Aprofundar a Crise. Olhares Multidisciplinares (“Exploring the crisis: multidisciplinary approaches”)

The intrinsically interdisciplinary character of the “crisis” begins with its etymology. Crisis leads to criticism. The Greek work krinein means “to judge”, in this sense, deciding, judging, cutting, separating, splitting and establishing differences. But schisms can only occur and differences can only be established between things that have a relationship. The criticism of that relationship implied by the schism suggests contact between different analyses, for which a more original understanding may be developed, one that is more fruitful and thus more critical.

But there is also a more obvious sense in which the interdisciplinarity of the subject of crisis may be surprised. This sense derives from the very immediate content of the phenomenon to which the theme points. In one sense, we could say that the phatic life of man in the world is permeated by crisis. A human life is not reduced to the simple fact of living; to exist humanly means already to inhabit a “crisis”, to be perturbed by the enigma of existence. In another sense, the “era of communication” and the “information age” in which we live is also specifically a time of crises: social crisis, crisis of values, educational crisis, political crisis, economic crisis, financial crisis. The contributions that the communication and information sciences could make for an in-depth understanding of these crises are here decisive, particularly when in dialogue with philosophical perspectives that centre upon these phenomena.

This book bring together a variety of approaches which echo the multiplicity of meanings generated by the subject of crisis, offering an in-depth exploration that is essential for a debate grounded not only in problems but also in solutions. Perhaps this approach to the crisis may be summed up by a line by the poet Hölderlin, often quoted by philosophical authors: “Only where there is danger does there also grow that which saves”.