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Moving Opposites in the Self A Heraclitean Approach
Author(s) -
HERMANS HUBERT J. M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of analytical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1468-5922
pISSN - 0021-8774
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-5922.1993.00437.x
Subject(s) - phenomenon , nomothetic and idiographic , meaning (existential) , psychology , unification , epistemology , field (mathematics) , personality , social psychology , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist , philosophy , mathematics , computer science , pure mathematics , programming language
Theory and method are presented for the investigation of opposites in personal experience, with particular attention to their unification. The strategy is to invite people to relate actively two strongly contrasting experiences (meaning units) and to combine these into a third unit. Three idiographic studies are reported showing that the third meaning unit, created by the subjects, shifts towards another pair of polar opposites. This phenomenon, called the phenomenon of 'moving opposites', is discussed in view of the relationship between the field of personality and social psychology and the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. The phenomenon is also discussed with reference to Aristotle's and Heraclitus' conflicting views on opposites.