Volume 17, No 2, Fall 2022 ISSN 1932-1066
Phenomenology of the Labyrinth
Its Significance for Understanding Manneristic Art and the Schizophrenic World
Otto Doerr-Zegers
University of Chile and Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile
odoerrz@gmail.com
Abstract: In this essay I explore the relevance of labyrinthine spaces in terms of them constituting a link between schizophrenic experiences with manneristic art. Labyrinths challenge one's ordinary perceptions of reality due to their lack of directionality and its accompanying states of delusion, lack of certainty, fear, and oftentimes terror. Labyrinthine architecture and art dates back to early civilizations and maintains its presence throughout modern times in a variety of artforms, most notably in manneristic art. The emotional and mental spaces of labyrinthine modes of being clearly reflect themselves in phenomenological psychopathology and schizophrenia. Some mythological, symbolic, and psychopathological interpretations regarding labyrinthine spaces are being offered here along with supportive images.
Keywords: Bleuler, Eugen; The Minotaur; labyrinthine space; phenomenological psychopathology; mannerism; schizophrenia; multiplicity of spaces.
palace and every nine years seven young men and seven young women from Athens were selected and were being presented to it. Once they were inside the labyrinth, they could not escape and ended up being devoured by the monster. Theseus, the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, was the one who, with the help of the thread of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae and hence half-sister of the Minotaur, succeeded in slaying the beast and escaping from the labyrinth, thus ridding the Athenians of the curse. Fourth, as a motif typical for manneristic art.
Of the above four possible perspectives to approach the subject of the labyrinth, I will expand on the first, the third, and the fourth one, namely, the labyrinth as a possible human space, the labyrinth as a myth, and the labyrinth as a motif in manneristic art. I do this because I suggest that there is a particular relation between these two contexts and the world of schizophrenia, the mysterious disease so intimately
Introduction
The labyrinth is a complex phenomenon that has accompanied human beings since the beginning of civilization, and which can be interpreted from at least four different contexts: First, as a particular type of possible spaces that are different from familiar spaces, such as a home, a street, a square, or a meadow. Second, as a historical phenomenon of great archeological interest, such as, for example, the mysterious and labyrinthine palace of Knossos in Crete which is the center of development of an important Mediterranean culture immediately preceding the Hellenic one. Third, as a mythological phenomenon in which, for instance, the subject of the labyrinth brings back the myth of Minos, the king of Crete, whose wife, Pasiphae, conceived from her union with a divine bull a monster half man and half bull. The Minotaur was confined by Minos to the bottom of his labyrinthine
Existenz
An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics, and the Arts
