Editing Synchronicity (section)

== Philosophy of science ==

Jung held that there was both a philosophical and scientific basis for synchronicity.<ref name="TSEOP"/> He identified the complementary nature of causality and acausality with [[Science and technology in Asia|Eastern sciences]] and [[protoscience|protoscientific disciplines]], stating "[[Eastern world|the East]] bases much of its science on this irregularity and considers coincidences as the reliable basis of the world rather than causality. Synchronism is the prejudice of the East; causality is the modern prejudice of [[Western world|the West]]"<ref name=Kerr2013/> (see also: [[universal causation]]). Contemporary scholar L. K. Kerr writes:

{{blockquote|Jung also looked to [[modern physics]] to understand the nature of synchronicity, and attempted to adapt many ideas in this field to accommodate his conception of synchronicity, including the property of [[numinosity]]. He worked closely with [[Nobel Prize]] winning physicist [[Wolfgang Pauli]] and also consulted with [[Albert Einstein]]. The notion of synchronicity shares with modern physics the idea that under certain conditions, the laws governing the interactions of space and time can no longer be understood according to the principle of causality. In this regard, Jung joined modern physicists in reducing the conditions in which the laws of [[classical mechanics]] apply.<ref name=Kerr2013/>}}

It is also pointed out that, since Jung took into consideration only the narrow definition of causality—only the [[Four causes#Efficient cause|efficient cause]]—his notion of ''acausality'' is also narrow and so is not applicable to [[Four causes#Final cause|final]] and [[Four causes#Formal cause|formal]] causes as understood in [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] or [[Thomism|Thomist]] systems.<ref>Arraj, James. 1996. "[http://www.innerexplorations.com/catchmeta/mys8.htm Synchronicity and Formal Causality]". Ch. 8 in ''The Mystery of Matter: Nonlocality, Morphic Resonance, Synchronicity and the Philosophy of Nature of St. Thomas Aquinas''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522133804/http://www.innerexplorations.com/catchmeta/mys8.htm|date=2015-05-22}}. {{ISBN|0-914073-09-5}}.</ref> Either the final causality is inherent<ref>{{cite book |last=Mansfield |first=Victor |year=1995 |title=Science, Synchronicity and Soul-Making |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |isbn=978-0-8126-9304-1}}
</ref> in synchronicity, as it leads to [[individuation]]; or synchronicity can be a kind of replacement for final causality. However, such [[finalism]] or [[teleology]] is considered to be outside the domain of [[modern science]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}

Jung's theory, and philosophical worldview implicated by it, includes not only mainstream science thoughts but also [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] ones and ones that are against mainstream.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1111/1468-5922.12067 | title=The cultural significance of synchronicity for Jung and Pauli | date=2014 | last1=Main | first1=Roderick | journal=Journal of Analytical Psychology | volume=59 | issue=2 | pages=174–180 | pmid=24673272 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1111/j.0021-8774.2004.00496.x | title=Beyond synchronicity: The worldview of Carl Gustav Jung and Wolfgang Pauli | date=2004 | last1=Donati | first1=Marialuisa | journal=Journal of Analytical Psychology | volume=49 | issue=5 | pages=707–728 | pmid=15533199 }}</ref>