ABSTRACT
Briefly the many similarities connecting Jung and Kierkegaard are recapped before that burning question of why Jung did not see in Kierkegaard a kindred spirit is raised. From a Jungian perspective, we would argue that such a strong resistance in his own dismissal of Kierkegaard is indicative of there being some unconscious reason – some repressed and difficult reason within the psyche that has been cast there out of an emotional need to forget or disown it. Not only does Jung pathologise Kierkegaard, his philosophical arguments against Kierkegaard are so poorly executed that it is hard to believe that there isn’t something going on deep in Jung’s unconscious. Furthermore, Jung’s pessimism in regards to what he deems Kierkegaard’s neurosis appears to contradict Jung’s usually positive approach to neurosis. In this chapter I argue that Kierkegaard is a shadow figure for Jung and that his hostile reception of Kierkegaard reveals Jung’s own unknown face.
