Filozofija i panika
Philosophy and Panic

Summary/Abstract: What makes the »last questions« of philosophy so attractive? Unequivocal answers to them are not attainable, which makes them repulsive, but the panic-like experience caused by them provokes the will of facing the challenge. Panic is an expression of the loss of orientation in space, the term itself deriving from mythology. It is related to the last questions by the feeling of the »loss of ground under one's feet«. The emotional effects of philosophical paradoxes, classical as well as modern, and concepts like »natura naturans«, »causa sui«, »determination«, »esse est percipi« are considered. The attempt is being made to show that the inability of dissolving them is not always due to logically unsurmountable obastacles. Panic caused by the idea that one's own existence cannot be ascertained philosophically is compared with psychopathological phenomena on one side, and with mystical experiences on the other. Attention is called to the rising interest for emotional aspects of behaviour in the neurological sciences.

• Details
• Contents