Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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142752

Violence as violation of experiential structures

Thiemo Breyer(Cologne University)

pp. 737-751

Abstract

Violence has become a prominent topic in recent phenomenological investigations. In this paper, I wish to contribute to this ongoing discourse by looking at violence in a literal sense as violation of experiential structures, insofar as it is intentionally, purposefully, and strategically imposed on a subject by another agent (individual or collective). Phenomenology provides the descriptive methodology for elucidating such structures. The violation can take the form of a radicalization, in which one of the aspects of polar experiential spectra becomes predominant, i.e. the balance between them is shifted to one extreme. I focus on the relationship between self and other on the one hand, and the relationship between body-as-subject and body-as-object on the other, as prominent topoi in the phenomenological literature. With regard to torture and solitary confinement as forms of extreme violence, I analyze how these structures are disturbed.

Publication details

Published in:

Morris David (2017) Rethinking Development. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 16 (4).

Pages: 737-751

DOI: 10.1007/s11097-016-9476-9

Full citation:

Breyer Thiemo (2017) „Violence as violation of experiential structures“. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 16 (4), 737–751.