A series of 4 seminars for those who would like to develop their engagement with analytic theory. The seminars are designed to be of interest to all members and trainees who would like to develop their skills in discussing, teaching, and writing about contemporary Jungian and psychoanalytic theory and practice.

The aim is to allow ourselves to engage with ideas beyond the purely personal, and to invite more of the world we live in into our reflections. Knowledge of any kind is always a meeting between self and not-self. Having a sense of historical and philosophical context gives unity and system to the analytic body of knowledge and helps us examine critically the grounds of our convictions, prejudices and beliefs. 

In the first seminar we will be looking at the historical and philosophical foundations of analytical psychology by tracing the roots of psychoanalytic thought in the synthesis between scientific materialism and the contrasting philosophical view advocating the primacy of the non-rational, which emerged at the end of the 18th century. We will be exploring the idea of the unconscious in literature, philosophy and history right before the emergence of psychoanalysis and the different philosophical traditions underpinning the thinking of Jung and Freud.

Subsequent seminars will be looking at the clinical methods and innovations that gave rise to the various approaches to therapeutic work within psychoanalysis, alongside their underlying assumptions and justifications. We will then consider the use of different hermeneutical traditions to understand the centrality of contexts, psychosocial structures, and the subjective/discursive positions in the process of making meaning and producing knowledge. The seminars will end with practical examples and exercises to support the critical reading of psychoanalytic texts.