The working group deals with the structure of experiencing otium as well as with the description and analysis of associative, marginal phenomena of otium, such as immersion, flow or trance. These terms and their respective experiences are reflected through theoretical recourse from different disciplinary fields, for instance sociology, psychology or phenomenology. Our examination of these associative phenomena is based on the assumption that their experiential structure partly coincides with those of otium. For a concrete instance, we are analyzing to what extent can the transgressive character of otium and its related experience of freedom, the absence of temporal constraints and performative expectations play a role in experiencing immersion, flow or trance. Moreover, the experience of alternative spatiality is often involved in the experiential structure of these associative phenomena. Their respective deviations from and differences to otium, are equally significant. Eventually, these analyses can aid towards specifying the definitive concepts of otium. Methodologically, we are particularly engaged with the question how experiences are subsumable, scientifically. In doing so, we firstly discuss different conceptual approaches of the term ‘experience’ - as empirical knowledge (in German: Erfahrung) or experience in the sense of an ‘enjoyable experience’, and thereby with the description of specific, singular and/or unusual incidents (in German: Erlebnis). Our question aims to further analyze the specific potentials that lie in the term of ‘experience’, for the empirical, discourse analytical and hermeneutically oriented analyses of otium. The sources on which our discussion of these associative phenomena are based, cover a wide spectrum, including artistic representations, historical accounts, as well as empirical data.
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