'One world': logical and ethical implications of holism
Abstract
The aim of this project is to determine the logical and ethical implications of holism. Across many areas of contemporary culture we hear the concept of holism being invoked, as in holistic science, holistic spirituality, holistic healthcare, and holistic education. While there are different varieties of holism, each case implies a perspective in which the whole of a system is considered to be more important than the sum of its parts.
This project will provide an in-depth explanation and comparison of concepts of wholeness in the work of two influential twentieth-century thinkers in this area: the Swiss depth psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) and the French post-structuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1923-1993). The research will have a particular focus on the field of psychotherapy, in the context of ongoing professional, academic, and policy debates about the effectiveness, and consequent funding, of psychotherapy in which non-holistic, more reductive therapeutic models seems to be favoured because of their greater amenability to quantitative evaluation through random controlled trials, specifically in relation to the NHS programme 'Improving Access to Psychological Therapies'.
Advocates of holism associate it with desirable qualities such as inclusion, integration, balance, and wider vision and champion it as a remedy for the fragmentation that is considered to beset the modern world. Critics argue that holism is vague, erases differences, and, by subordinating individual elements to a superior whole, ultimately leads to totalitarianism. This project will examine why holism attracts these strong positive and negative valuations and which point of view, if either, is the better warranted.
Further, holism is usually discussed in relation to a particular system which itself can be considered to be part of a wider whole and ultimately of the widest whole: the total 'system' which is referred to by some holists as the 'one world'. The project will examine the nature of such underpinning concepts of ultimate wholeness, how these concepts relate to the multiplicities of experience, and the links between a particular concept of ultimate wholeness and the positive or negative ethical valuations attaching to holistic thought.
This project will provide an in-depth explanation and comparison of concepts of wholeness in the work of two influential twentieth-century thinkers in this area: the Swiss depth psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) and the French post-structuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1923-1993). The research will have a particular focus on the field of psychotherapy, in the context of ongoing professional, academic, and policy debates about the effectiveness, and consequent funding, of psychotherapy in which non-holistic, more reductive therapeutic models seems to be favoured because of their greater amenability to quantitative evaluation through random controlled trials, specifically in relation to the NHS programme 'Improving Access to Psychological Therapies'.
Advocates of holism associate it with desirable qualities such as inclusion, integration, balance, and wider vision and champion it as a remedy for the fragmentation that is considered to beset the modern world. Critics argue that holism is vague, erases differences, and, by subordinating individual elements to a superior whole, ultimately leads to totalitarianism. This project will examine why holism attracts these strong positive and negative valuations and which point of view, if either, is the better warranted.
Further, holism is usually discussed in relation to a particular system which itself can be considered to be part of a wider whole and ultimately of the widest whole: the total 'system' which is referred to by some holists as the 'one world'. The project will examine the nature of such underpinning concepts of ultimate wholeness, how these concepts relate to the multiplicities of experience, and the links between a particular concept of ultimate wholeness and the positive or negative ethical valuations attaching to holistic thought.
Planned Impact
The principal non-academic beneficiaries of the research will be psychotherapists. Engagement activities will also target environmentalists, educationalists, political activists, and religious practitioners, wherever these groups hold, or have to engage with, the view that the systems with which they work are wholes and/or are parts within larger wholes. But the project team will primarily attend to impact on the field of psychotherapy. For example, depending on the findings of the project, psychotherapists could be given an impetus to pay either greater or lesser attention to the 'whole person' and to the person's 'total context' in determining treatment. This is particularly relevant in the context of ongoing professional, academic, and policy debates about the effectiveness and consequent funding of psychotherapy, in which non-holistic therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are arguably privileged over longer-term therapies which, even when not specifically identified as holistic, are generally better able to attend to patients as whole persons. Better understanding of the concepts of the whole that can underpin holism, and of the ethical implications of the concepts, will enrich debates about efficacy and funding by providing an overall more nuanced understanding of holistic approaches to therapy and what is at stake in accepting or rejecting them. Such enhanced understanding is in turn likely to lead to improvements in therapy and consequently also in patient outcomes. These and related issues will be explored in a symposium on holism in psychotherapy, which will be organised by the Co-Investigator specifically for psychotherapists.
