Subjectivity in the 21st Century: From anxiety to ignorance

In post-industrial times, anxiety, depression and various forms of self-harm are on the rise. The surprising counterpart to the idea of progress and the increase of information, however, is people¿s ability to turn a blind eye when faced with traumatic personal and social situations. Some psychoanalysts have already decades ago argued that people paradoxically do not have passion for knowledge, but rather passion for ignorance. The lecture will explore the nature of this passion in times when we are facing severe economic crisis, ecological catastrophes as well as changes in the way people are brought up, how they become social beings and how they internalize or not social prohibitions. It will also look at how science (genetics and neuroscience) contributes to the feeling of anxiety and how it opens new avenues of ignorance.