Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues his critique of Carl Jung's identification of the intellect with the devil by reviewing the previous recording in which he makes a correlation between the intellect and Lucifer. He raises a question concerning the apparent need for a fall of the Manasaputra in order for a proto-humanity to receive the intellectual principle. Wolff submits that when the proto-humanity becomes more or less intellectual humanity, we have something like a double entityhood: one in which we think of ourselves as proto-humans being irritated and driven by a higher principle, and another in which we identify with the higher principle which has to endure association with the animalism of the proto-human. He proceeds to analyze the intellectual function in terms of two types of concepts, namely, the "pointer-concept" and the "container-concept." He discusses the use of pure mathematics as an example of the use of the container concept, and elaborates upon Jung's admission that he never could understand mathematics as a possible explanation of why Jung identified the intellect with the devil. He continues his critique of Jung's work by suggesting that he employs the concept as a pointer concept and that Jung should be read with that in mind. Wolff calls attention to the relationship between the concept and the percept that has been a matter of interest in the history of Western philosophy for at least 2,500 years. He traces this line of thought through the work of Plato, Heraclitus, Parmenides, the nominalists, and the Platonic scholastics, and discusses the contribution of Rene Descartes and the school of Rationalism that developed through Leibniz, Spinoza, and Christian Wolff; he contrasts Rationalism to the school of Empiricism developed by John Locke, Bishop Berkeley, and David Hume. Wolff concludes by highlighting the monumental role of Immanuel Kant in helping to clarify and resolve the philosophic impasse between Rationalism and Empiricism.
Recording Location
Lone Pine, Calif.
Recording Date
16 July 1980
Recording Information
Transcript
Recording Duration
70 min
Sort Order
357.00