ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the suspicion that the whole sensualist paradigm misses something important which deserves some attention. It deals with how to understand nothingness in relation to sense modalities and psyche and analyzes nothingness as the historical character of microgenetic situations. The book argues that despite its many active years, social representation theory has failed to take into account the phenomenon of nothingness. It proposes a theoretical account of collective processes of meaning production coming into existence and at some point dissolving back into nonexistence. The book also presents a cultural psychological theoretical dualistic model of the subjective and intentional meaning-making process. It suggests that the dread of losing a parent in adolescence involves experiencing nothingness. The book illustrates how silence is a matter worth hearing in conducting qualitative research.