The Union of Opposites in Nietzsche’s and Jung’s View

Abstract

This thesis examines the problem of the union of opposites in Nietzsche’s and Jung’s view. The first part focuses on The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music. In this early work Nietzsche examines the primordial, mystical roots of ancient Greek tragedy and solves the problem of opposites by uniting the Dionysian and the Apollonian. According to Nietzsche, the union of the Dionysian and the Apollonian gave birth to Greek tragedy, which he considered to be the greatest achievement of ancient Greek culture. The second part gives a brief overview of the process of individuation in Jung’s depth psychology. The target of this process is to reach the Self, which according to Jung includes both opposites, consciousness and the Unconscious. Jung suggests uniting the opposites by gradually integrating the Unconscious into consciousness and thus reaching the greatness, namely the Self. The third part examines the direct, as well as the indirect influence Nietzsche might have had on Jung by juxtaposing their ideas and drawing parallels between Nietzsche’s concept of the Dionysian and Jung’s understanding of the Unconscious.