haworth_synchronicity and correlationism

7/28/2019 Haworth_Synchronicity and Correlationism

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Synchroncy and CorrelatonsmCarl Jung as Speculatie Realst

Michael Haworth

Goldsmihs, Universiy o London

The name o Carl Gusav Jungends no o be associaed wiha concern or philosophical

realism, seen, as he is, as one o he wors apologiss orobscuranism, mysicism and spiriualism o he modern

age. Ye he hesis I ry o deend here is ha Jungs work canbe read as an elaborae atemp o escape he correlaioniscircle and he impasse o niude every bi as rigorous andcompelling as ha underaken by Quenin Meillassoux in

Aer Finitude. I propose o advance his argumen via a read-ing o ha work o his which is considered perhaps he leastdeensible in erms o philosophical or scienic realism,namely he shor reaise eniled Synchronicit: An AcausalConnecting Principle. I is here ha he monis or psychoid

onology underpinning all o Jungs psychological work on cyp cci cci i i i exensive reamen. This, I will argue, raher han being ap-ciic pyic ci i kby piicdpipic ccp, ci wi K cdcdii wi i wii i d undermine he gap o niude beween hough and being.


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Intellectual Intuton

In he leter o Marcus Herz o February 1772, in which heamously announces his readiness o embark on he criicalprojec, Kan inerrogaes he correspondence beween hebjc pi d pi i. W, k, c i -i x bjc? I i y bjc bi cd by t i c b xpidas o cause o eec, oherwise:

i ha in us which is called represenaion was acive wih regard o

he objec, i.e., i the object were produced by the representation itsel[myiic] ( ik dii cii cyp i)

ciy pi wi bjc wd

be undersood. And so one can a leas undersand he possibiliy o

b ahepal ic, p w iii i

are grounded, as well as an ectpal inellec, which atains he daa o

is logical aciviy rom he sensuous inuiion o hings.1

In nie sensuous inuiion he objec is he cause o he

represenaion, while in he divine inellecual inuiion iis he oher way around: is objecs spring orh rom hecogniion isel. So while our inuiion is dependen uponhe objec being given o i, he innie mind o God couldno conceivably be so dependen upon an objec o which ihas o conorm because his would amoun o a limiaionand he Supreme Being, as innie, could have no such limi-i. Ic iii i ii ccp, ik noumenon, invoked in order o ground our nie cogniion

d i i . I c d i w w p id Ki y w wd idiyinvolve ourselves in conradicions and absurdiies.

This disincion is a he hear o he ranscendenal urn

1 I K, Polegomena o Any Fuue Meaphysis and he Lete o MausHez, Febuar 1772, . J W. Ei (Idipi: Hckt), AA 130.


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d py ky i K ciiq dic p-ciicpyic, t ciy i i ypp y id y co our aculies o cogniion. Such a docrine assumes aneernal Gods-eye perspecive as he normaive, ideal arche-ype, o which our human perspecive is bu a less perec,cd, icy i. T biis ha he urher we exend our undersanding o he wayhings arehe srucure o beinghe closer we come oabsolue knowledge. The move Kan insigaes, however, iso radically separae nie human cogniion rom inniedivine cogniion and his is a he roo o he division ino

ppc d i i , i dicy bi dic bw i y pp sandpoin and he same hings as seen in heir inrinsic be-i by Gd. D i ic p cpiiy i an insuperable limi in place upon our knowledge: we canknow he objec only as i appears o us, which srucurallyobscures he hing as i is in isel.

So undamenal and ar-reaching is his schism ha anyphilosophy ha makes a claim o posiive knowledge o a

ruh beyond sensibiliy mus reckon wih his quesion ocorrespondence and give an accoun o how i purpors o c by i kwd. S w Qi Mixbdy kwd ciy aciciy we gain access o a purely inelligible absolue, heqi b id j w kid kwd ii. I c b d ib iii bc iis precisely our senses ha impose upon us he belie in heciy w, bi d pii, wi

i pi iw i pp c ic. I i Mix, w piiy,resors o he Kanian concep o inellecual inuiion:

