Seminar 7: Fear

Sunday December 4 2005
4 - 6pm
Barton Room
Sydney Grammar School

Admission Free

Fear is the most primal of human emotions. We speak of ‘climates’ of fear, but also of fears that are secret and private. In the media the word is surrounded by slogans and catch-phrases which may serve to mask any real enquiry into its meanings. This seminar addresses some questions about fear in contemporary society. These questions will be approached from a number of angles, bringing together a distinguished panel of speakers with backgrounds in literature, philosophy and psychology.

Such questions include: What is fear? How is fear experienced by those who have been through terror and trauma? Are there fears that open us out and remind us of our connection to larger energies? What causes fear to spread out and become communal, or even national? Why are we drawn to dramatic and fictional works that are driven by fear and suspense?

Exploring these questions will be, a specialist in trauma research, Louise Newman; the author of a contemporary Australian perspective on the Holocaust, Winton Higgins; a philosopher with special interests in the theory of reciprocal violence, Chris Fleming; and Susan Murphy, Zen Roshi and filmmaker; Jane R. Goodall, crime novelist and cultural critic.