transdisciplinary (4)

Symbolic Interactionist School and Fear

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Over 20 yrs ago, a really important work on "Fear" appeared out of Europe by a Hungarian sociologist [1]. His name Eleme'r Hankiss. This book sat on my shelves for nearly 20 years as well, because when it first arrived, I was looking at it in a superficial way and it seemed that the focus was on a study of fears in human history related to religious, mythological, anthropological, philosophical, and literary arts and tradtions--which included indepth study of fears in jokes, plays, myths, religious beliefs and symbols, housing and cities, shopping malls and rationality etc. 

Recently, having pulled it off my shelf, I began to realize what a gem of a socioogical study of fear (which is actually quite interdisciplinary, even transdisciplinary somewhat)--was going on and that the author was creating his own variant theory of fear/anxiety (used interchangeably) to explain the entire civilization process--and, he develops that theory in this book starting with a great synthesis of sociologists and anthropologists writings and how they support his theory but that the major theorists in those disciplines tended not to talk explicitly about fear as core motivator for humanity and civilization but they implied it was so. He discusses this as a problem itself in that fear thus remains hidden more or less when it is so critically important to study and know its massive influences. I agree. I agree. I agree. I and many other fearists have been saying this for decades. 

So, Hankiss is no longer alive (died in 2015 in Hungary). He had written a fascinating book also with implications for Fear Studies in 2006 [6], though I have not found a copy to read yet. But this "Fears and Symbols" is more accessible and lays the ground for his critical thinking of fear within the symbolic interactionist tradition of critical theorizing in sociology. He is critical of the psychological schools of thought for often disregarding the social sciences overall and how they have theorized about fear and motivation and civilization processes. Ultimately, Hankiss marks a huge territory of understanding that fear within the social sphere of relations, is always a power in movement and constituted for a longer shelf life. Those are my terms on what happens to fear as it is phenomenologically passed in and through the social symbolic order of knowledge making (and ontology itself). Symbolic Fear in other words is made to last longer on the shelf (shelves) of human experiencing because it has potent creative and constructive (and destructive) capacities that regimes of power in history wish to manipulate--and, that's when history of fear becomes really intriguing and demanding. That's when Fear Study becomes very demanding. Only existential philosophy and psychological or theological discourses on fear really miss far too much information and phenomenological reality, says Hankiss, and I agree--especially with the construct of fear--that is symbolic fear. 

I highly recommend this text. And, of course, there are a lot of areas where I think it needs upgrading and improvements, but I would label it a proto-fearist textbook essential to the new Fear Studies I have proposed for decades. From what I can tell, this book is little known around the world nor is it cited by most authors who write and/or theorize about fear. 

 

Notes:

1. Former Director of the Institute of Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and fomer fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford. 

2. His two major books: Hankiss, E. (2001). Fears and symbols: An introduction to the study of western civilization. Central European University Press. and Hankiss, E. (2006). The toothpaste of immortality: Self-construction in the consumer age. John Hopkins University Press. 

 

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What Kind of Philosopher Am I?

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Early 1991, Morocco, N. Africa - R. Michael Fisher in contemplation. 

(photo by Barbara Bickel)

What Kind of Philosopher Am I?

I FOLLOW the trail(s) of words/concepts, like, fear, fearlessness--and, I end up in places to learn about it and have it change me, even if just a little. As cultural critic Sara Ahmed said in an interview, noting she is involved in philosophical inquiry and likes it, but it is questions and words/concepts that are her focus and guide--declaring herself not really a trained philosopher at all, nor motivated by philosophy in an academic disciplinary way:  "I’m interested in the world making nature of words and concepts, philosophy becomes one of the places I go...among others...". [1]

            Making of a Naturalist-Moral Philosopher (1952-  )

Life vs. Death, Good vs. Evil, have long intrigued me; since 1989 I found another way to express this great archetypal Battle of opposites, and situated it as Love vs. Fear. The latter, has been by far the most fruitful investigation. The ethical implications of how we are motivated by deep forces as humans truly is my passionate inquiry—it is what I bring to the field of Education.

Although some have called me so, I have never really labeled myself a “philosopher,” never mind a moral philosopher. Firstly, my thoughts about calling myself a “moral philosopher” (wanna be), is that I had a fundamentalist Christian family system informing from my dad’s side, and I was raised implicitly in a Judeo-Christian (Abrahamic) culture, with insidious religious roots in the Middle-East and its grand sacred myths of divine leaders and newly emergent religious doctrines. My entire K-12 education in public secular schooling, was in fact, not so secular and not free of a controlling religious power regime in Canada. I had to stand and say the Lord’s Prayer (from the Bible) since I was very young until junior high school.

Secondly, I think of my deep dive into the Environmental Movement, and graduating from high school when the first Earth Day was announced and celebrated on this planet. The 1960s-70s consciousness transformation and (r)evolution was in the background of my “growing up.” Yet, one other thought, not so obvious to me is always likely shaping my philosophy. It is WW-II and the rise and fall of the Third Reich (Nazi Germany)—the invasion of fascism in modern times—leading to the Holocaust and a devastating assault on modern assumptions of rationality and human decency. What has civilization to offer, if it could not prevent Nazism? Another Reign of Terror, as in the eras across history that show “progress” and “democracy” come with a heavy price—and, a lot of fear (terror). With my mom being an immigrant (war bride) from Belgium to Canada, and a survivor of Nazi occupation for over three years when she was in her teens, it is not surprising I have a penchant to become a moral philosopher. Yet, we shall see here in this section just what kind of philosopher that is, in my own customized version.

