On the emergence of thymic space in ludwig Binswanger

Abstract

The theme of the space is at the core of the reflections that Binswanger carried out in some writings since 1930 (Traum und Existenz 1930; Über Ideenflucht, 1931–1932; Raumproblem das in der Psychopathologie 1933; Henrik Ibsen und das Problem der Selbstrealisation in der Kunst 1849; Drei Formen missglückten Daseins 1956). Here, the question of the constitution of space takes not only a undoubted philosophical importance, but it opens perspectives in the psychopathological and clinical field. If the Binswanger’s analyses related to the temporality and space of natural world (oriented space, geometric space and physical space) were mainly affected by the influences of Husserl’s phenomenology, on the contrary he deepened the relationship between space, mood (Stimmung) and body by Heidegger’s thought. Referring to the analyses carried out in Sein und Zeit (1927), Binswanger pointed out that the spatiality of Dasein is structured in different ways compared to the extended and measurable space of science, being it a space full of qualities. In psychopathology it is not enough, therefore, referring to the oriented space, the core of which is formed by the body (Leib and Körper), which originates the orientation and the different directions, but the form of space must be emphasized—known as thymic space (gestimmter Raum)—that tunes Dasein to its world, resulting from the innermost Gemüt’s sphere which is constitutive of his being. Such a notion of space also allows to understand, in terms of psychopathology, how the psychotic world is structured as a metamorphosis of existence through which the patient experiences a transformation of its thymic space. Through the analyses of the spatiality experience Binswanger has been able to show that the psychopathological investigation can take the features of an apprehension of the world of mental disorder as a symbolic form.