staircase with people walking up and down it (‘the archetype actual-
ized in reality’). The adjacent spirals are reminiscent of the two spirals of DNA
and as staircases they symbolize the ascent and descent inherent in the human life-
cycle and the individuation quest.
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
A note to the reader x
Preface to the classic edition xi
Foreword to the classic edition by Paul Gilbert xiv
Preface xvii
Personal introduction 1
PART I
Archetypes in theory 21
1 Jung and the ethologists 23
2 Archetypes and meaning 34
3 The archetypal hypothesis 44
4 Archetypes and behaviour 56
5 Archetypes and experience 71
PART II
Archetypes in practice 89
6 The family 91
7 The mother 104
8 The father 129
9 On the frustration of archetypal intent 139
10 Personal identity and the stages of life 172
viii Contents
11 The archetypal masculine and feminine 207
12 Shadow: the archetypal enemy 246
PART III
Synthesis and integration 287
13 On being in two minds 289
14 A question of balance 322
Personal afterword 344
Glossary 352
Bibliography 358
Index 372
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my thanks to the following: to Basic Books Inc., New York,
and the Hogarth Press, London, for permission to quote from Attachment and
Loss, Volume 1, Attachment by John Bowlby; to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc.,
New York, and Methuen & Co., London, for permission to quote from Behind the
Mirror by Konrad Lorenz; to the Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, and
Brunner-Routledge, London, for permission to quote from the Collected Works of
C. G. lung; and to Random House Inc., New York, for permission to quote from
Memories, Dreams, Refl ections edited by Aniela Jaffe.
I am also indebted to Dr Edward F. Edinger, the C. G. Jung Foundation for
Analytical Psychology, New York, and G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, for per-
mission to use the diagram on page 112; and to Dr Paul MacLean and the Toronto
University Press, Toronto, for permission to reproduce Figure 13.4 which appears
on page 305.
I should like to record my lasting gratitude to the late Dr Spyros Doxiadis of the
Institute of Child Health, Athens, to the children and staff of the Metera Babies’
Centre, to the late Dr John Bowlby and fellow members of the London Attach-
ment Seminars, and to my patients in London and Devon for providing me with
the rich experiences out of which this book has grown. My special thanks are due
to ‘Cliff’, ‘Colin’, ‘Tancred’ and ‘Hamish’.
Once again, I must thank my secretary, the loyal, stalwart Norma Luscombe, for
her unfailing effi ciency and good humour, and for word processing all the drafts of
this new edition. Warm thanks also go to the editorial staff at Brunner-R outledge
who have done everything possible to ensure that my archetypal intentions have
gone unfrustrated and that work on this revised edition should be entirely agree-
able. For their kindness, courtesy and friendly expertise I must particularly thank
Kate Hawes, Mandy Collison, Joanne Forshaw and Dominic Hammond.