From some autobiographical sketching it is obvious that some of my family influences were significant in my upbringing. I talked of three ‘best’ teachers, my dad, my older brother and Nature. It seems obvious to me that informally I was very much a naturalist philosopher budding, from the earliest days of my child-play and experimenting on the prairie escarpment  of the Bow River valley, in Calgary, AB, Canada, of my most formative 2-8 years of life. I was a “nature boy” and grew to become a “nature lover.” With my love for and defense of the “Natural” world, it is not surprising that the first serious (mostly Western) philosophy I was attracted to in my spare-time, in my early-to-mid 20s, were biological philosophical writers (e.g., René Dubos, Lyall Watson, E. O. Wilson) and environmental/eco-philosophical writers (e.g., Albert Schweitzer, Arnie Naess, Gregory Bateson, Lynn White, Valerius Geist, etc.)—with roots in the American Transcendentalism philosophy stream (e.g. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, etc.)—and, then specifically, E. F. Schumacher’s (practical-economic) Buddhist philosophy. Other Eastern philosophers and spiritual teachers (e.g., Alan Watts, Chöygam Trungpa, Ken Wilber, etc.) all had their early influence as I turned 28 years of age and started my Education career track....

[extract of draft for a chapter in my new book in progress, The Fear Problematique: Role of Philosophy of Education in Speaking Truths to Powers in a Culture of Fear ].

 

Notes

1. From "Sara Ahmed: Dresher Conversations" (Mar. 20, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadqi8Pn0O0

 

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(excerpt from Fisher (2010, p. 167)  [1]

NOTE: I thought to share with you this morning one page from my book on the world's fearlessness teachings. The focus of what I'm writing about is how various traditions, movements, and paradigms have appeared in the world literature, across disciplines, cultures, and history--and, how one can find within that vast literature themes of polar opposites that are set up as "two" major ways to organize reality, motivation and how one lives their life. The typical architecture of these bi-centric paradigms is obvious in the above four samples... I have found at least 15 such paradigms out there to draw-upon. The left hand of each paradigm is the "positive" one that is to be strived for, according to all these traditions and their authors (or many authors in some cases). The right hand of each is the "negative" (if not pathological). 

I have argued in Fisher (2010) that because there is such diversity but universal structure to these, and when I read and study them, it appears some kind of universal truth (if not wisdom) is lurking in these paradigm offerings-- 'go this way, and not that way.' Like commandments almost. But of course, the notion of a "paradigm" is much more complex than a simple binary. This would lead me to talk about complexities of all these if you are interested. Point being, in this 2010 book I was articulating these and sorting them to show that it is arguable, they are all forms of manifestation of the "spirit of fearlessness" --or what I have also labeled the "Fearlessness Tradition (Movement)"--and, yes, this very FM ning is based on this interest. 

NOTES

1. Fisher, R. M. (2010). The world's fearlessness teachings: A critical integral approach to fear/management education for the 21st century. University Press of America/Rowman & Littlefield. 

 

 

 

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International Journal of Fear Studies

Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Approaches

 

Call for Papers and Creative Submissions:

Dr. R. Michael Fisher, Ph.D., founder/editor of IJFS, has set the wheels in motion for a first edition of an on-line journal that promotes academic scholarship, professional explorations and popular educational and creative works for a variety of serious readers interested in fresh thinking and ideas about the nature and role of fear in societies. Articles and creative submissions may include large technical and philosophical works, research studies and results, essays, opinions, poetry and other art, etc.

There is also going to be space to share the kinds of work (theoretical or practical, complete or incomplete) you are doing on fear that deserves international recognition. The primary criteria is that works have an interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary approach, while at the same time are progressive and open-minded works that instigate insight, healing, liberation, creative thinking, critique, and synthesis. We simply require a new journal format like IJFS because there is no other place to focus on fear as a subject matter in any journal to date.

All authors retain their own copyright of their works published in IJFS. The journal will consider re-published submissions as long as copyright approval has been made.

Submissions Due January 20, 2019 for the first volume edition of IFJS. Feel free to send the editor (r.michaelfisher52@gmail.com) a proposal of what you would like to submit ahead of time if you want feedback first. Otherwise, send your completed work and it will go out for peer-review and final editing by Dr. Fisher. Citations of references is essential in papers and should follow a standard style format (e.g., Chicago, APA, Harvard, etc.) in most cases, but also feel free to be creative in style format as well but provide a rationale for any such deviations from standard formats. There is no word-length requirements of submissions. If all goes well the first journal will be published in Spring 2019. There’ll likely be two issues/year.

If you would like to be on the Editorial Board (and/or be a Reviewer for IFJS) make your interest known to Dr. Fisher as soon as possible. We look forward to your participation to make this journal a success. The first edition will be available in an open-access pdf format and housed on the Fearlessness Movement ning (hosted by R. M. Fisher) and eventually, IFJS will be archived in a university library digital repository with open-access and full linking to academic search engines.

If you would like to gift a donation to IFJS, please contact R. M. Fisher. Your support is greatly appreciated. 

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