Quotation
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“Individuation means becoming an 'in-dividual,' and, in so far as 'individuality' embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one's own self.”
Carl Jung · Thinkers beyond philosophy · Modern · Collected Works text; the essay is earlier
What does it mean?
Individuation is becoming undivided, and becoming one's own self in the sense of a last uniqueness, not in the sense of getting one's way. The mainstream reading takes the hyphen seriously: a whole, rather than a performance of personality. A competing reading hears a self-help plan for standing out, which the next paragraph rejects. He says there that the process fulfils qualities one has, and is not egoism. The sentence is volume 7, paragraph 266, in the part of the Two Essays given to individuation. Uniqueness here is a psychological aim. It is not a brand.
Did Carl Jung really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Hull's English of paragraph 266. He adds that individuation can be translated as coming to selfhood or self-realization. The hyphen in 'in-dividual' is his way of hearing the word as not-divided.
Where it comes from
Collected Works, volume 7, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, paragraph 266, R. F. C. Hull's translation
Approximate date: Collected Works text; the essay is earlier.
How to use it
A careers talk in Manchester that tells pupils to 'become your brand' is not this paragraph. The question he asks is what would make a person less divided, not more visible. Those can come apart.
A mindset reading
Self-realization, his offered translation, is easy to hear as appetite. Read it next to paragraph 267, where he says the aim is not selfishness in the ordinary sense.
Understand the philosophy
Paragraph 266 is the definition. The key term is individuation, becoming an in-dividual. Paragraph 267, the next card, says the person does not thereby become selfish, and warns against confusing the process with ego-centredness. Volume 9's shadow paragraphs are the moral material this process has to include.
- self
- meaning
- change
FAQ
What does it mean?
Individuation is becoming undivided, and becoming one's own self in the sense of a last uniqueness, not in the sense of getting one's way. The mainstream reading takes the hyphen seriously: a whole, rather than a performance of personality. A competing reading hears a self-help plan for standing out, which the next paragraph rejects. He says there that the process fulfils qualities one has, and is not egoism. The sentence is volume 7, paragraph 266, in the part of the Two Essays given to individuation. Uniqueness here is a psychological aim. It is not a brand.
Did Carl Jung really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Hull's English of paragraph 266. He adds that individuation can be translated as coming to selfhood or self-realization. The hyphen in 'in-dividual' is his way of hearing the word as not-divided.
Which work is it in?
Collected Works, volume 7, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, paragraph 266, R. F. C. Hull's translation Approximate date: Collected Works text; the essay is earlier.