The Problem of Culture and Nature in Carl Gustav Jung’s Psychoanalytical Concept
The Problem of Culture and Nature in Carl Gustav Jung’s Psychoanalytical Concept

Summary/Abstract: According to the classical approach, culture is the opposite of nature, and mankind, as a world-transforming being, is the engine of civilization development. C.G. Jung’s writings contain a non-classical concept of culture, according to which the collective unconscious determines the way of interpreting and understanding reality, and thus the development of culture. The psychiatrist considers mankind as a symbol-forming creature. He wrote about the “symbol drive” which causes the creation of symbols to happen spontaneously. There is a connection between the action of instincts, which have a biological basis, and the archetypal source of symbols. There are forces of nature in the unconscious – in particular, the libido and instincts. Culture arises between the unconscious and consciousness, and at the same time, the process of its development has a species-specific aspect.

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