Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded the school of analytical psychology. Initially a close collaborator of Sigmund Freud, Jung eventually broke with him over fundamental theoretical disagreements — most notably Freud’s insistence that the libido was purely sexual in nature. Jung believed psychic energy was far broader and more spiritual in character. This split, which became permanent around 1913, proved formative for both men, pushing Jung to develop his own rich and distinctive framework for understanding the human mind. Source: Psyphos Depth
At the heart of Jung’s thought is the concept of the collective unconscious — a deep layer of the psyche shared across humanity, distinct from the personal unconscious of individual experience. Stored within it are archetypes: universal, primordial images and patterns such as the Shadow (the repressed or denied aspects of the self), the Anima and Animus (the feminine and masculine dimensions within each person), and the Self (the totality and organizing center of the psyche). Jung saw these archetypes expressed across cultures in myths, religious symbols, dreams, and art, arguing that human beings are far more connected at a deep psychological level than surface differences suggest.
Jung’s influence extends well beyond psychiatry. His concept of psychological types — introversion and extraversion, along with four cognitive functions — laid the groundwork for widely used personality frameworks like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. His ideas about individuation, the lifelong process of integrating the various parts of the psyche into a coherent whole, gave psychology a deeply philosophical and even spiritual dimension. Thinkers, artists, theologians, and mythologists — from Joseph Campbell to James Hillman — drew heavily on his work, making Jung one of the most culturally far-reaching figures in the history of modern thought.
