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Who’s afraid of birth? Exploring mundane and existential affects with Heidegger

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posted on 2023-06-21, 06:02 authored by Tanja StaehlerTanja Staehler
While certain levels of fear and anxiety seem quite appropriate to the experience of birth, it is detrimental if they become overwhelming. This article strives to understand birth-related affects more thoroughly by asking which affects are commonly involved, and how they come about. Martin Heidegger provides the most developed phenomenology of affects available to us. A phenomenological perspective proves useful because its close description allows categorising affects into mundane ones like fears (evoked by specific entities and circumstances) and existential ones like anxiety. Anxiety concerns our existence in its entirety and brings us face to face with the fact that we are finite beings in a groundless existence. Giving birth means needing to negotiate existential affects in a mundane situation. The birth-giving woman is dependent on others to take her seriously in her experience of affective turmoil in which anxiety and wonder, fears and anticipatory anxiousness come together.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Janus Head

ISSN

1524-2269

Publisher

Trivium Publications

Issue

1

Volume

16

Department affiliated with

  • Philosophy Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Centre for Literature and Philosophy Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-11-09

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-10-10

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-11-09

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