ABSTRACT
A guiding theme in this introduction to the text is a consideration of what it is to think teleologically about human nature: the manner in which the significance of final ends, the “for-the-sake-of” our desires and strivings stands over all that is of concern to individuals, social groups, and culture, in ways both ordinary and grandly consequential. Interwoven with this is the elucidation of how C.G. Jung's understanding of the pervasiveness of this feature of our being-in-the-world is expressed throughout his theorizing. Teleological thinking is defined as present in his contemplations about the unfolding of the individuation process, the archetypally informed path to becoming the person one is meant to be; the genesis and direction of social changes; and characteristic of the metaphysical underpinnings of his perspective, the ultimate denouement of the human condition issuing forth from an ineffable and intelligent, though amoral Absolute. The cosmological element in Jung's thought is analyzed as as-yet-unrealized “may-bes” supervening upon present circumstances to drive them toward certain final ends, which themselves express the progressive evolution of the cosmos seeking to know itself.
The introduction briefly outlines the cultural origins and development of teleological thinking, beginning with the ancient Hebrews, continuing through classical Greece, then to the Christian era and progressing to the present in the form of modern scientific theories such as Emergentism. Jung's explorations into the various historical permutations of telic thinking inform his theory of the need to remain sensitive to the way in which the analytic patient cooperates with or, alternately, is overwhelmed by the telos of the unconscious. It is described how in treatment the role of the analyst is to facilitate the emergence of what the unconscious “intends” for the patient, often by analyzing crippling neurotic symptoms with an eye to their function as harbingers of as-yet-unrealized attitudes.
