"Sensitivity and Self" by Svenja Flasperle Publisher: Shanghai Joint Publishing Company

Introduction · · · · · ·
More than ever, we are busy adjusting reasonable limits. Where is the limit of what can be said? When does touching become offensive? The author of "The Touch" takes a step back to reveal the core of the conflict: the increasing sensitivity of self and society.

Focusing on sensitivity, this book revolves around the four dimensions of body, psychology, morality, and aesthetics. It introduces the history of the development of sensitivity from the early Middle Ages to the modern era. From a dialectical perspective, it combines the discussions on sensitivity by philosophers, psychologists, and writers of different eras. It involves Norbert Elias's history of civilization, Nietzsche and Levinas's philosophical views, Rousseau and Samuel Richardson's novels, Freud's trauma analysis, Butler's view of language and behavior, Tocqueville and Rawls's views on equality, etc. It analyzes current trauma, language harm, gender issues, the limits of sympathy, and highly sensitive people, guiding us to think about the boundaries between people, the identity politics that divide society, and get out of the arrogance of "encapsulation".

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Highlights of the Works:

★ Tracing the process of self-sensitization and society-seeking the root of today's conflicts. As a German philosopher of the new generation, facing the modern crisis of constant conflict, the author takes a step back to explore the increasing sensitivity of self and society from the Middle Ages to the development of modern civilization, and explores why the sensitivity that connects people has gradually become a force that divides society.

★ Using sensitivity as a starting point, rethinking the issues of feminism and identity politics. From the killing-loving knights of the Middle Ages to the current feminists who are sensitive to language, from the heroines in 18th-century novels that made readers shed "sweet tears" to today's #MeToo movement, from Tocqueville's paradox to today's racial issues, the author takes us to look at current social issues from a different perspective around "sensitivity."

★Focus on sensitivity and learn how thinkers of different times respond to social issues. From the Middle Ages to the modern era, we follow Norbert Elias, who pays attention to the progress of civilization, to see the social progress brought about by the increasing sensitivity of the self; follow Rousseau and 18th-century writers to see the significance of empathy to people; follow Nietzsche and Levinas to experience the power generated from wounds and the power of emotions generated by wounds; follow Freud and Junger to analyze the trauma of war; and see the pain caused by language and alienation in modern society through the collision of ideas between Butler and Leckwitz, who welcomes social sensitivity.

★ Not only for highly sensitive people, but also a resonance guide for everyone. Entering the contemporary society, the author starts from the relationship between sensitivity and uniqueness, analyzes how people maintain moral, psychological, and physiological sensitivity in a unique society, explains the reasons for high sensitivity, and provides an oasis of resonance for everyone, including highly sensitive people.

★ Find a sense of decency in the past and present of overstimulation and distance. When we are staring at the electronic screen and have no time to perceive others and the environment, when a global epidemic is tearing us apart and making us yearn to get closer to each other, this book takes us to understand the dialectical relationship between sensitivity and resilience, find a sense of decency between people, and perceive the world keenly.