Breathing Daily lexic of philosophy, 5

Description

Breathing
Daily lexic of philosophy, 5
June 8 - 29, 2026
Courses and workshops

In his introduction to breathing with the philosopher Xavier Escribano in the new course of the cycle Quotable Lexicon of Philosophy, directed by Daniel Gamper and which proposes philosophical interpretations of life's themes.
Breathing—a fundamental physiological function that is absolutely essential for survival—, in addition to being analyzed from a scientific perspective, can also be studied in terms that transcend the clinical perspective. Així, the darrers have also grown exponentially the interest in this phenomenon in the context of the human and social sciences, as has also grown the literature that speaks from the philosophical point of view.

Indeed, breathing constitutes a fundamental system of connection and synthesis between different aspects and levels of the human being, from the most basic, visceral, unconscious and involuntary processes to the maintenance of life, to, at the extreme, the most subtle forms of self-awareness. and determination, linked to personal development and the most complex mental operations. Furthermore, the quality of breathable air and the working and social conditions that determine the healthy exercise of the respiratory function are major problems in the current reflection on the consequences of the climate crisis on the population and in relation to the precarious situations that affect disadvantaged sectors of society.

The course consists of three sessions, and each session will offer a vision—necessarily synthetic—of the different possibilities of approaching the phenomenon of breathing, from a philosophical, phenomenological, ethical and political perspective.

June 8, 2026
Philosophy of breathing

Sense claims to be exhaustive, in this way we will approach the history of philosophy from the selection of some representative authors or moments - the Hindu Vedanta, the Stoic authors, the medieval thought, Schelling, Irigaray and Sloterdijk, especially - who grant breathing a philosophical status or a significance that transcends the seva physiological functionality.

June 15, 2026
Phenomenology of respiration

In this session the experience of breathing is described in detail from a phenomenological perspective, both in health and well-being contexts and in adverse situations that make the spontaneous exercise of breathing difficult, from authors such as Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Leder, etc. In particular, three dimensions of the breathing experience that manifest its peculiar anthropological significance will be analyzed in detail: a) the u-tot connection; b) the interior-exterior interaction; i, finally, c) the breadth (or constriction) of existence.

June 29, 2026
Ethics and politics of breathing

Breathing unequivocally reveals the finite and dependent condition of the human being. Dependency that begins in the hours of neixer, in the mother system, and that continues thereafter in the form of an unbreakable connection between the air available to the atmosphere. This respiratory connection, shared with all living beings, is also a condition of all social life — as we will experience unequivocally in times of pandemic. Since the lung is the internal organ most exposed to the impact of external conditions, the restriction, pollution or contamination of breathing air constitutes forms of aggression to the quality of life or the material subsistence of possible victims, continuing in the labor field (treball ethics), in the social field (greater exposure to contamination of economically or socially vulnerable populations) or in the political arena (use of chemical weapons or atmospheric terrorism).

ParticipantsXavier Escribano
DirectorsDaniel Gamper