Analytical Psychology when the Time is out of Joint

6th European Conference of Analytical Psychology

Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller – in her book entitled The Time Is Out of Joint: Shakespeare as Philosopher of History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) – underlines that Hamlet "is a man of conscience who knows that while relying on his conscience alone, he ceases to be a man of honor”. Therefore she adds: “He was born to set right the time out of joint, because he was born Hamlet, the son of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. [...] Yet he is a man of conscience, a specific man, who must think about justice and injustice, right and wrong, and about himself. He must know himself." Heller underlines that Hamlet “was born to set right time out of joint” and that “time is out of joint when reason and unreason are heterogeneous, when actors do not understand what they are doing and understand even less what others are doing or have done”. Is, to set time right, to restore eros, to regain our own integrity, psychoanalysis's supreme duty?

Heller, continues, that “time is set right when Hamlet is able to know himself better”. Therefore, she proposes that, when ‘Hamlet describes the chaos of the soul – a chaos that everyone who ever cast a sincere glance at himself recognizes in himself’. She also adds that ‘one of Hamlet ́s selves is alienated from the other, and all his lonely attempts to put them together, to mend the self thus torn, are in vain. They are in vain because he himself breaks the thread to sew the selves together. Hamlet cannot gather together his personality by his own effort”. Is this what happens when a patient comes into analysis? Is this a fair description of neurosis? Therefore, is it possible to put right time out of joint? Can Analytical psychology help to put right time out of joint, when time is out of joint, and considering that ‘time is not set right
in the sense of being returned to its former place, “new men” usher in new times’ (Heller, 2002, p.1). Therefore, which new men and new times can Analytical psychology help to mould? These, among others, are a few of the questions that the 2024 ́s IAAP European Conference
in Syracuse will try to answer! We welcome submissions on the above theme, broad in scope yet grounded in the perspective of the relevance of Analytical Psychology to the Socio-Cultural Challenges of the 21st Century. We strongly encourage submissions from individuals, countries, and regions and that have been historically and systematically under-represented in the world of Jungian theory and practice, and in depth psychology more generally.

Call for proposal:

The Conference working language will be English. Contributors to the plenary can choose to present in their native language, but they are requested to provide an English version that will be shown on the screen during the presentation. English versions of presentations in the breakout sessions or posters are also mandatory. All discussions will be carried out only in English. There will be no professional interpreters but we are confident that, with a good spirit of cooperation and mutual support, all participants will help in making the dialogue fruitful and deeply even for those that are not particularly skilled in the use of English.

See the proposed conference program