[W] dic i p ciciy ib inelleual inuiion

o he absolue. Inuiion, because i is acually in wha is ha we

discover a coningency wih no limi oher han isel; inellecual


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because his coningency is neiher visible nor percepible in hings

d y i cpb cci i, j i cc c

ha underlies he apparen coninuiy o phenomena.2

Eidy i i bi pyd i i Ki because here hough accesses absolue being while by no ci i, b i i i noumenal insigh,as described by Kan in a memorable passage in he secondCriique bearing he grandiose subheading On he WiselyC Ppi H Bi CiiPw Hi Pcic Vci. Hw, i xcycouner o Kans, such a knowledge does no impress upon

ii Gd d iy, wi i dd jy,bu raher he complee absence o any necessiy, wheherdivine or oherwise.3 Knowledge is hus radically separaed , idd i pi i w b i dicconic wih he senses.

Now we are eniled o ask, as Kan does in he leter oHz, w w cy c iinellecual inuiion o he naure o being isel. The woi K p wi y i ppy: i

iy ic c bi i i pjc i ic i i bi. Hw,neiher opion is available o Meillassoux, since aking heormer would commi him o an unenable Pyhagoreanonology, which he has already explicily ruled ou, and het, c, i ic iii i Ki .This is why or Kan inellecual inuiion could never be re-ceptive, because i is impossible o conceive o how is objecwould be ransmited o hough. The very bedrock o Meil-

lassouxs enerprise is he hesis ha mahemaics allows uscc iy idpd , b i i i yhoughs projecion ono realiy hen we are no ye ree o

2 Qi Mix,Afe Finiude: An Essay on he Neessi o Coningenc,rans. Ray Brassier (London: Coninuum, 2008), 82.3 Immanuel Kan, Criique o Pracical Reason, rans. Werner S. Pluhar (In-dianapolis: Hacket, 2002), AA 146.


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he correlaionis circle. Ray Brassier makes a similar poin,wriing ha i realiy is neiher inherenly mahemaical neessaily iiib, wy d w biis suscepible o inellecual inuiion?4 I his reerence isisel also inuied inellecually hen oo much is concededo hough and correlaionism creeps back in.

In he ace o Brassiers objecions, Meillassoux clariedhis posiion somewha, implicily acknowledging ha hissomewha impish use o such a problemaic erm romGerman Idealism conspired o undermine his projec, andhad o be jetisoned. Thus he proposes insead o employhe oxymoronic erm dianoeic inuiion, meaning he

essenial inerwining o a simple inuiion and o a discur-iiy, dib bi id by cc acualiy.5 As he goes on o explain, i in order o break ou cii cic w w y pi -mous real axiomaically, he correlaionis will always havehe rejoinder ha his supposedly auonomous real is sill

posied by . T y ii y, Mixsays, is he one aken byAer Finitude, namely o sar romwithin he circle o correlaionism and demonsrae how, in

order o mainain is consisency, i mus isel appeal o anabsolueaciciy:

Hence, he only way o he Real, according o me, is hrough a proo, a

demonsaion: di i ciciy i ignoane

o he hidden reasons o all hings bu a knowledge o he absolue con-

ingency o all hings. The simple inuiion o aciciy is ransmued

by a dianoia, by a demonsraion, ino an inuiion o a radical exeri-

oriyWe have a nous unveiled by a dianoia, an inuiion unveiled by

a demonsraion. This is why I called i an inellecual inuiion: no,o course, because i is an inuiion which creaes is objec, as Kan

dened i, bu because i is an inuiion discovered by reasoning.6

4 Ray Brassier, The Enigma o Realism: On Quenin MeillassouxsAferFinitude, Collapse II, (2007): 46.5 Quenin Meillassoux, Speculaive Realism, Collapse III (2007): 4336 Ibid., 433-4.


