Individuation (Latin
principium individuationis) is a concept which appears in numerous fields and may be encountered in work by
Carl Jung,
Gilbert Simondon,
Bernard Stiegler,
Gilles Deleuze,
Henri Bergson,
David Bohm, and
Manuel De Landa. In very general terms, it is the name given to processes whereby the undifferentiated tends to become individual, or to those processes through which differentiated components tend toward becoming a more indivisible whole.
Friedrich Nietzsche, for example, offers an extensive discussion of the tension between impartial, chaotic fluidity and individuated subjectivity in
The Birth of Tragedy (1872), whereby
Dionysian dismemberment and
Apollonian individuation respectively embody these dichotomous qualities. Nietzsche claims that the perpetual, irresolvable tension between these two opposing aspects of nature fosters the conditions necessary for their uneasy synthesis in the creation of
tragic art.
In economics, individuation parallels specialization and increases the efficiency of the division of labor. It serves as a means for individuals to find comparative advantage in the marketplace.
Jungians claim that Jungian psychology individuation is a process of psychological differentiation, having for its goal the development of the individual personality. "In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology." [1]
Individuation is the process of transforming one’s psyche by bringing the personal and collective unconscious into conscious.[2] Individuation has a holistic healing effect on the person, both mentally and physically.[2]
