The Puerile Nature of the Tertiary Function

By Eva Gregersen and Ryan Smith

Of all the function slots, the tertiary function is perhaps the most overlooked and least understood. The dominant function is fairly self-explanatory as the prime determinant of conscious orientation; von Franz has done good work on the inferior; and van der Hoop did his part to flesh out our understanding of the auxiliary. There are, however, still some observations that may be elaborated concerning the tertiary. But before we proceed with elucidating the puerile nature of the tertiary function, we must first address the matters of (1) the threshold of consciousness relative to the functions and (2) our debt to John Beebe.

1. The Threshold of Consciousness Relative to the Functions ...