A phenomenology of fear

Merleau-Ponty and agoraphobic life-worlds: This paper is dedicated to Jim Davidson, 1965-2000

Bibliographic Data

ID2248570
AuthorsJoyce Davidson (University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume22
Issue5
Pages640-660
Publication date2000-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.00224
OpenAlexW1980695679
LanguageEN
Citations received43

This paper explores the nature of agoraphobic sufferers' fears of social spaces drawing on Merleau-Ponty's dual conceptions of 'lived' and 'objective' space. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological approach highlights both the mediating role of sensations in acquiring a sense of identity and the importance of recognising the social (as opposed to the merely individual) construction of lived space. I argue that an approach capable of theorising agoraphobic 'being-in-the-world' requires just such recognition of the effect that other people have on the space that they occupy. The potential relevance of this approach for sufferers from agoraphobia is explored through a case study

Agoraphobia · Anxiety · Epistemology · Panic · Phenomenology (philosophy · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Relevance (law · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Psychology · Social Psychology

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