Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology

Transpersonal psychology's subject—the psyche—is considered infinite, a view inherited from Jung. This infinity creates paradoxes: if the psyche has no borders, how can it be fully known or explored? The paper argues that Georg Cantor's concept of "actual infinity" offers a new way to resolve these paradoxes. By treating the psyche as actually infinite, the question of whether a person can complete self-exploration is addressed in principle. This approach may provide a non-classical scientific foundation for transpersonal psychology, reframing issues of knowability, enlightenment, and perfection.

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Abstract

Transpersonal psychology’s uniqueness comes from the point of infinity of the psyche, as the subject of the field. Jung being one of the predecessors of transpersonal psychology confirms the infinity of the psyche very clearly. But this has created another problem. What are the borders of the subject if it is infinite? And if psyche is infinite, how can we grasp it as whole? Can it be fully cognized? Or to give the opposite point of view, is it unknowable? In the search for the borders of the subject of transpersonal psychology, we are attempting to reflect on the paradoxes of infinity. As it turns out, the concept of “actual infinity” (opened by Georg Cantor in the late 19th century) allow us to create a new perspective in solving the infinity problems in psychology. The question arises that if the psyche is infinite, can the psyche be cognized? The idea of psyche being actually infinite allows us to resolve the issue of cognizability of the psyche in principle. This issue is whether a possibility exists for a person to complete the process of self-exploration. Such a solution may lay a new foundation for Transpersonal Psychology on a non-classical scientific basis. KEYWORDS Infinity, transpersonal psychology, self-exploration, enlightenment, perfection, unknowability, knowability,cognizability