Abstract

An atmosphere possesses and exercises authority over the perceiver and his felt-body. This authority exists in the proper sense only when it prevails over our resistance and we cannot access a further critical level. This is because an atmosphere that I feel externally, as poured out into the surrounding space, is mine not because I possess it, but because it concerns me.Its normativity, moreover, is not so much discreet but rather loosely diffused into a situation and yet it is able to inhibit any critical distance in those who come across it, especially if unexpectedly. This atmospherological approach implies of course a reflection about the ethical consequences of our ‘necessary’ felt-bodily feelings. Even if the manipulative appearance is implicit in every practice that generates an atmosphere, it’s true thatonly by acquiring a better atmospheric ‘competence’ we can really learn how not to be grossly manipulated. An atmosphere is maybe less manipulative when it allowsaquick alternation between an uncritical-pathicimmersion and a critical-rational emersion, namely, between an emotional mood and a more analytical one.