This lecture will discuss the sources of evil from the point of view of both individual and social psychology. We will compare traditional religious views of evil with psychological approaches. Drawing from both psychoanalytic and Jungian perspectives, we will examine some of the developmental factors which predispose an individual towards evil. Our discussion will include Jung’s notion of the dark side of the Self, or archetypal evil, and its relationship to the personal shadow.
The presenter suggests reading “Understanding Evil.”
Dr. Lionel Corbett trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He is a professor of depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of five books: Psyche and the Sacred: The Religious Function of the Psyche; The Sacred Cauldron: Psychotherapy as a Spiritual Practice; The Soul in Anguish: Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Suffering, and Understanding Evil: A guide for Psychotherapists. He is the co-editor of four volumes of collected papers: Psyche’s Stories; Depth Psychology, Meditations in the Field; Psychology at the Threshold; and Jung and Aging.