Atmospheric Spaces
Ambiances January 13, 2025 DOI: 10.4000/ambiances.711 (opens in new tab) via DOAJ
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe article develops a fundamental conception of atmospheres integrated into a phenomenology of the felt body [Leib]. It critiques the ancient split of the world into a private inner realm of experience and emotions versus an external world separated from it. The felt body is conceived as space without area—what one can sense as belonging to oneself without the five senses. Atmospheres are another category of spaces without area, regarded as a total or partial occupation of such space in the sphere experienced as present. A distinction is made between atmospheres of the felt body, atmospheres of emotion, and atmospheres that are not emotions. The example of dwelling clarifies how people achieve their own space of emotion from the atmospheres of emotion available at places.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Atmosphere Emotions Felt body Area-less spaces |
| Key finding | Argues that atmospheres are spaces without area that can be understood through a phenomenology of the felt body, and that people derive their own emotional space from atmospheres available at places. |
Abstract
The article develops a fundamental conception of atmospheres which is incorporated into a phenomenology of the felt body [Leib]. It builds on a critique of a splitting of the world into a private inner world as the location of experience and of emotions, and an external world that is separated off from that – a split already made in antiquity. Set against this notion is the conception of the felt body as space without area. What is meant by the felt body is what one can sense as belonging to oneself without recourse to the five senses. Atmospheres represent another category of spaces without area. They are regarded as a total or partial occupation of a space without area in that sphere that is experienced as being present. A distinction is made here between atmospheres of the felt body, atmospheres of emotion, and those atmospheres that are not emotions. The example of living [in the sense of dwelling] is used to clarify how people achieve their own space of emotion from the atmospheres of emotion available at places.