Facilitated by Christian Roesler

An Open Discussion of Archetypes and Archetypal Theory

From the beginning the concept of archetypes was controversial inside as well as outside of AP. Especially the biological foundation of archetypes has been questioned. Erik Goodwyn is probably the most prominent protagonist of this viewpoint in contemporary AP. In the last 25 years, another approach to explaining archetypes and how they come about has received attention in AP, the emergentist approach. It takes an interactional view on the biological as well as developmental foundations of archetypes, of which John Merchant is an outstanding proponent.

Recently, Christian Roesler has argued to give up on any biological explanations of archetypes and place archetype theory in the field of hermeneutics and cultural studies. The three scholars are present at the conference and will discuss the different approaches to archetype theory.

Bio

Prof. Dr. Dipl.-Psych. Christian Roesler is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Freiburg/D, lecturer of Analytical Psychology at the University of Basel/CH. Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice in Freiburg and member of the faculty of the C. G. Jung-Institutes in Stuttgart and Zurich. Specializations in work with couples and families, interpretive research methods. Research and publications on: Analytical Psychology and contemporary sciences, couple counselling, postmodern identity construction, narrative research, media psychology.

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