Similarities between quantum physics and Jungian psychology: the case of synchronicity or how an analogy fails
Keywords:
Synchronicity, Jung, Bohr, Quantum Mechanics, analogy, causality, Pauli, analogic thoughtAbstract
In this paper I analyze the analogy between not causally related events in Quantum Mechanics and the conception of synchronicity of Carl G. Jung. First, I will state a general frame about analogy and the tools for its analysis in science. Second, I will describe the Principle of Complementarity and its origins, as well as some of its epistemological consequences, such as the loss of deterministic causality. Then, I will outline the historical context in which Jung had contact with the Quantum Theory and the way he used it in his own psychological theory. Finally, I analyze the analogical use he made of non-causality to justify and accommodate synchronicity. I will show that this analogy fails and how this shows a paradoxical attitude towards scientific criteria in Jung’s perspective.Downloads
References
Bohr, N. (1964): Física atómica y conocimiento humano, Madrid, Aguilar.
Bohr, N. . (1988): La teoría atómica y la descripción de la naturaleza, Madrid, Alianza.
Forbus, K.D., & Gentner, D. (1989): “Structural evaluation of analogies: What counts?”. Proceedings of the Eleventh annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 341-348. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gardner, M. (1983), The whys of a philosophical scrivener, New York.
Ortony, A. (1979). “Beyond literal similarity”. Psychological Review 86:161-180.
Moore, R. (1985): Niels Bohr. The man, His Science, and the World They Changed, Cambridge, MIT Press.
Moreira, R. (2004): "Ciência e Irracionalidade", in Eduardo Chitas e Adriana V. Serrão (org.),
Razão e Espírito Científico, Lisboa: Edições Duarte Reis, pp. 75-128.
Pauli, W. (1996): Escritos sobre física y filosofía. Ed. Debate. Madrid.
Rhine, J. B. (2008), New Frontiers Of The Mind - The Story Of The Duke Experiments, Envins Press.
Slattery, P.D. (2003): Rev. Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958. The San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal 01/2003; 22(1):5-11.
Geiser, S. (2005): The Innermost Kernel : Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics. Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with C.G. Jung , Berlin, Springer.
Gentner, D. & Jeziorski, M, (1993): “The shift from metaphor to analogy in Western science”. In A Ortony (ed.), Metaphor and Thought.
Harre, R., (1988). “Where models and analogies really count”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 2 (2):118 – 133.
Heisenberg, W. (1962):Los nuevos fundamentos de la ciencia, Madrid, Norte y Sur.
Hesse, M. (1966): Models and Analogies in Science, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.
Holland, et al. (1986): Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery, Cambridge MA, MIT Press.
James, W. (1989): Principios de Psicología, México, FCE.
Jung, C. (2004): La dinámica de lo inconsciente, Obra Completa, Vol. 8, Madrid, Trotta.
Lindorff, D. (2004): Pauli and Jung. The Meeting of Two Great Minds, Illinois, Quest Books.
Meier, C. (1996): Wolfgang Pauli y Carl G. Jung : Un intercambio epistolar, 1932-1958 , Madrid, Alianza.
Miller, A. (2010): 137: Jung, Pauli, and the Pursuit of a Scientific Obsession,New York, W.W. Norton
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Nalliely Hernández Cornejo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes .
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
