PHENOMENOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF UNCANNY EXPERIENCE: A BIOETHICAL CONTEXT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31392/cult.alm.2023.3.25Keywords:
uncanny experience, lived body, phenomenological bioethics, alienation, being-in-the-worldAbstract
The presented work is devoted to the consideration of the concept of the uncanny in the context of modern phenomenological ideas in bioethics. The article highlights the meaning of this concept and its etymology, starting with psychology and psychoanalysis, where “uncanny” gets its justification in the works of Z. Freud and E. Jentsch. The role of the uncanny in art and cultural studies, as well as in the field of robotic, within which the concept of the “uncanny valley” is developing, is considered. The article outlines different approaches to understanding uncanny, in particular, its interpretation as an emotion and as a mood. It is emphasized that the interpretation of the uncanny experience as a mood is reflected primarily in the phenomenological tradition and is rooted in the philosophical heritage of M. Heidegger. The connection berween the uncanny experience and human embodiment as a combination of the lived body (der Leib) and physical body (der Körper) is described and substantiated. The importance of concepts such as alienation and unhomelike in the context of an uncanny experience is emphasized. The continuity between Heidegger’s ideas and modern research in the fields of applied phenomenology and phenomenological bioethics is traced. The possible application of the concept of the uncanny in bioethics is analyzed, in particular, in the context of illness as a lived human experience, as well as in the context of global crises and challenges. It is determined that the uncanny feeling arises in response to challenges and threats that expose our bodily vulnerability and unreliability of the world structure. This promts chages, rethinking and development of new ways of being-in-the-world.
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