Logos

## 1. Etymology

**Logos** (Greek: word, reason) names the **principle of logic and structure**—traditionally associated with spirit, the father world, and the [god-image](/index/god-image/). Related: [eros](/index/eros/); discrimination; [animus](/index/animus/); [spirit](/index/spirit/).

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## 2. Plain summary

**Logos** is discrimination, judgment, insight—the paternal struggle to separate from the maternal dark of unconsciousness. Jung paired it with [eros](/index/eros/) (capacity to relate): often stronger as a conscious style in men, often secondary in women—but either can dominate via contrasexual complexes, so the equation is heuristic, not destiny.

Without discriminating [opposites](/index/opposites/), he says, there is no [consciousness](/index/consciousness/). Related to [father-complex](/index/father-complex/) as Logos carrier for the daughter, to [animus](/index/animus/) as spirit/ideas, and to the risk of power when “eternal reason” becomes personal domination.

**Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common logos-related figures and motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):**

principle of logic/structure; spirit / father world / god-image; discrimination, judgment, insight; vs Eros as capacity to relate; no consciousness without discrimination of opposites; paternal extrication from maternal unconsciousness; contrasexual exceptions; [animus](/index/animus/) / [father-complex](/index/father-complex/) links; Heraclitus universal reason (Samuels); power when personal reason substitutes for Logos; [spirit](/index/spirit/); [thinking](/index/thinking/) kinship; [temenos](/index/temenos/) of reasoned work; [individuation](/index/individuation/) needing Logos and Eros.

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## 3. Academic elucidation

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## 4. Lexicon

**Sharp (1991)**

> Logos. The principle of logic and structure, traditionally associated with spirit, the father world and the God-image. … By Logos I meant discrimination, judgment, insight, and by Eros I meant the capacity to relate… There is no consciousness without discrimination of opposites. This is the paternal principle, the Logos…

(Sharp, 1991, p. [provisional — unverified])

**Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986)**

> Logos … As a principle, Jung spoke of Logos as spirit, not matter, and attributed to it maleness. He used the words judgment, discrimination and insight as synonyms for Logos, differentiating it from… Eros… Logos and Eros are posed as OPPOSITES… consciousness is unable to exist without unconsciousness, nor Logos without its compensatory counterpart, Eros…

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, pp. **86–88**)

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## 5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

> There is no consciousness without discrimination of opposites. This is the paternal principle, the Logos, which eternally struggles to extricate itself from the primal warmth and primal darkness of the maternal womb; in a word, from unconsciousness.

(Jung, 1938/1968, CW 9i, p. 95, ¶178)

> The animus corresponds to the paternal Logos just as the anima corresponds to the maternal Eros. But I do not wish or intend to give these two intuitive concepts too specific a definition. I use Eros and Logos merely as conceptual aids…

(Jung, 1951/1959, CW 9ii, p. 14, ¶29)

> Here the magnetic attraction comes from the Logos. This denotes a thought or idea that has been formulated and articulated, hence a content and a product of consciousness.

(Jung, 1951/1968, CW 9ii, p. 187, ¶293)

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**See also:** [eros](/index/eros/); [spirit](/index/spirit/); [father-complex](/index/father-complex/); [animus](/index/animus/); [anima](/index/anima/); [god-image](/index/god-image/); [consciousness](/index/consciousness/); [opposites](/index/opposites/); [thinking](/index/thinking/); [temenos](/index/temenos/); [circumambulation](/index/circumambulation/). *(Queued — eros.)*

## References

Jung, C. G. (1959). The syzygy: Anima and animus. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 14, ¶29). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)

Jung, C. G. (1968). Gnostic symbols of the self. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 187, ¶293). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)

Jung, C. G. (1968). Psychological aspects of the mother archetype. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), *The collected works of C. G. Jung* (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 9, pt. 1, p. 95, ¶178). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1938)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). *A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis*. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). *Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts*. Inner City Books.

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