James Hillman (1926- ) is an American psychologist, considered to be one of the most original of the 20th century (Moore, in Hillman, 1989). Mental health professional A psychologist is a practitioner of Psychology, the systematic investigation of the mind including Behavior, Cognition, The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Trained at the Jung Institute in Zurich, he developed archetypal psychology (polytheistic myth as psychology). Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Archetypal psychology was developed by James Hillman in the second half of the 20th century The idea of polytheistic myth being reinterpreted as psychology, is one theorem of Archetypal psychology as defined by James Hillman, and explored Hillman is a prolific writer and international lecturer as well as a private practitioner.
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| “ | My war—and I have yet to win a decisive battle—is with the modes of thought and conditioned feelings that prevail in psychology and therefore also in the way we think and feel about our being. Of these conditions none are more tyrannical than the convictions that clamp the mind and heart into positivistic science (geneticism and computerism), economics (bottom-line capitalism), and single-minded faith (fundamentalism). | „ |
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—James Hillman, The Force of Character, 1999, p. xxiv. |
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Brief Biography
James Hillman was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1926. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944-1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1950. The historic University of Paris (Université de Paris first appeared in the second half of the 13th century Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Trinity College Dublin ( TCD; Irish Coláiste na Tríonóide Baile Átha Cliath; Latin: Collegium Sacrosanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae In 1959, he received his Ph. D. from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the Jung Institute. The University of Zurich ( German: Universität Zürich) located in the city of Zurich, is the largest University in Switzerland He was immediately hired as the Director of Studies at the Jung Institute, a position he held until 1969. In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy, and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize, ˈpʊlɨtsɚ PULL-it-sər is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in Newspaper journalism, Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978. His 1997 book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, was on the New York Time's best seller list. His papers and book drafts reside at Opus Archives and Research Center, located on the campuses of Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California. Pacifica Graduate Institute is an accredited Graduate school with two campuses near Santa Barbara California. Carpinteria is a small oceanside city located in the southeastern extremity of Santa Barbara County California, east of Santa Barbara and northwest of Ventura California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Hillman currently lives in Connecticut. Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America.
Archetypal Psychology
Archetypal psychology is a polytheistic psychology, in that it attempts to recognize the myriad fantasies and myths (gods, goddesses, demigods, mortals and animals) that shape and are shaped by our psychological lives. Archetypal psychology was developed by James Hillman in the second half of the 20th century An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" The ego is but one psychological fantasy within an assemblage of fantasies. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of It is part of the Jungian movement and related to Analytical psychology but is a radical departure from it. Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced
Whereas Jung’s psychology focused on the Self, its dynamics and its constellations (ego, anima, animus, shadow), Hillman’s Archetypal psychology relativizes and deliteralizes the ego and focuses on psyche, or soul, and the archai, the deepest patterns of psychic functioning, "the fundamental fantasies that animate all life" (Moore, in Hillman, 1991). Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of For the album by The Creatures see Anima Animus The Anima and Animus are in Carl Jung 's school of Analytical psychology, the In Jungian psychology, the shadow or " shadow aspect " is a part of the Unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses shortcomings Archetypal psychology was developed by James Hillman in the second half of the 20th century Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of In Psychoanalysis, the psyche (ˈsaɪki refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, Behavior and Personality. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living
Hillman (1975) sketches a brief lineage of archetypal psychology
- By calling upon Jung to begin with, I am partly acknowledging the fundamental debt that archetypal psychology owes him. He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus - and with even more branches yet to be traced” (p. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Wilhelm Dilthey (ˈdɪltaɪ November 19, 1833 &ndash October 1, 1911) was a German Historian, Psychologist Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling ( January 27, 1775 – August 20, 1854) later von Schelling, was a German Philosopher Giambattista Vico, Giambattista Vigo or Giovanni Battista Vico ( June 23, 1668 – January 23, 1744) was an Italian Marsilio Ficino ( Latin name Marsilius Ficinus; October 19 1433 - October 1 1499) was one of the most influential humanist Plotinus ( Greek:) (ca AD 204–270 was a major philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism (along with his Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Heraclitus of Ephesus ( Ancient Greek: &mdash grc-Latn ''Hērákleitos ho Ephésios'' English Heraclitus the Ephesian) (ca xvii).
The development of archetypal psychology is influenced by Carl Jung's analytical psychology and Classical Greek, Renaissance, and Romantic ideas and thought. Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of Reason and Inquiry. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Indeed, Hillman’s influences are many, and include other artists, poets, philosophers, alchemists, and psychologists. One could easily include in this list Nietzsche, Heidegger, Henry Corbin, Keats, Shelley, Petrarch, and Paracelsus. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist Martin Heidegger ( September 26, 1889 &ndash May 26, 1976) (ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈhaɪ̯dɛgɐ was an influential German philosopher Henry Corbin ( 14 April 1903 - October 7, 1978 was a Philosopher, Theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4 1792 – July 8 1822 ˈpɝːsɪ ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛlɪ was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Paracelsus (11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln Switzerland – 24 September 1541 in Salzburg, Austria) was an alchemist, Though all different in their theories and psychologies, they appear to be unified by their common concern for psyche.
