title: Soul in the world: symbolic culture as the medium for psyche.
abstract: Whilst the loss of a sense of living connection with the material world is mainly associated with the scientific revolution in seventeenth century Europe, it can be traced back to Plato's introduction of a hierarchy between soul and body. Jung's attempted solution to this - esse in anima - is ingenious but maintains the Cartesian split by which the aliveness of the world is reduced to a projection of psychic forces (the archetypes). An alternative approach is proposed, rooted in the Aristotelean emphasis on practical activity that sees the soul as a function of our way of being in the world. Human cognition is extended and distributed by our social and material engagement with the world, especially via collective representations whose symbolic character is constitutive of the reality of the world in which we live. Despite the dominance of 'scientific Cartesian' representations in the modern Western world, there remain numerous instances of participation mystique that cannot be captured by the Cartesian notion of projection. These indicate an opening to ways of being in the world that may lead us out of the impasse of the Cartesian matrix.
authors.affiliation: St. Albans, UK.
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Colman
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D007602:Jungian Theory; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical
keywords: Cartesian split; Verbreitung von Wissen; anima mundi; cartesianischer Dualismus; clivage cartésien; cognición distribuida; collective representations; connaissance diffusée; constitutive symbols; disociación Cartesiana; distributed cognition; distribuzione del pensiero; kollektive Repräsentationen; konstitutive Symbole; pacпpeдeлeннoe пoзнaниe; participation mystique; rappresentazioni collettive; representaciones colectivas; représentations collectives; scissione cartesiana; simboli costitutivi; symboles constitutifs; símbolos constitutivos; кapтeзиaнcкoe pacщeплeниe; кoллeктивныe peпpeзeнтaции; кoнcтитуциoнaльныe cимвoлы; миcтичecкoe coучacтиe; 本质的象征; 神秘参与; 笛卡尔分裂; 认知的散播; 阿尼玛世界; 集体性表征