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A direc inuiion could never give us access o he Real, be-cause, as he correlaionis would remind us, we only everinui our own phenomenal presenaions. Bu a simplelogical posiing o he Real rom which we hen draw con-clusions will no saisy he correlaionis eiher. So inel-lecual (or dianoeic) inuiion in Meillassouxs sense is noan immediae, all-a-once revelaion o he way hings arebu is he logical explicaion o a prior inuiion. Throughi di, i iii ( ciciy) i wo be no wha we hough i was. Wha had seemed o be heib ii d c idis, hrough dianoeic inuiion, revealed o be he key o he

very overcoming o niude.S dicy pki, y pipy tp bk cii cic ciy rom wihin i. In oher words, a philosophy which seeks oransgress he Kanian limis o possible experience musneverheless remain consisen wih Kan in order o avoidc idi i d pyic pci.T w ciic i Mix pcdimmanen poin o deparure and he subsequen ransgres-

i ic iI wi , dcib qyJungs approach o he circle o correlaion and his compa-rable endeavour o secure a primary absolue in order oguaranee urher, derived speculaive heses.

Archetypes and Noumena

A f b d by Ji c, ddi J ccp cyp, pp

ideas, mois and symbols recurren hroughou human his-y, i k i b dci i y ib wi i y-d pycic i. R,in spie o occasional erminological inconsisencies whichcan lead o conusion, Jung draws a clear and unequivocaldisincion beween he archeypal ideas and he archeypeshemselves, corresponding very closely o he Kanian divi-i bw p d . T cyp


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applies exclusively o hose psychic conens which haveno ye been submited o conscious elaboraion and arehereore an immediae daum o psychic experience.7 Thecyp sio sensu ypic d ipbdeep-srucure psychic paterns leading o cerain ypes oi xpic, d w y iexisence rom heir eecs and he way hey are expressedin anasmaic orms. Thereore he name archeype doesno designae he myhs, ables, airyales or religious so-ries ha are heir conscious derivaives, and which alreadybear he race o criical evaluaion and disance. Nor doesi reer o heir immediae maniesaion, as we encouner

i in dreams and visions, which is much more individual,less undersandable and more nave han in myhs.8 Theirappearance in dreams, hallucinaions or anasy is a ruerrepresenaion han in myhs and religious sories, whichhave become hardened ino dogma over ime, bu hey arei ii, d c cyp hemselves:

The archeype is essenially an unconscious conen ha is alered by

becoming conscious and by being perceived, and i akes is colour

rom he individual consciousness in which i happens o appear.9

T cyp i i y bjcbu he orm or manner in which hey appear is consiuedand shaped by he personal hisory and circumsances ohe subjec, alhough generally proceeding according oamiliar paterns. So raher han images siting here deepwihin he unconscious o every persons psyche, hey arepaterns o behaviour making heir appearance only in he

c pici.10 T pic pc J c7 Carl G. Jung, Archeypes o he Collecive Unconscious, in Te CollectedWorks o Carl Jung, 9.1, rans. R.F.C. Hull (London: Rouledge and KeganPaul, 1973), 5.8 Ibid., 5.9 Ibid., 5.10 Carl G. Jung, On he Naure o he Psyche, in Te Collected Works o Carl

Jung, 8, rans. R.F.C. Hull (London : Rouledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 205.


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active imagination is he orcing or helping on is way o hisc pici, di i cci pycby way o acive, sponaneous anasy. On ollowing heseic ii w y d i w iihey invariably ollow cerain grooves or psychic imprins,where archaic or myhological gures and mois appearwhich beray heir archeypal characer. So hey are no somuch inborn, inheried ideas bu raher he predisposiionor propensiy owards hose ideas.

There is hus a clear, alhough implici, correspondencebw cyp d Ki i id wicgovern our moral behaviour. These later are no subjec o

emporal condiions, bu are xed and unchanging; all hais variable are he paricular circumsances in which heymake heir appearance. They deermine our acions onlyindirecly, via he caegorical imperaive, since immediae,direc access is consiuively denied o us. Likewise, he ar-cyp i, ib d y cdiid,however unlike he ideas o reason hey are dynamic raherhan xed and non-rational. Bu jus as we have pracical bu ic p d d pib

id, w pic p cyp wi being able o encouner hem direcly. Indeed were we o doso he consequences would no doub be as caasrophic or pyc idi cc diii id b. Gzi i i i by wd wand engul our individual ego, oblieraing us as a resul.