Psyche, or Soul
Hillman has been critical of the 20th century’s psychologies (e. In Psychoanalysis, the psyche (ˈsaɪki refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, Behavior and Personality. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living g. , biological psychology, behaviorism, cognitive psychology) that have adopted a natural scientific philosophy and praxis. In Psychology, biological psychology, also known as biopsychology, psychobiology, or behavioral neuroscience is the application of the principles Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the Cognitive psychology is a branch of Psychology that investigates internal mental processes such as problem solving memory and language Main criticisms include that they are reductive, materialistic, and literal; they are psychologies without psyche, without soul. Accordingly, Hillman’s oeuvre has been an attempt to restore psyche to its proper place in psychology. Hillman sees the soul at work in imagination, in fantasy, in myth and in metaphor. He also sees soul revealed in psychopathology, in the symptoms of psychological disorders. Psyche-pathos-logos is the “speech of the suffering soul” or the soul’s suffering of meaning. A great portion of Hillman’s thought attempts to attend to the speech of the soul as it is revealed via images and fantasies.
Dream Analysis
Because archetypal psychology is concerned with fantasy, myth, and image, it is not surprising that dreams are considered to be significant in relation to soul and soul-making. For the John Cale minimalist album see Dream Interpretation (Album Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to Dreams In many of the Hillman does not believe that dreams are simply random residue or flotsam from waking life (as advanced by physiologists), but neither does he believe that dreams are compensatory for the struggles of waking life, or are invested with “secret” meanings of how one should live (a la Jung). Rather, “dreams tell us where we are, not what to do” (1979). Therefore, Hillman is against the traditional interpretive methods of dream analysis. Hillman’s approach is phenomenological rather than analytic (which breaks the dream down into its constituent parts) and interpretive/hermeneutic (which may make a dream image “something other” than what it appears to be in the dream). His famous dictum with regard to dream content and process is “Stick with the image. ”
For example, Hillman (1983) discusses a patient's dream about a huge black snake. The dream work would include "keeping the snake" and describing it rather than making it something other than a snake, such as a symbol of the penis. Hillman notes that ". . . the moment you've defined the snake, interpreted it, you've lost the snake, you've stopped it and the person leaves the hour with a concept about my repressed sexuality or my cold black passions" (p. 53). One would inquire more about the snake as it is presented in the dream and by the psyche. The snake is huge and black, but what else? Is it molting or shedding its skin? Is it sunning itself on a rock? Is it digesting its prey? This descriptive strategy keeps the image alive, in Hillman's opinion, and offers the possibility for understanding the psyche.
The Soul's Code
Hillman's 1997 book, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, outlines what he calls the 'acorn theory' of the soul. This theory states that each individual holds the potential for their unique possibilities inside themselves already, much as an acorn holds the pattern for an oak, invisible within itself. It argues against the parental fallacy whereby our parents are seen as crucial in determining who we are by supplying us with genetic material and behavioral patterns. Instead. the book suggests for a reconnection with what is invisible within us, our daimon or soul or acorn and its calling to the wider world of nature. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living It argues against theories which attempt to map life into phases, suggesting that this is counter-productive and makes people feel like they are failing to live up to what is normal. This in turn produces a truncated, normalized society of soulless mediocrity where evil is not allowed but injustice is everywhere—a society that cannot tolerate eccentricity or the further reaches of life experiences but sees them as illnesses to be medicated out of existence.
In this way Hillman diverges from Jung and his idea of the Self. Hillman sees this as too prescriptive and argues against the idea of life-maps by which to try and grow properly.
Instead, Hillman suggests a reappraisal for each individual of their own childhood and present life to try and find their particular calling, the seed of their own acorn. He has written that he is to help precipitate a re-souling of the world in the space between rationality and psychology. He replaces the notion of growing up, with the myth of growing down from the womb into a messy, confusing earthy world. The uterus (from the Latin word for womb) is the major Female reproductive organ of most Mammals including Humans One end the Hillman rejects formal logic in favour of reference to case histories of well known people and considers his arguments to be in line with the puer eternis or eternal youth whose brief burning existence could be seen in the work of romantic poets like Keats and Byron and in recently deceased young rock stars like Jeff Buckley or Kurt Cobain. Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17 1966 – May 29 1997 raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American Singer-songwriter and Guitarist He was the son Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20 1967 – c April 5 1994 was an American musician who served as lead singer, Guitarist, and songwriter for the Seattle Hillman also rejects causality as a defining framework and suggests in its place a shifting form of fate whereby events are not inevitable but bound to be expressed in some way dependent on the character of the soul in question. Causality (but not causation) denotes a necessary relationship between one event (called cause and another event (called effect) which is the direct consequence
Select Bibliography
- Archetypal Psychology, Uniform Edition, Vol. 1 (Spring Publications, 2004)
- City and Soul, Uniform Edition, Vol. 2 (Spring Publications, 2006)
- Senex and Puer, Uniform Edition, Vol. 3 (Spring Publications, 2006)
- A Terrible Love of War (2004)
- The Force of Character (Random House, New York, 1999)
- The Soul's Code: On Character and Calling (1997)
- Kinds of Power: A Guide to its Intelligent Uses (1995)
- Healing Fiction (1994)
- We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy - And the World's Getting Worse (with Michael Ventura) (1993)
- The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World (1992)
- A Blue Fire: Selected Writings of James Hillman introduced and edited by Thomas Moore (1989)
- Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion (1985)
- Inter Views (with Laura Pozzo) (1983)
- The Myth of Analysis: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology (1983a)
- The Dream and the Underworld (1979)
- Re-Visioning Psychology (1975)
- Loose Ends: Primary Papers in Archetypal Psychology (1975a)
- Pan and the Nightmare (1972)
- Suicide and the Soul (1964)
See also
External links
- Archetypal Talk: James Hillman discussion forum
- The Uniform Edition of the Writings of James Hillman
- Brent Dean Robbins' James Hillman Page
- Pacifica Graduate Institute
- Hillman keynote presentation and discussion at the Psychology of Trust and Feeling Conference at Stony Brook University
- World of the Imaginal: Henry Corbin and James Hillman discussion forum at the Open Directory Project
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