What now is the answer to the question as to the bridge between the perception of the senses and the concepts, which is now reduced to the question as to the bridge between the outer perceptions and those inner image-like representations. It seems to me one has to postulate a cosmic order of nature- outside of our arbitrariness- to which the outer material objects are subjected as are the inner images... The organizing and regulating has to be posited beyond the differentiation of physical and psychical... I am all for it to call this 'organizing and regulating' 'archetypes.' It would then be inadmissible to define these as psychic contents. Rather, the above-mentioned inner pictures (dominants of the collective unconscious, see Jung) are the psychic manifestations of the archetypes, but which would have to produce and condition all nature laws belonging to the world of matter. The nature laws of matter would then be the physical manifestation of the archetypes.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The author argues for a cosmic order beyond human arbitrariness that organizes both physical matter and inner psychic images as archetypes.
- In plain terms
- Nature follows a cosmic order that shapes both the outer world and our inner pictures.
- What can you take from it?
- Consider if there is a universal order connecting mind and matter.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is there a universal order?
- How do inner images relate to matter?
Another view
Positing a cosmic order risks becoming metaphysical speculation rather than empirical science.
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