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The claim that depth psychology is a science in the modern sense of the term is about as old as this century, but those who hold this view will be fully aware that the controversy is only just beginning. Those in the natural sciences, especially with their
exclusive claim to the exactness of their methods, are still sceptical about all other forms of knowledge. Yet it must be assumed that the psyche exists and that the pioneers in this land were not spirit hunters but scientists.
Nowadays, the boundaries of knowledge between the spiritual and material world are being broken down, and at the same time doubts about the nature of reality have arisen now it is realized that no absolute objectivity is possible. Complementary ideas suddenly rise up; apparently contradictory, they yet hold together in a paradoxical unity.
Gertrud Hess's short but substantial book contributes towards the dialogue between the natural scientist and the depth psychologist. She is the daughter of a Nobel prize winner in physiology, Walter Rudolph Hess, and so was brought up in the atmosphere of natural science. First a biologist, she later obtained the Diploma of the C. G. Jung Institute and now divides her time between analytical work and teaching.
The book describes her psychological research into different types of scientific research workers. It is ‘a frank consideration of the subjective in science’, that is, of the influence of the personal qualities and limitations of scientists on the phenomena they observe (Dacqué', Uexküll, Lorenz are three of those studied). She found that ‘inner experience’ and ‘outer experience’ are affected by the primary attitude in the sense of C.G. Jung.
The author's view is expressed in the following passage (p. ): ‘As we become aware of projections, we approach the possibility of recognizing the “inner” and the “outer”. Then psyche and physis can be appreciated as two views of life, and we can make our own what has so long seemed to be an insoluble contradictio