Tracking the Elusive Human, Vol. 2: An Advanced Guide to the Typological Worlds of C.G. Jung, W.H. Sheldon, Their Integration, and the Biochemical Typology of the Future

Volume I stressed the practical character of type recognition and development, which provides the indispensable foundation for this volume.Here we are going to The history and development of Jung's psychological typesPart Sheldon's life and work, and the controversies that surrounded themPart The integration of Jung's and Sheldon's typologiesPart The frontiers of typology where it meets new developments in biochemistry and genetics.It would be soothing to think of the journey that lies ahead of us as a leisurely stroll through the world of typology. But our journey is, unfortunately, a much more rigorous one because of the difficulty of the terrain, and its vast extent. Without making any pretense at being exhaustive, we are going to examine a considerable amount of the literature that has grown up around the typologies of Jung and Sheldon in order to try to capture their fundamental principles, bring them together in an integrated typology, and glimpse what new dimensions the future might add to them. And this will not be an easy task. Each of these typologies culminates a long historical tradition, represents an important advance over what went before, and together they present us with the possibility of forging a superb instrument for the understanding of human differences. At the same time they are embroiled in controversies and obscured by misunderstandings. In view of the difficulties that face us it is worthwhile to attempt to avoid at the outset some of the most obvious. No matter how much we are going to talk about the variability of human beings, there is only one human race, and the differences we experience among ourselves dwindle almost to insignificance when we compare ourselves to other forms of life. But if we are one human race, we are a plastic and variable one. It has been suggested the more we go up the evolutionary ladder, the more intraspecies variability increases. And the bulk of the differences between people are not the differences that exist between one race and another, but those that exist all around us in our families and friends and local communities. (B.D.H. Latter). Finally, it would be futile to continually try to categorize this journey into the world of typology in terms of nature or nurture even when we are stressing one or the other. They always go together. We are being effected by our environment from the instant of our conception, but at the same time we are very definite someones who are being effected. Inversely, our distinctive individual nature has an infinity of developmental pathways it can follow, but it is inclined or predisposed to follow certain ones rather than others. This world of typology is so extensive that there are other whole journeys to take besides the one on which we are about to embark. We could, for example, explore the historical roots of typology which stretch back thousands of years, or devote our time principally to the factor analytic school. Instead, although we will cross some of these paths as we proceed, our main energies will be concentrated on the typologies of Jung and Sheldon, their integration and its implications, and the biochemical typology of the future.