"This is a gem of a book! Once again, Paul Bishop demonstrates why he's a master of insight and a leading light in Jungian scholarship. Bishop guides us expertly through the twists and turns of Jung's interpretation of Plato's cosmology and treats us to a feast of weighty ideas and philosophical traditions along the way. Crafted with Bishop's usual assiduity and delightful style, this book provides much needed clarification of Jung's complex relation to Plato, and Jung's cryptic accounts of the Third and the Fourth." (Lucy Huskinson, Professor of Philosophy, Bangor University, UK.) "No serious reader of Jung can avoid encountering and, frankly, being perplexed by Jung's numerous excited references to the Third becoming the Fourth. What does this idea mean? And why was it so important to Jung? With his characteristic erudition, insight, and open-mindedness, as well as a good deal of sheer sleuthing, Paul Bishop brilliantly explicates Jung's major statements on this theme, especially as they relate to works of Plato, Goethe, and Dorn. What might initially have seemed an esoteric curiosity turns out, after Bishop's masterful analysis, to be a key to understanding the real-world significance and ethical challenge of Jung's entire clinical and cultural thought. This is a stunningly illuminating piece of scholarship.
" (Roderick Main, Professor, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK.) "Paul Bishop applies a unique lens to Jung's philosophical framework and evinces fascinating insights into how the influence of Plato resonates through the archetypal underpinnings to analytical psychology. In doing so, the spirit of Plato's enduring presence in the annals of western thought is marvellously illuminated via Bishop's accessible and erudite writing style. This is a book brimming with original ideas and new connections and will be of keen interest to Jungian thinkers and practitioners, as well as to academics and students of philosophy. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the living legacy of Platonic thought and its influence on depth psychology." (Phil Goss, Associate Professor, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Warwick, UK, and Jungian Analyst.).