Chi ha paura delle atmosfere (e della loro autorità)?

Abstract

Who's afraid of atmospheres (and their authorities)?

An atmosphere possesses and exercises authority over the perceiver and his felt-body. This authority (in a sense a “numinous” one) exists in the proper sense only when it prevails over our resistance and we cannot access a further critical level. This is because an atmosphere that I feel externally, as poured out into the surrounding space is mine not because I possess it, but because it concerns me. Its normativity, moreover, is not so much discreet but rather loosely diffused into a situation and yet it is able to inhibit any critical distance in those who come across it, especially if unexpectedly. This atmospherological approach implies of course a reflection about the ethical consequences of our “necessary” felt-bodily feelings. Even if the manipulative appearance is implicit in every practice that generates an atmosphere, it’s true that only by acquiring a better atmospheric “competence” (both as thinkers and perceivers) we can really learn how not to be grossly manipulated. An atmosphere is moreover maybe less manipulative when it allows a quick alternation between an uncritical-pathic immersion and a critical-rational emersion, namely between an emotional mood and a more analytical one.