Pp c Ki p i wi y pdicworkDreams o a Spirit-Seer, in which Kan allows himsel, in iic i, pc p wic i byd

bd xpic d kwd. H, a sairical reading o he work o Swedish mysic EmmanuelSwedenborg (more o whom laer), Kan posis in addiiono he maerial world o sense an immaterial, or spiri world,which is a whole sel-subsising realm, is pars in muualcjci d ic wi iiy yi cp.11 T i id b cjid

11 I K, Deams o a Spii-See, Illusaed by Deams o Meaphysis,


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in he wo worlds a he same ime, bu so long as i is incar-naed in a body i only clearly perceives he maerial world,having bu a hazy inimaion o he oher side. As soon ashe maerial body dies his link beween he wo errioriesis severed bu he soul coninues o exis in he spiri realm,unencumbered by maerialiy.

This spiri world bears an obvious resemblance o he col-ci cci, wic w ikwi ibi id p pyc wi bi cy w i. F,Kan (sill in a sairical regiser) suggess ha here can becommunion beween he wo worlds and spiriual ideas can

p i p cci , idd, idi-y, b i i c wy , ccdi w cii

id, y i p pic wic d d wk

analogous ideas o our senses. These, i is rue, would no be spiriual

concepions hemselves, bu ye heir symbols.12

W i cyp id did, - id c yb cypi. Sic cyp c b pd idiy

bu only indirecly evoked, his accoun corresponds veryclosely wih he model o aesheic ideas Kan develops inhe Critique o Judgement. These are arisic presenaions ohe imaginaion which srive o give sensuous orm o hawic ii pib xpic, k-ing somehing universal and absolue while maniesing iin an original and singular expression.

No only is he collecive unconscious he reposiory omans experience bu a he same ime heprior condiion

o his experience.13 So archeypes are no merely he eecand deposis o ancesral evens bu a he same ime heyare signican deerminans o such evens. They are here-

rans. E.F. Goerwiz, Reprin Ed. (Indianapolis: Kessinger, 2003) 56.12 Kan, Dreams o a Spirit-Seer, 69.13 C G. J, Tw Ey Ayic Pycy, i Te Colleed Wokso Cal Jung, 7, . R.F.C. H (Ld : Rd d K P, 1966), 93.


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ore boh cause and eec, he snake eaing is own ail. AsJung ofen noes, he consellaing o archeypal ideas inhe unconscious akes place as compensaion or neglecedpars o he subjecs psyche, so ha when hey build up anirresisible orce hey impose hemselves on he lie o hesubjec, orcing hem in a cerain direcion so as o reorieni pycic bc. Ppw kw? images are wha we mean by ae.14

Unus Mundus

Jung equaes he irrepresenable naure o he archeypes

wih he smalles paricles ha physics deals wih, whosenaure can only be known by heir eecs. In boh cases hepyici pyci i tpi d bjciorder o naure whose behaviour is alered by he ac o isbi bd d c b bid p pbb d consrucion o how hese quaniies behave based on heirobservable eecs. In a siuaion where we have wo eniiesor properies whose exisence mus be assumed bu whichcanno be represened or shown in person,

i wy pibiiywic w d k i y

no be a quesion o wo or more acors bu o one only. The ideniy

or non-ideniy o wo irrepresenable quaniies is somehing ha

canno be proved.Since psyche and mater are conained in one

d wd, d i ci cc wi

d iy ipb, cd c,

i i y pib b iy pbb, , pyc d t

are wo dieren aspecs o one and he same hing.15

Jung uses he erm psychoid (always as an adjecive, never abi) dcib ipb pycpyic

14 Jung, Two Essays on Analyical Psychology, 107.15 Carl G. Jung, Synchroniciy: An Acausal Connecing Principle, in TeColleced Works o Carl Jung, 8, rans. R.F.C. Hull (London : Rouledge andKegan Paul, 1969), 214-5.


