Varieties of Existential Uncertainty

2019 ◽  
pp. 376-385
Author(s):  
Rick Anthony Furtak
Keyword(s):  
Existential Uncertainty

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Forlenza
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Endogenous Process ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

The Conclusion contrasts the dominant structuralist and functionalist approaches to democracy and democratization, with the concept of the passage to democracy as an endogenous process of historical and symbolic articulation, and as the symbolization of lived experiences that engender transformations in consciousness, meanings, and beliefs. Rather than assuming a universal and externally determined model for the democratic process, it makes use of the Italian case to argue that democracy is a lengthy and ongoing narrative, and a process of meaning-formation in the context of political and existential uncertainty. Democratizing processes are determined not by socio-economic and cultural factors, not by the pursuit of strategies by the elites, but by a complex interweaving of individual and collective reaction to revolution, war, and dictatorship.

scholarly journals Fear of self-annihilation and existential uncertainty as predictors of worldview defense: Comparing terror management and uncertainty theories

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Need For Closure ◽  
Control Stimulus ◽  
Worldview Defense ◽  
Cultural Worldviews ◽  
Threat Stimulus ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

Terror management theory (TMT) proposes that thoughts of death trigger a concern about self-annihilation that motivates the defense of cultural worldviews. In contrast, uncertainty theorists propose that thoughts of death trigger feelings of uncertainty that motivate worldview defense. University students (N = 414) completed measures of the chronic fear of self-annihilation and existential uncertainty as well as the need for closure. They then evaluated either a meaning threat stimulus or a control stimulus. Consistent with TMT, participants with a high fear of self-annihilation and a high need for closure showed the greatest dislike of the meaning threat stimulus, even after controlling for their existential uncertainty. Contrary to the uncertainty perspective, fear of existential uncertainty showed no significant effects.

Existential Uncertainty Measure

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary J. Lewis ◽  
Timothy C. Bates
Keyword(s):  
Uncertainty Measure ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

scholarly journals ИСПОВЕДАЛЬНОСТЬ В ПОЭЗИИ ВЯЧЕСЛАВА ИВАНОВА: ПРЕДВАРИТЕЛЬНЫЕ ЗАМЕЧАНИЯ

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-150
Author(s):  
Никита Быстров
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Vyacheslav Ivanov ◽  
Universal Scheme ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

The article traces parallels between some confessional situations in the poetry of Vyacheslav Ivanov and the Confessions of St. Augustine. The question is raised about the ability of Ivanov`s symbolism to reproduce the existential uncertainty (ignorance of the further path, the actual rejection of its foreshadowing by culture and intellectual experience), to which the confession should lead the subject, if s/he follows the principle of Augustine`s „transcende te ipsum”. When the state of confession is pre-established by a system of symbols with a „ready” meaning, it risks losing its uniqueness: the confession can be replaced by some universal „scheme” of confessionality, which happens in a number of the Ivanov`s poems. Thus, the article delineates one of the possible perspectives of the further study of the claimed topic.

The Liminal Origins of Italian Democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Forlenza
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Italian Society ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Radical Uncertainty ◽  
Deep Sense ◽  
The Way ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

This chapter conceptualizes the end of Fascism and the beginning of the civil war, after the armistice of September 8, 1943, as the collapse of the markers of certainty and the beginning of a liminal period of chaos and political, as well as existential, uncertainty. It takes the reader for a ride in what was a confusing and bewildering scenario that followed the removal of the Duce, the collapse of the nation, the dissolution of the structure of power, and the disintegration of national unity. A situation of pure liminality and radical uncertainty, pulling and pushing, imbued with a deep sense of disorientation and confusion pervaded all sectors of Italian society: the governmental level, the army units inside and outside the country, as well as people in the cities and in the countryside. Yet, it was precisely this situation of uncertainty that paved the way for passage to democracy.

Utter Pandemonium: Devil-Narratives in the First Edition of the Grimms' Fairy Tales

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Church Authority ◽  
Social Advancement ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Existential Uncertainty

This paper examines how depictions of the devil in the first edition of the Grimm Brothers’ Folk and Fairy Tales function to mitigate the spiritual anxieties which arose from the decentralization of religious authority in post-Reformation Germany. It centres upon three tales: “The Devil and his Grandmother”, “the Devil with the Three Golden Hairs”, and “The Blacksmith and the Devil”. Beginning with a brief overview of the religious climate of post-Reformation Germany and the function of devil’s-pact narratives during the Medieval period, it proceeds to examine how the Grimm tales subvert the moralizing function of their Medieval precursors. It illustrates how the tales use absurd humour to humanize the devil, making him an object of mockery rather than terror. From there, it demonstrates that, in all three tales, the protagonists’ dealing with the devil does not place their souls in jeopardy, disrupting the orthodox potential of the devil-narrative by allowing the protagonists to attain earthly rewards without the supposedly requisite spiritual punishment. Moreover, it observes that almost every instance of reward without punishment is situated within a broader narrative of the protagonists’ securing social advancement despite an oppressive social structure. Having illustrated these features, it posits that the tales’ valourization of wit and resourcefulness over moral virtue serves to both reflect and manage the existential uncertainty of a society which had rejected church authority but not religion itself. It concludes by suggesting that these tales’ depictions of the human-devil relationship offer a fascinating addition to the Miltonic and Faustian traditions.

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