More broadly, the project could have impact within any area of social or cultural activity in which holistic perspectives figure, inasmuch as the project will generate greater understanding of, and prompt greater reflection on, the implications of such perspectives, including ethical implications. In view of the social and cultural prevalence of holistic perspectives and the strong positive and negative valuations they receive, it is important that judgements about the weight that should be given to such perspectives in any area be based on well-informed consideration.
More broadly, the project could have impact within any area of social or cultural activity in which holistic perspectives figure, inasmuch as the project will generate greater understanding of, and prompt greater reflection on, the implications of such perspectives, including ethical implications. In view of the social and cultural prevalence of holistic perspectives and the strong positive and negative valuations they receive, it is important that judgements about the weight that should be given to such perspectives in any area be based on well-informed consideration.
Organisations
Publications
Henderson D
(2020)
Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole
Main R
(2020)
Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole
Main R
(2020)
Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole
Main, R.
(2019)
Synchronicity and holism
Main, R.
(2020)
Holism: Possibilities and Problems
McMillan C
(2020)
Jung, Deleuze, and the Problematic Whole
McMillan C
(2019)
Jung and Philosophy
| Description | The term 'holism' has a wide range of applications at different levels of culture and in different disciplines, and in each of these contexts its salience fluctuates. Though the term was coined in 1926, the ideas and outlooks to which it refers go back to ancient times and appear globally. Our research, focusing on the psychology of Carl Jung (1875-1961) and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), has found that modern, twentieth-century holistic thought in the West often, perhaps usually, emerged as a form of critique of mainstream culture, particularly of cultural features associated with disenchantment (rationalism, mechanism, dualism, reductionism, instrumental reason, bureaucratisation). Part of the reason for the strong positive and negative valuations of holism is the degree of a person's alienation from or investment in the criticised mainstream culture. One strand of our research has found that, contrary to disenchantment, which is rooted in the metaphysics of theism whereby nature and the divine are considered ontologically separate, much holistic thought has its roots in panentheistic metaphysics, in which nature is considered to be an expression or aspect of the divine. This metaphysics underpins, usually implicitly, many of the positive claims made for holism in relation to, for example, ecology, healthcare, education, social and political relations, and spirituality. It also, negatively for some, associates holism with heterodox traditions of Hermetic and mystical thought. Another, converging strand of our research, focusing on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century debates about vitalism that were of interest to both Jung and Deleuze, has identified the importance of relations of interiority or exteriority in determining different kinds of holism and their ethical implications. The relations of interiority in organicistic holism imply that the whole is pre-given and closed, which could potentially give rise to forms of totalitarian and exclusionary thought. In Deleuze's criticisms of organicism and postulation of relations of exteriority it is possible to identify an alternative form of rhizomatic or 'transversal' holism, as well as a corresponding 'material vitalism', in which the whole remains always open and creative. Despite Jung's affinity with a range of pre-modern organicistic thinkers, his own dynamic concept of the whole can also be understood as open and creative, with concepts such as psychic reality (esse in anima), the psychoid archetype, and synchronicity providing openings onto relations of exteriority. The encounter between Jung's psychology and Deleuze's philosophy fosters an enhanced reflexivity in both, ensuring that any holism ascribed to these thinkers is a critical holism, one that challenges rather than reinforces the boundaries of systems. In relation to psychotherapy, we found ample interest in holism within humanistic traditions and analytical psychology but limited interest within psychoanalysis. In many cases, the strong association of holism with complementary and alternative medicine was considered problematic. There is some discussion of Deleuze (and Felix Guatarri)'s concept of 'schizoanalysis' in psychoanalytic literature, but practically no application to clinical practice. These findings have been reported in a series of eleven articles/chapters (nine published, one in press, one in progress), as well as in two edited volumes stemming from a workshop and a conference: JUNG, DELEUZE, AND THE PROBLEMATIC WHOLE (2021) and HOLISM: POSSIBILITIES AND PROBLEMS (2020), both published in the Philosophy and Psychoanalysis Series at Routledge. |