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pc d i d i wic i ipsychic nor maerial in naure bu prior o boh, anecedeno heir diereniaion, is named, using he erminology oalchemy and Medieval philosophy, unus mundus, meaning

one uniary world. Jung el his hypohesis o be ar romhe obscure mysicism i can appear o be a rs sigh, buo be a legiimae response o empirical daa, inormed bydevelopmens in paricle physics. Indeed, as is well known,

J dpd i ccp i cbi wi NbPiz wii pyici d q pi W Pi(a relaionship generally passed over in silence in physicscircles, or excused as he individual eccenriciies o a grea

man ha has no bearing on his work.)F J ci piid xpicwhich manies his irrepresenable uniy o psyche andworld and which carry proound and ar-reaching implica-ions. Such evens are hose saisical anomalies atribuedo chance or coincidence which seem o all ouside o anykw ciy d d i xpi. A cicxp i w-dcd c b-idpiii E Swdb dic ii

Sck i 1759 wi w dii i Gb,250 miles away. I was only wo days laer ha repors romSockholm conrming Swedenborgs vision, down o he di, cd i Gb. A example is one o Jungs own, rom his analyic experience.A young paien o his was describing a dream she had hadin which she was given a golden scarab. In he middle oher accoun Jung noiced a apping agains he window ohis pracice and opened he window, hrough which ew a

rose-chaer beele, he neares analogy o a golden scarabha one nds in our laiudeswhich conrary o is usualhabis had evidenly el an urge o ge ino a dark room ahis paricular momen.16

A w c y di i hing he paien was no presening her dream as i i were

16 Jung, Synchroniciy, 438.


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a propheic visionboh are examples o he phenomenonJ c synhonii, dd cicidc pycic wi cpdi bjci pc.17 M ydy,commonly experienced insances are unlikely meaningulcoincidences, such as hinking o a riend rom whom youhaven heard in a long ime immediaely beore receiving ap c id, cci ccevens such as a number or word recurring again and againhroughou he course o a day or number o days.

Jung does no ry o explain away such occurrences wihraional accouns, which we are all well versed in providing,bu akes hem a ace value, wishing o accoun or hem on

heir own meris. However, since hese are singular, anoma-lous occurrences hey are on principle incapable o beingpdid d xid i cd cdii, experimenal mehod by naure aims a esablishing regu-lar, repeaable evens and hus ruling ou o consideraionhe unique or rare resuls which are pu down o chancedeviaions. Causaliy, says Jung, anicipaing Meillassoux, isa statistical ruh, no an absolue ruh, and is onlygenerallyvalid, when operaing on he macrocosmic scale: In he

realm o very small quaniiesprediction becomes uncerain,i no impossible, because very small quaniies no longerbehave in accordance wih he known naural laws.18 Sobroadly speaking he course o naure can be unailinglyexpeced o ollow he laws o cause and eec, bu when weare dealing wih paricular evens on a micro scale we can pdic c wi cp ciy. J , pi f-icd iii ciicpcd, w i by i xpi

pracices are inuenced by he quesions asked, hus givingy pi, iic iw wd.So ar, so relaively unconroversial, bu Jung draws romhis he conenious conclusion ha since causaliy is noan absolue here mus be connecions o evens which are

17 Jung, Synchroniciy, 480.18 Ibid., 421.


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acausal, and hus demanding anoher connecing principleo accoun or hem.

Hw, dici c picip p cidbproblems, or how can one base a heory on [a]bsoluelyunique or ephemeral evens whose exisence we have nomeans o eiher denying or proving?19 We can only rely onanecdoal evidence, which is inherenly unreliable. Furher-more, how are we o disinguish genuinely synchronisic orc cc? Mc J idioundaions res on J.B. Rhines amous parapsychic experi- ( d by Bi My i Ghosbuses) wic ihe experimener urning up a series o cards wih dieren

geomerical paterns on hem while he subjec, who is sepa-d by c, i c cd i d. I signican number o cases he quaniy o correc guessesexceeded o a highly improbable degree ha which wouldbe expeced by chance. Aer he rs se o experimens hedisance beween experimener and subjec was increased, p dd i, d c wcid. Y w d i wic bjc wold o predic he series o shapes in a se o cards ha were

only o be urned over a some poin in he uure, and sillhe amoun o correc guesses exceeded chance probabiliy.Sic idy i i pc i iibiy c J c p c i d wi ii c, dico be overcome would diminish is eecs. Wha i poinso in ac, Jung suggess, is a psychic relaiviy o ime andpc, d pycic ci pycic cdii wic icpb bii i c d pi c.20

Wha hese experimens, as well as he evens reerred ob, d ccdi J, i wic d meaningully, wi being any possibiliy o proving ha his relaion is a causal

19 Jung, Synchroniciy, 422-3.20 Ibid., 433.


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.21 S w di wi i c d c,bu raher a alling ogeher in ime, a kind o simulane-iy. Because o his acor o simulaneiy, I have picked onhe erm synchroniciy o designae a hypoheical acorequal in rank o causaliy as a principle o explanaion.22I is imporan o noe he erm hypoheical, and he senseha synchroniciy does no consiue a posiive addiiono knowledge bu raher a regulaive model o help guide anexplanaion o seemingly unaccounable phenomena.

