James Hillman’s vision of psychology is explored and commented on. Hillman’s deconstruction of psychological theory and his critique of humanistic psychology are considered against the background of several of his foundational ideas: the deepening of the soul, personification and the “world soul,” image, and myth as the language of the psyche, the function of narrative, honoring psychopathology, psychological polytheism, and the deconstruction of the ego. Several of Hillman’s more controversial ideas are critiqued, and the relationship of Hillman’s ideas to Hegel’s philosophy is explored. It is concluded that Hillman’s vision of psychology is far more humanistic than he himself acknowledges.
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