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Professor Dennis Crouch recently spoke at a student/faculty workshop hosted by the University of Michigan School of Law, led by renowned intellectual property scholars Professors Jessica Litman and Rebecca Eisenberg.Professor Crouch presented his work exploring how Carl Jung’s concepts of synchronicity, shadow, and archetypes can illuminate key dynamics within the modern patent system.
Drawing parallels between simultaneous invention and Jung’s notion of meaningful coincidence, he discussed how a puer aeternus mindset—driven by youthful idealism and discovery—shapes innovation culture. Jung used these tools to help draw meaningful connections for individual psychology.
In his work, Crouch argues that they can also help us understand the larger innovation ecosphere and, in turn, shift the patent system toward one that inspires beneficial innovation and fulfills the Constitution’s call to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts.”