Open AccessOn the hazards of being a stranger to oneself
Author(s) -
SheetsJohnstone Maxine
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
psychotherapy and politics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.124
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 1556-9195
pISSN - 1476-9263
DOI - 10.1002/ppi.149
Subject(s) - ignorance , psychoanalytic theory , cruelty , self deception , deception , psychoanalysis , psychology , self knowledge , philosophy , criminology , social psychology , epistemology
This paper traces out the socio‐political consequences of self‐ignorance and self‐deception. These consequences were clearly recognized more than 2,000 years ago by early Greek philosophers, in part along the lines of ‘a conceit of wisdom’. The consequences were more recently spelled out in striking ways by Carl Jung in his psychoanalytic analyses of ‘mass‐minded man’ who, through self‐ignorance and self‐deception, wreaks havoc and cruelty on others. The paper also points up the challenge of attaining self‐knowledge and possible paths to its attainment that bolster or augment classic psychotherapeutic approaches. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.