Jung's Four and Some Philosophers

A Paradigm for Philosophy

Thomas M. King, S.J.

Thomas M. King, S.J.’s highly documented study shows how Jung’s quest for wholeness can be seen in the growth of a philosopher’s ideas. By identifying the Jungian/Myers-Briggs types of twelve philosophers (Plato, Locke, Sartre, Augustine, Descartes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant, Kierkegaard, Whitehead, Hume, and Teilhard), King examines their differences and provides a key to the development of their thought.

Jung’s Four and Some Philosophers provides a context in which to understand the widely differing claims of philosophers. The “four” in the title refers to the four faculties that Jung sees in every psyche. These faculties occur in pairs: thinking and feeling, sensation and intuition. One of these faculties will dominate and determine one’s psychological type—among philosophers it characterizes what they find self-evident. If thinking dominates, its opposite (feeling) is repressed to the unconscious, and vice versa. If intuition dominates, sensation is repressed, and vice versa. To achieve wholeness, the individual must seek the repressed faculty in the mysterious unconscious and then integrate it with the other three conscious faculties.

Jung’s Four and Some Philosophers is a valuable source for all students and teachers of philosophy, Jungian analysts, counselors, and spiritual directors, and those seeking a common wisdom in the great philosophers.

Thomas M. King, S.J., is Professor of Theology at Georgetown University and author of several books, including Enchantments: Religion and the Power of the Word (1989) and Merton: Mystic at the Center of America (1992).