A Study Of James Hillman's Ideas In Archetypal Psychology

James Hillman(1926-2011)is an American psychologist who is also the founder and the important representative of the post-Jungian of archetypal psychology school.For more than 50 years,he has made a lot of constructive works for analytic psychology theory and practice.In theory,Hillman deepened the field of subconscious on the basis of his predecessors— Freud and Jung,That is to explain the importance and significance of “soul” in the present world and entrusted it a basic position in psychology;Based on the understanding of the “soul” concept,he examines how the “soul” communicates with the “imagination”,emphasis on the archetypal image or mythological image of people and their souls;Based on his reflection on the psychology of ”Oedipus complex” and the self-centered natural science psychology and humanism psychology,and then advocate the “polytheism”view of psychology,supporting that the difference can not be “the same” and putting forward the spiritual structure with ”Senex-Puer” as the main line,considered that everyone is their own “acorn” and have their own “soul” of call.It is the elaboration of the rich soul,in terms of original practice,Hillman's archetypal psychology is not confined to a closed consulation room,instead,the streets,the cities and so on are all put as patients in the therapy chair,put forward his own ecological psychology,that is aesthetic ecological psychology.It is the aesthetic or poetic tendency of psychology,Mr Hillman's archetypal psychology will undoubtedly be as Kierkegaard —father of existentialism —thought,despair is the inevitable encounter of the aesthetic.From Kierkegaard's view of spiritual thought,Hillman faced despair towards a “faith”.Hillman's main contribution focuses on the reinterpretation and deepening of Freud and Jung and their latter,which promotes the development of Jungian school and expands the scope of application of analytical psychology.What is more valuable is that his heresy provides different viewing perspectives for academic psychology,which is,criticism and reflection on abstract concepts,personality development concepts and physiological psychology.It is precisely because of the above point of view that Hillman's archetypal psychology content is complex,the concept is vague,inevitably attached to the mysticism.