| Exploitation Route | To an extent compatible with their other commitments, all three members of the project team will continue to publish and present on the research themes for an indefinite period beyond the end of the project. The publication of the outcomes from the project (articles and books) will provide the basis for enhanced dissemination activities. We envisage further presentations to psychotherapy organisations, interdisciplinary academic conferences, and holistic hubs such as the Scientific and Medical Network, the Esalen Institute, and the Pari Centre for New Learning. The PI plans to extend his research and engagement into the field of holistic education, especially at tertiary level. The feedback from our conference in September 2017 (https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/conferences/holism-possibilities-and-problem-conference-feedback-and-evaluation/) suggests that it had considerable impact on many of our attendees. The project website will continue to be enhanced to provide an enduring, easily maintained resource, where outputs related to the project can be readily accessed. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Other |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/stage-1-introductory-comments-on-holism/ |
| Description | Among the very substantial feedback received following our conference 'Holism: possibilities and problems' in September 2017 are several statements about how attendees have already been impacted by that event. 97% of attendees who responded (n = 36) felt that their understanding of holism had been enhanced. 94% of attendees who responded (n = 36) expected that their experience at the conference would have an impact on their work/professional life. In discursive feedback, attendees, who included practitioners as well as academics, commented that they felt the conference had contributed to, for example, enhancements in their practice, clarification of what is holistic, extended networking related to the topic, in one case how they would deliver professional therapy training courses, in another case how they would apply holistic thought to an ongoing project on disability history, and in general a broadening of awareness about the kinds of holistic thought and the range of domains where it has been applied. The relevant sections of the feedback can be viewed here: https://oneworldprojectholism.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/section-3-conference-feedback-and-evaluation3.pdf. One of the aims of the project is to enhance critical reflection among holistic thinkers and practitioners. The feedback provides evidence that that is already taking place. In addition to this feedback, the project has continued (through to March 2023) to generate invitations to present related material to a wide range of psychotherapeutic, academic, and general audiences, locally, nationally, and above all internationally, as evidenced by the list of engagement activities associated with the award. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Healthcare,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | 'The Nekyia journey and wholeness in the thought of Jung and Deleuze' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Christian McMillan presented a talk entitled 'The Nekyia journey and wholeness in the thought of Jung and Deleuze' at a conference on 'Descent of the soul: Katabasis and depth psychology' held at the Freud Museum, London, 5-6 July 2019. The talk compared the theme of the 'nekyia' in Jung and Deleuze, in particular in relation to their contrasting responses to James Joyce's novel Ulysses and seemingly different valuations of organicistic wholeness. Aside from questions and discussion, the main outcome of the talk was a request from the organisers to publish it in in written form in a forthcoming edited volume. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://katabasisdepthpsychology.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/the-descent-of-the-soul-katabasis-and-dept... |
| Description | Convergent evolution conference (Rome) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A paper presented to an audience of holistic practitioners and non-specialists in depth psychology, psychotherapy and complexity theorists entitled 'Beyond mechanism and finalism: alternative conceptions of temporality in Bergson, Jung and Deleuze' was given by project researcher Dr Christian McMillan to the Scientific and Medical Network in Rome (September-October 2017). The paper dealt with mechanistic and finalistic accounts of time as 'whole' in the thought of French philosopher Henri Bergson, a pivotal figure in the thought of both C.G. Jung and Gilles Deleuze. The paper responded to logical and ethical problems concerning the power of creative change and connection in accounts of time that reduce change to the realisation of the possible. Evidence of this can be found in the thought of C.G. Jung which the philosophy of Deleuze can help to expose and revaluate. The paper stimulated lively discussion and requests for further information. Reference to the talk is included in the conference report in Network Review: Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network 2016/3: 29-30. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://explore.scimednet.org/index.php/dr-christian-mcmillan-beyond-mechanism-and-finalism-alternat... |
