ABSTRACT
There exist some relations between the sublime and the experience of borders. These relations exist because of the nature of mental space. There exist some relations between the experience of borders and anxiety: these relations bring into being an affect (anxiety) when the borders are perceived to exist in an unanticipated place. The general theory of space, and of border regions within it, is a mathematical field, usually today given the name “general topology”. This chapter looks at some attempts to grasp this problem of mental space in the post-Socratic period of Greek philosophy. Kant’s presentation of a “topological dream” is introduced as a more recent attempt to formulate some aspects of the problem. In this vein, the notion of a mental representation is taken up in the post-Kantian form in which it appears in the work of Herbart and, following Herbart’s initiatives, in the work of Freud. Both Lacan and Jung worked with some of this background to the problem-situation that is found to accompany the sublime. Another topological notion, notably that of limit, was the backcloth to a correspondence between Romain Rolland and Freud.