Like Freud beore him, Jung reers o Kans condiionso sensibiliy and suggess, albei in a very dieren way oFreud, ha hese condiions do no hold in he unconscious.

Ty pd by cci id, y bcixd ccp i c [] dp,hanks largely o he inroducion o measuremen.23 Thissrongly recalls Heideggers accoun o he genesis o ourvulgar conceps o ime and space, and he covering over oour primordial exisenial experience:

They [ime and space] are hyposaised conceps born o he discrimi-

i ciiy cci id, d y idipb

cdi dcibi bi bdi i i. Ty ,hereore, essenially psychic in origin, which is probably he reason

ha impelled Kan o regard hem as a priori caegories. Bu i space

and ime are only apparenly properies o bodies in moion and are

creaed by he inellecual needs o he observer, hen heir relaivisa-

i by pycic cdii i t i b

is brough wihin he bounds o possibiliy. This possibiliy presens

isel when he psyche observes, no exernal bodies, bu itsel.24

In he case o he parapsychic experimens, he subjecs dono see he shapes on he cards hrough some magicalpower o clairvoyance, or he inormaion does no reach

21 Jung, Synchroniciy,, 435.22 Ibid., 435.23 Ibid., 436.24 Ibid., 436.


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hem rom he ouside bu rom he inside. Thus or Junghe disincion beween inner and ouer is no as clear-cuas i is or Freud and wha he later calls realiy esingassessing wheher an inernal percepion corresponds oan exernal objecis no such a sraighorward mater.25These inner processes can become drawn o he subjecs a-enion by he seeming impossibiliy o he ask, or as wesaw above archeypal conens emerge in a sae o impasseor hopelessness and i is generally wih he archeypes hawe are dealing in synchronisic phenomena. The dream ohe golden scarab, or insance, occurred a a criical mo-men o deadlock in he paiens reamen, and he scarab

is supposedly a amiliar archeypal symbol o rebirh. Sincehe collecive unconscious is universal and unlocalisable,and by naure he same across every case, here is he ever-presen possibiliy ha wha is aking place a any one imein he collecive psyche o an individual is also happeningin oher individuals or organisms or hings or siuaions.26Ti i w ppy ccd i cbdream; i was a conscious represenaion deriving rom hecausally inexplicable unconscious knowledge o he evens

o he ollowing days session wih her docor.W i pi , ccdi J, i kw-

edge, or immediacy o psychic images which does nodi pcpi.27 T cci ipio his unconscious knowledge comes upon he subjec likeany oher sponaneous hough and can only be veried as yciic ccc f pyic bnoed. This suggess ha here may be many such examples i ixpicb kwd wic cid

c bc pyic wi wic i cpd i wid by p w i ppd. My

25 C. Sigmund Freud, A Meapsychological Supplemen o he Theory oDreams, in Sandard Ediion o he Complee Psychological Works o SigmundFreud, 14, rans. James Srachey (London: Hogarh, 1957), 231-4.26 Jung, Synchroniciy, 481.27 Ibid., 446.


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xpicd i yi i pcii, d i, xp wic i i by J, w pci d kw w d did.Wha happens in such cases is a kind ocreatio ex nihilo, anac o creaion ha is no causally explicable, somehingruled ou as inconceivable by any niis philosophy.28 Thew iy ib ipdi c i ,y, y pycic i ipi di iby i i, d y xcii ii-ion amouns only o a reorganisaion o his maerial, andsecondly, ha he necessary consisency o he ime-series

precludes i. As Kan argues, i somehing were o arrive ou i wd d b pi iin which i was not, bu o wha will you asen his poin oime, i no o wha is already here?29 Boh objecions, how-, c i i yciic p:he rs by he inexplicable non-sensible knowledge suchxpic xibi d cd by pycic iiyo ime and is aboliion in he unconscious.

