Teach me about the ouroboros
September 25, 2014 11:18 AM   Subscribe

I am interested in academic texts that discuss the ouroboros - the snake that eats its own tail.

I'm interested in reading more about the ouroboros. I have access to a large academic library and can retrieve any articles or monographs you suggest. I welcome both basic and more complicated texts.

I'm especially interested in reading articles from individuals who have applied the concept of the ouroboros to human behavior (especially if they use a scientific approach, rather than being a thought piece). I suspect this is not common - my usual trawls through the literature with which I am familiar have left me pretty empty-handed - but I may be wrong. I would also like to learn more about the ouroboros in general, so pointers to introductory explanations of the history of the ouroboros and the use of the symbol would be much appreciated.

I have read Knud Thomsen's work on his Ouroboros Model and it is helpful, but is also a bit more about machines and algorithms than I'd like - I specifically want discussions that are human-focused.
posted by k8lin to Science & Nature (2 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
You may be somewhat interested in Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, and other Jungian and post-Jungian authors.
posted by kristicat at 5:32 PM on September 25, 2014


Well, I'm kind of literal minded about this kind of thing, but a quick Google Scholar search for the term "ouroboros" brought up over 5000 results, many of which look quite interesting to me.
posted by flug at 2:24 PM on September 26, 2014


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