Jungian Books

Psychological Citizenship and Democracy provides a close reading of the archetypal psychologist James Hillman’s work in order to articulate its political relevance for the theory and practice of psychology. “The daimon of my destiny,” Hillman acknowledges, led him to be a “Platonistic man of the spirit who at the same time would be a democratic citizen and polytheistic liberal in soul.” The political import of Hillman’s work is amplified when taken in relation to the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin’s notion of “fugitive democracy” and its accompanying necessity of both a “democratization of the self” and the cultivation of the citizenry’s capacity to engage in deliberations that simultaneously recognize diversity and are informed by a sense of the common good. Sipiora’s book makes a convincing case for the significance of Hillman’s political legacy at this moment in our nation’s history.