S w J i y cpd i

i i cci i ik a pioi kwd idi pc wic ck y c bi.30I such evens were a case o causaliy hen eiher he dreamor vision which oresees a uure or simulaneous even

cd k pc i kiic wy physical even caused he psychical process, reroacivelypii i w. I i c, y J, w cp i wb qi ii.31 Tiqi ii i, c, w pib

iip xpii cpdc bw bjcand represenaion ha Kan gives in he leter o Marcus

28 Jung, Synchroniciy, 480.29 Immanuel Kan, Criique o Pure Reason, rans. Werner S. Pluhar (India-napolis: Hacket, 1996), A188 / B231.30 Jung, Synchroniciy, 447.31 Ibid., 483.


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Herz. Wha Jung does, however, is o displace he erms ohe quesion by presening a third alernaive ha Kan didno, and indeed could no, have considered.

Ti id i i unus mundus ypi,suggesing ha he wo relaed ermshe psychical experi-ence and he physical evenake place on anoher planeprior o heir diereniaion, and boh he knowledge andhe even isel could be said o be is respecive maniesa-i. I wd, ii iy [i] xpiisel in he psychic sae as in he physical.32 So wih regardo he wo alernaives Kan poses, his would be neiher arecepive nor a producive inuiion, bu sill neverheless

a orm o inelligible correspondence beween hough andobjec, one ha is no mediaed hrough he senses. As suchhe problem o ransmission is overcome, bu wha exaclyorms he correspondence beween he wo saes i i is no c ci? J w i qi pan a priori meaning or equivalence, which exiss indepen-denly o he psyche:

Iand i seems plausiblehe meaningul coincidence or cross-

cci c b xpid cy, cciprinciple mus lie in he equal signifcance o parallel evens; in oher

words, heir tertium comparationis is meaning. We are so accusomed o

regard meaning as a psychic process or conen ha i never eners

our heads o suppose ha i could also exis ouside he psyche. Bu

we do know a leas enough abou he psyche no o atribue o i any

ic pw, d i c w tib y ic pw

cci id. I, , w i ypi d

he same (ranscendenal) meaning migh manies isel simulane-

y i pyc d i x didpd , w c c i cic wi ci

scienic and episemological views.33

So or Jung his is he leas mysical, mos scienically rig-

32 Jung, Synchroniciy, 452.33 Ibid., 482.


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orous explanaion ha does jusice o he empirical daawihou ascribing o he psyche a power ha ar exceeds isempirical range o acion, namely inellecual inuiion.34Hw, by idi tibi his pic ppw pyc J ik cibi i , qyexravagan aculy. For when he hreshold o conscious-ness is sufcienly lowered so ha unconscious, archeypalconens can penerae ino our conscious mind his cangran us access o wha Jung calls, in quoaion marks orcauion, absolue knowledge, poining o he presence inhe microcosm o macrocosmic evens.35 The microcosmhere, which like he Leibnizian monad reecs he whole o

realiy, is he collecive unconscious.Ti i pci wic ciy dsomewha anasic because i aims o render inelligible occi i wic i iy iccib i. S i c Swdb ppic ii, ic,we are no dealing wih paranormal oreknowledge, or sill pyckii, b wi w diic ii same event ha are conneced by meaning or signicance.Since in he unconscious psyche ime and space no longer

ppy d kwd d i i pc-i cii wic pc i pc, i i, i cci d dp ii pi i direcion o consciousness, i is hen possible or parallelevens o be perceived or known.36 Such a knowledge can-no be deliberaely uilised, however, since such evens areby heir naure rare and incapable o being premediaed.

