The Rorschach and the theory of art: the sublime and the formal
(2015) 11ème Congrès de Comprehensive System International Rorschach Association (CSIRA) — Location: Milan, Italie (27.August.2015)
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- Abstract
- Together with the crucial work of standardization initiated by Exner, a future focus for research on the Rorschach test concerns the psychological significance of the variables. The Comprehensive System has a solid empirical basis offering impressive validity and reliability. By contrast, study and discussion of the psychological correlates of the different codes and their interpretation remains something of a work-in-progress, in much need of both speculative hypotheses and theoretical reflection. In this context, we hope to offer an original hypothesis that is rooted in esthetic theory (Schiller, Burke, Schopenhauer), literature (Stendahl), the philosophy of art (Kant), and existential philosophy (Heidegger). In this paper we propose to introduce the notion of the « sublime », which is to be distinguished from the « beautiful », in order to provide a way of interpreting the significance of both Vista (V) and Form Dimension (FD) responses in the Rorschach. The sublime is associated with a submersion of the cognitive faculties, even a state of feeling overwhelmed, in contrast with the clarity of the beautiful, which is associated with an experience of things being circumscribed in space and under the cognitive/perceptual control of the subject. Our reflection will lead into discussion of the links between perception and anxiety, and to the distinction to be made between anxiety and fear. In concluding, we will take up the adaptive dimension of Vista and FD responses, insofar as they reflect, in accord with Rorschach (1921) and Exner (2003), various forms of introspective awareness.
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Englebert, J., & Sass, L. (2015). The Rorschach and the theory of art: the sublime and the formal. 11ème Congrès de Comprehensive System International Rorschach Association (CSIRA), Milan, Italie. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/213424