Individuation et affects : les rythmes de l’empathie

Abstract

Our purpose is to show, from the analysis of interactions between organism and its environment, emotion and affect are the ordinary modes of the process of individuation of the self which makes its environment. To live, a living being needs landmarks, habits, acquired behaviors, which will become innate propensities in the succession of generations, but it needs also to invent, as environment, life, is made of unexpected and unpredictable. The propensity of taking habits is an organizing principle of life but the living must constantly cope with dangers, predators, hazards, climatical variations (like drought) to which economical variations (like unemployment) for human beings are added. These variations require us to take risks, to change course (as we humans all living beings). All these interactions are the habits of a living being are disturbed, disorganized and it has to invent new norms and new habits to survive. The process of individuation, the individual life is rhythmed by emotion, affects, habits, but also by which forces it to derogate from it, to reorganize and reinvent itself: the break in rhythm makes the rhythm.