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Thomas M. King, S.J. uses Jungian/Myers-Briggs typology to understand the different starting points of twelve philosophers, then uses Jungian patterns of “integration” to show similarities in their development.
Jung’s Four and Some Philosophers provides a context in which to understand the widely differing claims of philosophers. The “four” in the title refers to the four faculties that Jung sees occurring in pairs in every psyche: thinking and its opposite, feeling; sensation and its opposite, intuition. One of these four will dominate (among philosophers it will characterize what they find self-evident), while the dominant’s opposite is repressed into the mysterious unconscious. Thus, a thinker will repress one’s feelings. To achieve wholeness, the philosopher must pass beyond what is known to seek the missing faculty and integrate it with the faculties of consciousness. King demonstrates this with highly documented studies of twelve philosophers: Plato, Locke, Sartre, Augustine, Descartes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant, Kierkegaard, Whitehead, Hume, and Teilhard, and a final reflection that considers the philosophic and religious quest.
“This is a remarkably rich book. I only wish that while studying philosophy in graduate school and in the years that followed I had the guidance and sophisticated learning that Professor King provides. With his assistance my understanding would have been much deeper and more comprehensive.” —Ewert Cousins, Fordham University, General Editor of World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest
Thomas M. King, S.J. (d.2009) was Professor of Theology at Georgetown University and author of several books, including Enchantments: Religion and the Power of the Word (1989) and Merton: Mystic at the Center of America (1992).