European Association of Social Anthropologists-EASA 2012
Date de début :
10/07/2012 09:00
Date de fin :
13/07/2012 13:00
Lieu
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Ville
Nanterre - France
Uncertainty and disquiet
Anxiety is a fundamental characteristic of human nature. All living entities have biological devices that enable them to face danger (escape, aggression, concealment). This is often studied by the social sciences under the heading of ‘stress’. Human beings, however, differentiate themselves from other species through their reflexivity, which introduces an uncertainty that cannot be reduced to the consequences of their perception. The Biblical image of Adam and Eve driven out of Eden after eating the fruit of knowledge expresses with great symbolic power the anxiety born from this radical uncertainty that humans constantly try to deny or control. The manifestations of this uncertainty are twofold: the first is inscribed in the forms of temporal perception and representations of finality and death; the second bears on the uncertainty linked to what reality is....
