View source for Limit situation

A '''limit situation''' ({{lang-de|Grenzsituation}}) is any of certain situations in which a human being is said to have differing experiences from those arising from ordinary situations.<ref>Richardson and Bowden (1993), p334</ref>

The concept was developed by [[Karl Jaspers]], who considered fright, guilt, finality and suffering as some of the key limit situations arising in everyday life.<ref>T, Fuchs ed, ''Karl Jasper's Philosophy and Psychopathology'' (2013) p.. 48</ref>

==Encounters==
James G. Hart described that encounters with limit situations unsettle individuals, break them out of their [[authentication|inauthentic]] identifications, remove them from the social bond, and force them to come alive and find new ways of communicating.<ref>J. Hart, ''Who One Is'' (2009) p. 11-3 and p. 309</ref>  They can be compared to the similarly generative experience of the sense of bewilderment in [[Zen]].<ref>P. Wolfe, ''Laden Choirs'' (2015) p. 11</ref>  [[Hans-Georg Gadamer]] considered the limit situation to provide a revelatory encounter with the [[Other (philosophy)|other]];<ref>M. Portocarrera et al eds., ''Hermeneutic Rationality'' (2012) p. 147</ref> while facing the [[anxiety]] arising from the foreknowledge of death can equally prove a growth opportunity arising from a limit situation.<ref>I. Tammmelo, ''Justice and Doubt'' (2013) p. 386</ref>

==Psychoanalytic frame==
[[Psychoanalysis]] can be seen as a structured limit situation,<ref>G. Gutting ed., ''The Cambridge Companion to Foucault'' (CUP 2007) p. 325</ref> the psychoanalytic framework in particular providing an experience of finality and limits that can empower growth.<ref>D. Smith, ''Hidden Conversations'' (1991) p. 189</ref>

==Third world politics==
In his book [[Pedagogy of the Oppressed]], [[Paulo Freire]] adapted the existential notion of limit situations<ref>Paulo Friere, ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (1970) p. 71 (Penguin Books, 1972)</ref> to the [[Third World]],<ref>Paulo Friere, ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (1970) p. 75 (Penguin Books, 1972)</ref> seeing the constraints of underdevelopment as a limit situation on humanity,<ref>R. Rivera, ''A Study of Liberation Discourse'' (2004) p. 32</ref> but also as a possible frontier point for increasing (in overcoming) one's human stature.<ref>J. Irwin, ''Paulo Freire's Philosophy of Education'' (2012) </ref>

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Simone Weil#Affliction|Affliction]]
*[[Antinomianism]]
*[[Epiphany (feeling)]]
*[[Existential crisis]]
*[[Liminality]]
*[[Limit-experience]]
*[[Numinosity]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|}}

==Bibliography==
* Richardson A. & Bowden J. (1993) ''The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology'' London; Westminster John Knox Press
[[Category:Existentialist concepts]]
[[Category:Ontology]]


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