De Carolis The Anthropological Paradox

Niches, Micro-worlds and Psychic Dissociation
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-351-13752-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 118 Seiten

Reihe: Law and Politics

This book addresses how the erosion of traditional forms of political association and legal regulation has given rise to a pluralism of ‘imperfect communities’ constantly exposed to the risk of dissolution. These are niches and micro-worlds that are connected through precarious and ambivalent ties. Such a far-reaching transformation affects at one and the same time both our psychic and social identity. The book argues that this phenomenon is linked to the proliferation of new forms of psychic ‘disorder’ – depression, personality disorder, dissociation – typical of hypermodern societies. However, while these can easily turn into genuine disorders, they can also open onto richer forms of identity, more complex than those of the past. Based on this analysis, the book’s main claim is that this dynamic epitomizes a general anthropological paradox – one that has always marked the human animal: humans are bound by their own biological constitution to fend off disorder by drawing the boundaries of artificial niches, and yet they are inclined to expose themselves to unlimited contingency so that they can find a truly suitable environment.

Pursuing a novel understanding of the apparent collapse of traditional juridico-political settings, this book makes the case that the emergence of dissociations at several levels – individual, social, political, legal – does not stem from a lack of political imagination. Rather, it is a situation that humans are inevitably confronted with: a perennial tension between the limited and the unlimited, between the desire to take refuge and the desire to cross borders.

Autoren/Hrsg.

De Carolis, Massimo

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to the english edition; Introduction; Chapter 1: Niches 1. Ontology of the present; 2. Environment and world; 3. World-formers?; 4. The vertical split; Chapter 2: Psychopathology of present-day life; 1. Psychic identity and social dynamics; 2. Multiple personality; 3. Denial and perversion; 4. Primary dissociation; 5. Psychic dissociation and anthropological paradox; Chapter 3: The grey area between fact and fiction; 1. Illusion, reality and play; 2. Successful and unsuccessful dissociations; 3. Performativity and social networks; 4. Micro-worlds; 5. The game and its rules; Chapter 4: Different ways of building a world; 1. Conventions and rituality; 2. Ritual as exception and paradigm; 3. The sovereignty of the moderns; 4. Symbolic borders and real borders; Chapter 5: Anthropology of pluralism; 1. Worldlessness; 2. The limit and the unlimited; 3. The value of pluralism; 4. Creative democracy; 5. Politics and governmentality

Über Autor(innen)

Massimo De Carolis is Full Professor of Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy at the University of Salerno, where he is the head of the "Laboratory of Studies and Research on Human Nature". Among his most recent books: La vita nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica (Life in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility: 2004) and Il rovescio della libertà. Tramonto del neoliberalismo e disagio della civiltà (The Downside of Freedom. The Twilight of Neoliberalism and Civilisation’s Discontent: 2017).