| Erich Neumann | |
| Birth Date: | 23 January 1905 |
| Birth Place: | Berlin, German Empire |
| Death Place: | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Nationality: | German and Israeli |
| Field: | Psychology |
| Alma Mater: | University of Erlangen–Nuremberg (PhD) University of Berlin (MD) |
| Known For: | Developmental psychology |
Erich Neumann (Hebrew: אריך נוימן; 23 January 1905 – 5 November 1960)[1] was a German psychologist, philosopher, writer, and student of Carl Jung.[2]
Neumann was born in Berlin to a Jewish family.[3] He received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in 1927. Then, he continued to study medicine at the University of Berlin, where he acquired his first degree in medicine in 1933.
In 1934 Neumann and his wife Julie, who were both Zionists, moved to Tel Aviv to avoid being persecuted by the Nazi Government. For many years, he regularly returned to Zürich, Switzerland to give lectures at the C. G. Jung Institute. He also lectured frequently in England, France and the Netherlands, and was a member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology and president of the Israel Association of Analytical Psychologists. He practiced analytical psychology in Tel Aviv from 1934 until his death from kidney cancer in 1960.
Neumann contributed to the field of developmental psychology and the psychology of consciousness and creativity. His most notable contribution was his theory of the feminine development for which he published numerous journals and books including The Great Mother.
He began work with depth psychology to reveal the psychological reasonings and events that preluded how reinforcing Nazism was a triumph for Germany and its effects on the second world war. Depth Psychology is therapeutic approach to the subtle unconscious and the human experience including transpersonal aspects like dreams, complexes, and archetypes. Throughout this time, Neumann focused on the Jungian concept of the shadow, the Freudian concept of the id and other animal personality traits held by humans.
Neumann also contradicted the "old" ethic - the impossible repression of the shadow which led to the loss of the ability to apply to modern western cultures. The suppression of the shadow lead to hostility and unrest. Neumann related the old ethich to scapegoat psychology. "scapegoat psychology produces the most disastrous effects on the life of the collective (where it leads to wars and the extermination of group holding minority opinions)"
He had a theoretical and philosophical approach to analysis, contrasting with the clinical approach in England and the United States.
His most valuable contribution to psychology was the empirical concept of "centroversion", a synthesis of extra- and introversion.
His most enduring contributions to Jungian thought are The Origins and History of Consciousness (1949) and The Great Mother (1955).[4] Another work, Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, reflects on human destructiveness and the way the human mind relates to its own shadow.
Neumann further developed his studies in feminine archetypes in his Art and the Creative Unconscious, The Fear of the Feminine, and Amor and Psyche.
Neumann also wrote poetry, a novel called The Beginning (Der Anfang), and in 1932 conducted a critical study of Franz Kafka's works at a time when Kafka was still a minor figure in the literary world.