C.G. Jung: Freud’s heir or Janet’s? The influence upon Jung of Janet’s dissociationism

摘要

‘What Jung called "complex" was originally nothing but the equivalent of Janet’s "subconscious fixed idea"’, says Henri Ellenberger in his magisterial book The discovery of the unconscious, the work which first resurrected Pierre Janet’s memory after decades of virtual oblivion. My purpose in this article will be to discuss the influence of Janet, with whom Jung studied in Paris in the winter semester of 1902-1903, upon the overall development of Jung’s thought, and in particular upon his complex theory. Whilst the groundbreaking work of John Haule has gone some way to highlighting the importance of Janet’s influence upon Jung, I hope to demonstrate that a further analysis of Janet’s thought in the Jungian corpus gives promise of yielding many more insights into Jung’s own thought, insights which might also contribute to the burgeoning research into dissociative disorders that has been taking place in recent decades.