Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self

by Anthony Stevens

A synthesis of the theory of archetypes, central to Jungian psychology, and the ethological and sociobiological discoveries of the past several decades provides new insights into human behavior and our place in the universe

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

324 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1982

About the author

Anthony Stevens is a well known Jungian analyst and psychiatrist who has written extensively on psychotherapy and psychology.

Stevens has two degrees in psychology and a doctorate in medicine from Oxford University. He studied for a time under John Bowlby. He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists. He lectures regularly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland and elsewhere.

Stevens is the author or co-author of many books and articles on psychology, evolutionary psychiatry, Jungian analysis and the significance of archetypal imagery.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Michael Michailidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A one of a kind work. Stevens dives into the subject of religions and mythologies through the lens of evolutionary biology. What is unique and beautiful about him however is that instead of deconstructing the subject until it vanishes into the illusionary aspects of the human minds, Stevens manages to acknowledge the need for the religious experience by showing its deep coupling with out basic nature.

[Tremayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous book by Dr. Stevens! This thorough analysis of Jung's ideas is nothing but enlightening. I am now more aware of the dire need to individuate and self-actualize. Reading about how humanity has biologically embedded archetypes that are only realized once we have been exposed to the proper real-life experience is amazing. This erudite and scholarly work will be something I read annually.

[Mahipal Lunia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic , filled with brilliant insights
a very good example of cross fertilization of ideas

[Ethan Hammons · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone still diving deep into the world of Jung, I am happy to have stumbled across this book. It weaves Jungian Psychology with Anthropology, Biology, and Neuroscience, providing a more objective scientific view on a subject (archetypes) which Jung illuminated from a symbolic and subjective lens.

This book is also a massive attack on the direction of Western culture. Stevens argues that we are not honoring our archetypal roots and that is why we see such much mental illness and pathology.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and it bridged a lot of disciplines in novel ways. My one critique is that the author sprinkles his personal political opinions throughout the book, and while in some cases this may be appropriate, in others it felt off, such as him telling a personal anecdote of an encounter with a feminist.

It also left me with deeper questions. If the archetypes are the background structures of our psyches, how are new behaviors that transcend the archetypes and operate beyond their scope able to emerge? To be capable of denying our roots implies that new structures acting somewhat autonomously flowered out of them, yet aren't limited by them. Even one of Ken Wilber's laws of reality from Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality, says that "Holons Emerge", but how?

[Dan Tasse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh - I mostly got out of it that archetypal experiences are those that are not really just about you; they're a common experience to... all humans? a bunch of humans? But they're not instincts; I'm not sure why not. This is a cool way to think about stuff - like "this complex, is it mine or is it from my ancestors"? (I think there's not much woo required in this - just that we pass stuff down maybe in genes but definitely in culture)

Fun idea! But I got more out of Jung's Map of the Soul.

[Michael Kulyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accessible introduction to Jungian theory mainly through a non mystical neo Darwinian ethological lens. The central point made by Stevens is that the frustration of archetypal intent results in one sidedness of the personality which forms the basis for compensatory effects these being the basis of dreams, myths and psychopathology. a view which Jung would be 100% in agreement with.
It's not the best introduction to Jung's ideas (Jolande Jacobi's 'The Psychology of C. G. Jung is the best one I've read) as it skims over central ideas like Jung's theory of psychological types. Also it's not in line with Jung's more spiritual view of the objective psyche/collective unconscious. Still it's quite good.