| Description | Holism conference -- University of Essex |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team organised an international conference at the University of Essex from 8 to 10 September 2017 on the theme 'Holism: possibilities and problems'. The aim of the conference was both to disseminate the findings of the project so far and to stimulate further dialogues. There were 13 invited plenary speakers, including the 9 specialists (including the project team) who participated in the invitational workshop that immediately preceded the conference on 6 and 7 September 2017. Other speakers were selected based on abstracts submitted in response to an open call for papers. Altogether, the conference attracted 49 speakers from at least 16 countries (Australia, China, Japan, India, USA, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Greece, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, and the UK). The speakers included both established and emerging scholars and practitioners, who, reflecting the inherently interdisciplinary nature of holism, represented a wide range of disciplinary perspectives: ecology, education, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, physics, poetry, psychology, psychosocial and psychoanalytic studies, psychotherapy and counselling, theology and religion, and refugee studies, among others. The conference included, on the Friday evening, a public talk, reading, and discussion by the internationally acclaimed poet Richard Berengarten. The full conference programme can be viewed at: https://oneworldprojectholism.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/panel-distribution-holism-conference-for-publication.pdf. A feedback questionnaire for the conference invited attendees to comment on the relevance of the conference for their particular study, practice, or interest, and to signal their willingness to share follow-up observations. A summary of this feedback can be viewed at: https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/conferences/holism-possibilities-and-problem-conference-feedback-and-evaluation/. A selection of 19 papers from the conference is currently being edited for publication in a volume with the expected title HOLISM: POSSIBILITIES AND PROBLEMS. (These do not include the 9 papers by the workshop participants, the full versions of which will be published in a separate edited volume.) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/conferences/ |
| Description | Holism workshop -- University of Essex |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The project team organised a two-day workshop involving six invited specialists (in addition to the project team) held at the University of Essex on 6 and 7 September 2018. (One invited specialist had to participate by proxy due to ill health.) The aim of the workshop was to bring the findings of the project into dialogue with wider academic and professional communities. Of the nine participants one was a psychotherapist, one was a psychotherapist as well as an academic, and another two were holistic practitioners as well as academics. Each participant presented a full-length paper which was discussed in depth by the other participants. Presenters also delivered shorter versions of their papers to the 'Holism: possibilities and problems' international conference, which immediately followed the workshop on 8 to 10 September 2017, where their ideas received wider discussion and dissemination. The nine workshop papers are being prepared for publication in an edited volume with the expected title JUNG, DELEUZE, AND THE PROBLEMATIC WHOLE. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | International online talk on the concept of the 'unus mundus' (one world) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Roderick Main delivered a talk and held a discussion on ''The cultural significance for Jung of the concept of the unus mundus', as an invited lecture in the series 'The Unus Mundus', for The Centre for Applied Jungian Studies, an organisation based in South Africa that aims to explore possibilities for applying the ideas of Jungian psychology in and beyond the clinic and academy. Around 60 international attendees from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds engaged in animated discussion and chat about the content of the talk. Professor Main has since been invited to present again to this group in April 2023 on the topic 'Holism, synchronicity, and meaning'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://appliedjung.com/jungian-mystery-school-2022/#Modules |
| Description | Invitational symposium -- Esalen, Big Sur, California |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Principal Investigator Professor Roderick Main participated in the international invitational symposium on 'Mind, matter, and the new real' organised by the Centre for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, 3 to 7 December 2017. His presentation was titled 'Egoless awareness, numinous matter, and the scope of C. G. Jung's holism'. The aim of this presentation was to demonstrate, contra widespread scholarly opinion, that Jung's thoroughgoing holism extended, in his later thought, to encompassing even some of the further reaches of introvertive mystical experience, while the limitations he nevertheless placed on such experience can also be understood holistically as expressing his implicitly panentheistic metaphysics. The organisation hosting this presentation, the Esalen Institute, has been one of the world's most influential centres of holistic theory and practice for over fifty years (see https://www.esalen.org/ctr). The research association with Esalen is likely to be ongoing, providing both a continuing source of data and insight into some important areas of the project's concerns and an influential route for the dissemination of findings from the research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com |
