Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority

Book excerpt: Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority is the first collection of essays dedicated to the study and application of Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority—a new ‘wave’ within Analytical Psychology which pushes off from the work of C. G. Jung and James Hillman. The book reflects upon the notion of psychology developed by German psychoanalyst Wolfgang Giegerich, whose Hegelian turn sheds light on the notion of soul, or psyche, and its inner logic and ‘thought’, forming a radical new basis from which to ground a modern psychology with soul. The book’s theme - ‘the psychological difference’ - is applied to topics including analytical theory, clinical practice, and contemporary issues, ranging from C. G. Jung’s Mysterium, to case studies, to the nuclear bomb and the Shoah. Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority expounds upon the complexity, depth, and innovativeness of Giegerich’s thought, reflecting the various ways in which international scholars have creatively explored a speculative psychology founded upon the notion of soul. The contributors here include clinical psychologists, Jungian analysts, and international scholars. With a new chapter by Wolfgang Giegerich and a foreword by David Miller, Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority will be essential reading for depth and clinical psychologists, Jungian psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and academics and students of post-Jungian studies. It is also relevant reading for all those interested in the history of philosophical thought and what it means to think in the highly sophisticated and technological world of the twenty-first century.