Towards a Neutral Language

For Jung, he psyche is no exclusively localised o cogni-ive aciviy, i ress also on a nervous subsrae like hesympaheic sysem, which is absoluely dieren rom he

34 Jung, Synchroniciy, 482.35 Ibid., 489.36 Ibid., 481.


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cerebrospinal sysem in poin o origin and uncion, [andwic] c idy pdc d pcpi jas easily as he later.37 Jung illusraes his wih anecdoalaccouns o people in comas seeing or knowing whais going on around hem and giving deailed repors owha hey saw upon regaining consciousness, as well as hebehaviour o lower organisms such as bees, which in heirmuch-discussed communicaive movemens (or dances)display ranscerebral hough and percepion.38 This non-cerebral, bodily orm o knowledge is, or Jung, an exemplar pycid ppy i i t ,broadly conceived, is no conned o he human mind bu

pervades ha which is is objec. Bu his is no a simplepanpsychism, suggesing ha waer, plans or rocks possessa rudimenary orm o conscious percepion, alhough i isundoubedly redolen o i. For such a noion could sill beconsidered a dualism, exending he capaciy or hough oinanimae objecs while upholding is excepional saus.39R, J y dw dijci bw

d pii bi, ic i i y ywhich sricly upholds such a disincion ha he synchron-

iciy phenomena remain inconceivable. These later do noc ic bid c w ppi, bii y ypic cci bw dexernal realiy while orever keeping hem separaed by anirreducible chasm, bu poin o a way o re-conceiving herelaionship isel. For a bridge would merely be a means op cici bw id ii, di cpdc c y b ccid ccdi relaion o causaliy. Raher, Jung oers us a way o escaping

he problem, appearing o show ha here is some possi-biliy o geting rid o he incommensurabiliy beween he

37 Jung, Synchroniciy, 510-11.38 Ibid., 511.39 As a cavea i should be noed ha panpsychism is a ar rom homoge-neous concep and he charge o dualism would no necessarily apply oall o is varians.


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observed and he observer. The resul, in ha case would bea uniy o being which would have o be expressed in erms w ccp , W. Pionce called i.40 Neural because i does no disinguish ordiscriminae beween wha is inner and wha is ouer, heknower and he known.

Jus as in Jungs analyic reamen he archeypes areconsellaed a a poin o impasse o disclose a hihero un-hinkable means o escape, so Jung himsel shows us a line dc ip id. A is considered as an onological excepion we will be oreverbarred access o he in-isel. The posulae o psychophysi-

c ycii, , iy ccpi wseemingly conradicory demands: Firsly, by redrawing heonological lines o demarcaion i abolishes he specialsaus o hough, bringing i down rom is lonely owerd i ci wi cii cic iic reaing consciousness as undamenally no dieren romany oher physical phenomenon. Bu secondly, in doing so, i edued b y cd d nie limis and is enslavemen o recepiviy. In passing i

cd b d i i pp w di Parmenidean dicum ha hinking and being are he same,wihou resoring o an idealis privileging o he ormerover he later.

The obvious objecion presens isel ha his is merely aii pcd Mix c absoluising hecorrelation.41 Wha I have ried o show here however, is haar rom an absoluised reciprociy o hinking and being,

J pycid b k pcpio ci d

bi cd diii ibjc d bjc, d i. Ni id iip c b ccid i c i y , bi i ygiven ; i i wy w

i qid. T w di

40 Jung, Synchroniciy, 512.41 Meillassoux,Aer Finitude, 37.


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Mix dic, i c w b his procedure could be quie comorably mapped ono hao Jung. As we have shown, Jung oo recognises he necessiy ii ci wi Ki ii id co dogmaism, while breaking ree o hem o allow hougho exceed isel and access an absolue independen o andpi . O i Mix , J cp cii cic wii y piian auonomous real. Secondly, jus as Meillassoux proceedso access an absolue ruh via he logical explicaion o aninuiion (o aciciy), so Jungs absolue is approached viaraional demonsraion ollowing he inuiion o causally

ixpicb p. I b c w p i wb qi ii b i i bdy dconvincingly sidesepped hrough an imaginaive specula-i i.42 Ad y, i i unus mundus yy di c-iii Mixhyper-chaos or Graham Harmans vicarious causaion? I isperhaps ime or Jung o be re-claimed or philosophy andrescued rom his mos erven New Age admirers as muchas his erces raionalis deracors.

42 The name o a piece o music by Florian Hecker composed in collabora-ion wih Urbanomic, released on Ediions Mego, 2011.

haworth_synchronicity and correlationism

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