Liminal Phenomena and the Autoimmune Reaction
James Mensch
The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy October 21, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781042011384-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that death, dreamless sleep, and other minds are "liminal" phenomena that appear only by concealing themselves, and that people fill the resulting gap by projecting their own consciousness, including repressed material, onto others. Such projection can produce an "autoimmune reaction" that undercuts the projector, and the author proposes that connecting projection with liminality suggests how to combat it. |
Abstract
Events, like death and dreamless sleep, “show” themselves in their inability to be immediately experienced. They exhibit liminal phenomena insofar as their appearing is also a concealing. This is the case for the Others we encounter. We cannot directly experience the Other’s consciousness. Rather, we overcome this lack by projecting onto the Other material from our own consciousness. Insofar as this can include repressed material, it can lead to an autoimmune reaction, where reacting to this material in the Other, we also undercut ourselves. I use this connection between projection and liminality to suggest how we might combat this reaction.