Translated from ancient Greek, the word "catharsis" means purification, liberation, ex altation. The concept of catharsis is very important for world culture, art and philosophy, but in different eras, thinkers of different directions understood catharsis in different ways, the meaning of the word changed. The main contribution to the development of this concept was made by the philosophers of antiquity and the Enlightenment, and then it was adopted by psychologists.
Antiquity: how it all began
This concept itself most likely appeared in the writings of Aristotle. According to ancient ideas, catharsis is the pleasure that a person gets from watching a tragedy. The ancient Greek philosopher introduces this concept, describing the impact of tragedy on the viewer. Tragic pleasure is pleasure that comes from compassion and fear, that is, painful feelings. How can they give a person a pleasant feeling?
The fact is that the viewer sympathizes with the hero of the tragedy, and compassion is a mechanism that shows or strengthens the ties between people, shows their common nature. When a person experiences compassion, he feels his unity with other people: everyone is capable of experiencing such feelings.and states, which means they are able to understand each other.
The meaning of the word "catharsis" in the Age of Enlightenment
Many philosophers and aestheticians of the 18th century actively discussed what catharsis is. Much attention was paid to this issue by the French poet and playwright Pierre Corneille. He saw the essence of tragic cleansing in the following way. The tragedy shows an unfortunate, deeply suffering hero, and the viewer sympathizes with him. At the same time, the viewer experiences fear: all the troubles that overtake the hero of the tragedy and any other person in general can happen to anyone, including the viewer himself. Fear leads him to desire to avoid the same misfortune. To do this, you need to get rid of what led the hero of the tragedy to collapse and suffering - from uncontrollable colossal passions - anger, envy, ambition, hatred. Here, catharsis is getting rid of passions that lead to misfortune, or their purification, curbing and submission to the requirements of the mind.
Parallel to this understanding of catharsis, another, hedonistic, developed. According to him, catharsis is the highest aesthetic experience, which is perceived directly for the sake of pleasure.
Catharsis in psychology
This unusual condition was investigated not only by philosophy, but also by psychology. Sigmund Freud introduced his patients into a hypnotic state in which they relived past personal stresses and pathogenic affects that resulted in psychic trauma, but now with subsequentan adequate response. In science, catharsis is also one of the methods of psychotherapy, which is aimed at clearing the psyche of hidden deep conflicts and alleviating the suffering of patients.
So, catharsis is a tragic cleansing under the influence of strong negative experiences - for example, fear or compassion. It leads to the elimination of affects or their harmonization.