| Description | Invited talk -- Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On Friday 13 July Principal Investigator Professor Roderick Main gave a presentation on 'Holism in psychotherapy: some historical, philosophical, and practical observations' at the University of Essex and Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust's fourth joint annual research conference, on the theme of 'Mental health research for the 21st century: shaping evidence, policy and practice', The Tavistock Centre, London. (See downloadable programme at the URL below.) The presentation outlined the '"One World": logical and ethical implications of holism' project, focusing on its potential relevance for psychotherapy; reviewed some definitions and characterisations of holism; offered observations on the history of holism, including its cultural reception; noted some of the metaphysical and ethical issues associated with holism; and finally discussed the relevance of holism for psychotherapy and in particular psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, suggesting that forms of 'critical holism' may be useful for preventing the dominance of narrow models of mental health. The presentation prompted discussion and requests for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/news-and-events/conferences-events/mental-health-research-21st-ce... |
| Description | Invited talk to Thiasos, Brazil |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr David Henderson, co-investigator on the 'One World' project, presented on 27 November 2020 some of his findings regarding how Jungian analytical psychology can be 'amplified'/enriched by connections with Deleuze's philosophy. The presentation was titled (in Portuguese) 'Amplificações Deleuzianas da Psicologia Analítica' and was delivered virtually to a study group in Brazil. The talk sparked interest in the important but little-known connections between the thought of two major twentieth-century thinkers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online seminar for International Association for Jungian Studies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr David Henderson held a week-long online discussion on the topic of 'Deleuzian amplifications of analytical psychology' between 11 and 18 July 2021. The aim was to disseminate insights acquired during the '"One World": logical and ethical implications of holism' AHRC research project to an audience primarily of psychotherapeutic practitioners and scholars of analytical psychology. Dr Henderson offered a one-hour lecture/seminar on 11 July, a one-hour seminar on 18 July, and an email discussion forum throughout the period 11 to 18 July. The event provoked lively discussion and interest. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://jungstudies.net/category/onlineseminars/deleuzian-amplifications-of-analytical-psychology/ |
| Description | Open seminar -- University of Essex |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Titled after the research project '"One world": logical and ethical implications of holism' and delivered at the University of Essex on 10 May 2017 by the two University of Essex-based members of the project team, Professor Roderick Main and Dr Christian McMillan, this open seminar reported on some of the interim findings of the project as it approached its mid-point. Main's contribution outlined the aims of the project and then concisely discussed the varieties of holism, the metaphysics of holism, and the ethics of holism, proposing that holism needs to remain critical and creative and to operate with a concept of the whole as open. McMillan's contribution critically discussed organicistic holism in relation to Kant and proposed 'ontological transversal holism', based on the thought of Bergson and Deleuze and also involving the concept of an 'open whole', as an ethically less problematic alternative. The presentations stimulated some engaged questioning from the audience, which consisted primarily of members of the general public, mental health practitioners, and postgraduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/open-seminar/ |
| Description | Plenary panel at IAJS international conference -- South Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Under the general title 'Jung, Deleuze, and the problematic whole', the three members of the project team, Professor Roderick Main, Dr David Henderson, and Dr Christian McMillan, presented a plenary panel of three related papers at the International Association for Jungian Studies conference on 'The Spectre of the Other' in Cape Town, South Africa, from 27 to 30 July 2017. The aim was to bring the interim findings of the project to the attention of a mixed academic and professional audience of parties interested in one of our central theorists, C. G. Jung. Henderson in a talk titled 'Deleuze and psychoanalysis' discussed resonances between the thought of Jung and Deleuze and their implications for the practice of psychotherapy. McMillan in his talk titled 'The basis of autonomy in Jung's model of the psyche: the problematic of the Other as a ground of constitutive finitude' offered a Deleuzian critique that presents provocative challenges