Archetype

The term archetype or archetypus (from the ancient Greek ἀρχέτυπον archétypon, German 'Urbild, Original') refers in philosophical usage first to Plato and his concept of the Idea, who means by it the metaphysical entity in which sensually perceptible things participate. According to Plato, the idea, or abstract metaphysical figure, is the true thing, since it alone is eternal, identical, and perfect. Such general archetypes can be found today, for example, in the representations of biology books as a primordial plant (Goethe) as a uniform structural plan or type of all flowering plants with the components root, stem, leaves and flower or as the basic pattern of an insect, a vertebrate, etc. This is an ideal pattern of a plant. This is an ideal-typical image of all insects, all vertebrates, etc., i.e. an archetype in each case. Living beings (plants or animals) with the same blueprint are also called homologous. Each blueprint represents a formal, anatomically or histologically verifiable criterion, but is also bound to a certain specific performance plan.

Archetypes are thus regarded as noumenon (mind thing) as opposed to phainomenon (sense thing). Archetypes are generally non-descriptive, non-empirical and therefore belong more to intuitive thinking.

Archetype was introduced into philosophy as a term by René Descartes and John Locke. The archetypes are the basis for ideas.

For Locke, archetypes also exist outside the cognizing subject (in: An Essay on the Human Mind). The subjective idealist George Berkeley, on the other hand, does not recognize the archetype outside the cognizing subject, since one cannot prove that it also exists. The question is whether we perceive the world as it is, or only as we construct it to ourselves.

Immanuel Kant used the term archetype in connection with "natura archetypa". He used it to refer to the archetypal nature that man recognizes only in reason and whose counterpart in the world of the senses is the imitated (natura ectypa) (in: Critique of Practical Reason). - In the Critique of Pure Reason, the term is used in the sense of divine reason (intellectus archetypus) in contrast to human reason (intellectus ectypus). By the divine view and by the self-understanding of God all objects are given by themselves (KrV B 68, 72, 135, 138 f., 145, 159, 723). Human reason (intellectus ectypus) was only discursive (conceptual), not contemplative (Prolegomena § 57). "The ideal [of pure reason] is to it [reason] the archetype (prototypon) of all things, which altogether as defective copies (ectypa) therefore take the material to their possibility [...] (B 606)."

Friedrich Nietzsche took into account the developmental aspect of archetypal images in dreams with the words: "In sleep and dreams we go through the whole pensum of earlier humanity". (Nietzsche)

Henri Bergson considered the archetypes as "les éternels incréés" (the eternally uncreated).

Questions and Answers

Q: What is an archetype?


A: An archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior.

Q: How is the term archetype used in the analysis of personality?


A: The term archetype is often broadly used in the analysis of personality to refer to a stereotype or an epitome of a personality type.

Q: What is the difference between a stereotype and an epitome?


A: A stereotype is an oversimplified personality type observed multiple times, while an epitome is a personality type exemplified as the "greatest" example.

Q: Can a mother figure be considered an archetype?


A: Yes, a mother figure can be considered an archetype.

Q: Where have archetypes been present for hundreds of years?


A: Archetypes have been present in mythology and literature for hundreds of years.

Q: Who advanced the use of archetypes to analyze personality in the early 20th century?


A: Carl Jung advanced the use of archetypes to analyze personality in the early 20th century.

Q: What is the value in using archetypal characters in fiction?


A: The value in using archetypal characters in fiction derives from the fact that a large group of people are able to unconsciously recognize the archetype and thus understand the motivations behind the character's behavior.

AlegsaOnline.com - 2020 / 2023 - License CC3