| Chapter Introduction: | Introduction to the Handbook on Prejudice |
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socialisation and collective enculturation that lay the foundations for resonance, but these patterns of correspondence alone do not seem to suffice to explain the phenomenon. C. G. Jung developed his theory of archetypes out of a study of certain narratives and images from various epochs and cultures which had a transhistorical and transcultural appeal. He identified a number of archetypal constellations, such as the image of the great mother or the battle between enemy brothers, as culture-transcending universal archetypes that are part of a common heritage of mankind. While Jung developed his theory of archetypes, other scholars were engaging in similar projects. Sigmund Freud referred in his essay on Moses to an “archaic heritage” that he conceived, however, not as a universal but as an ethnic disposition, steering the orientation not of mankind but of the Jews as a distinct tribe across generations. The art historian Aby Warburg investigated the cultural transmission of affective energy behind images in general and certain figurative formulae in particular. He spoke of such pathos-formulae as the “nympha”, or, we may add, the “pieta”, as “canned energy” (Energiekonserve) that is released, activated, and thereby recharged over centuries in a discontinuous process. Though none of them uses the term, the theories of Jung, Freud, and Warburg, which were all developed around 1900, can be understood as contributions to a larger theory of resonance that would also have to include the study of the perennial power of prejudices.
The problems that would have to be dealt with in such a research project concern the differences between individual, collective, and universal patterns of resonance and a better knowledge of how our cognitive-emotional matrix is built up, which lays the foundation of the disposition for later experience, understanding, and orientation. My hypothesis is that in distinction from the archetypes studied by Jung, there is an archetype built into the deepest layer of memory, our limbic system, which is related to identity formation. It is closer to a gene than a meme, because it has no content whatsoever. It is just an empty spot, a residual element, a mere disposition that is there to be filled or not to be filled, whatever the case may be. We have become aware of it only during the last two decades,