to Jung's concept of the whole. Main's talk 'Creative holism: metaphysics for engaging wholeness' explored the possibility of articulating a concept of the whole that remains consistent with Jung's thought yet can answer the Deleuzian critique. The presentations stimulated discussion at the time as well as requests for further information and invitations to engage in future activity. McMillan, for example, was invited to contribute to an edited volume on PHILOSOPHIZING JUNG, for which he subsequently submitted a chapter on 'Jung and aesthetics', using the work of Deleuze as a major point of reference. McMillan, Henderson, and Main are all currently drawing on their presentations for this conference in writing articles for submission before the end of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com/2016/12/11/holism-possibilities-and-problems/ |
| Description | Psychoanalytic psychotherapy training seminars -- Philadelphia Association, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr David Henderson presented a series of three seminars on Jung, Bion, and Deleuze to the Philadelphia Association psychoanalytic psychotherapy training group in February 2018. One seminar explored the relationship between Deleuze and psychoanalysis. The seminar was informed by Dr Henderson's work on the AHRC project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Symposium on holism and analytic training -- Middlesex University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team, led in this by Co-Investigator Dr David Henderson, organised a one-day symposium on 25 November 2017 on 'Holism and Analytic Training' at the Centre for Psychoanalysis, Middlesex University. Dr Henderson hosted the symposium. The principal discussants were Dr Werner Prall (Centre for Psychoanalysis, Middlesex; Guild of Psychotherapists) and George Bright (Society of Analytical Psychology). The symposium was predominantly national in scope, though one participant joined from the Netherlands. The purpose of the symposium was to examine the significance of holistic thought within the field of psychotherapy. An intended outcome of the project has been to facilitate a better understanding of the concepts of the whole that can underpin holism, and of the ethical implications of the concepts, which could contribute to debates about efficacy and funding, providing an overall more nuanced understanding of holistic approaches to psychotherapy. During the morning session participants focused on 'What are we trying to teach,' a discussion of the curriculum of analytic training. In the afternoon session they discussed 'How much is enough,' a consideration of what qualities and accomplishments are expected of a candidate at the end of training. These questions provided a platform for critical discussion among representatives from training committees of the following organisations: Guild of Psychotherapists, Westminster Pastoral Foundation, Association of Jungian Analysts, West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy, Association for Group and Individual Psychotherapy, Netherlands Association of Analytical Psychologists, and Association of independent Psychotherapists. The discussions on the day were stimulating and contributed to shifts in the views and actions of at least some of the participants: for example, one felt that thinking around the subject of holism could broaden her ideas about the curriculum of analytic training in general; another reported that the symposium had helped with his struggle to apply a holistic lens to therapeutic training through development of a holistic-integrative model; and yet another commented that she would use the insight and experience gained from the symposium to make stronger statements to her own training organisation. The overall sense, however, was that holism as a concept does not currently have much purchase within psychoanalysis and similar depth psychological forms of psychotherapy. This finding emerged from the discussion and may also be reflected in the fact that, while original provision was made for 50 participants and dissemination of information about the event was carefully targeted, only about 20 therapists signed up, and of these several withdrew either as the day approached or on the day. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://oneworldprojectholism.wordpress.com |
| Description | Talk on 'Jung's critical holism' at conference on Re-enchanting the world: Narratives of wholeness |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Roderick Main presented a talk on 'Jung's critical holism' to a group of participants from a range of professions and stages of life. The aims were to disseminate some of the findings of the '"One world": logical and ethical implications of holism' project, to explore the conference theme of re-enchantment and wholeness, and to advance the aims of the Pari Centre for New Learning (a significant European centre for holistic learning and practice). There were about 20 participants in total during the six-day conference. The conference involved a productive exchange of ideas, which some of the participants found transformative. Otherwise, the main outcome was an invitation to present at another event the following year and being consulted regarding possible presenters at that forthcoming event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://paricenter.com/event/re-enchanting-the-world-narratives-of-wholeness/ |