Introduction

Surgery is a craft specialty: ‘doing’ in response to what is seen, felt and anticipated. The potent odours, the graphic, powerful images of flesh and viscera, combine to elicit strong sensations and responses in the here-and-now or ‘thisness’ (haecceities) of practice. These experiences, which emanate from the emotional dimension of learning and practice, trigger a world of affects and senses that can disturb or rupture (Badiou 2005) familiar or established ways of seeing, thinking, understanding and acting. As such, these affective responses, which are frequently non-visible and intangible, constitute how an event of practice initially comes to matter or become meaningful to the surgeon, potentially disclosing new or modified capacities to see, think, understand and act – effecting ontological and epistemological growth. This introductory chapter explores the ‘speechlessness of experience’ – an immediate affective response to a learning encounter which is pre-cognitive and non-rational, exceeding conventional notions of thinking and thought, particularly in medical education and profession learning. This phenomenon is critically examined through the philosophical writings of Alfred North Whitehead, Gilles Deleuze, Gilbert Simondon and Brian Massumi. The critical discussions of this chapter are also relevant for healthcare professionals, medical educators, practitioners and researchers interested in its main exploration: the affective conditions that emerge from disturbances in practice and their power to shape, construct and transform how professionals understand their practice and function within it.