Towards a General Fear Theory (GFT)

Abstract

A rationale is given for a General Fear Theory (GFT) which the author believes has not been given enough attention in his work and/or in the philosophies and theories of fearists and fearologists in general. He ha swritten this paper for technically sophis ticated readers and writers on fear, not for a general audience. He points to several directions, including Integral (Wilber), Consciousness (Freire) and Conflict (Collins) as foundations for "orienting generalisa tions" and means of building a GFT. A brief history of the good-side and bad-side of generalising theories (e.g. Theories of Everything) in contemporary academic work were discussed. He offers a small number of base pre mises as examples of what a GFT would look like. There is no point in merely fea ring generalisations and grand meta-theories and narratives, as so many do today, especially in a postmodern, postcolonial climate of analysis. There is a good-side worth pursuing, and GFT is one (not the only) ex ample possible to resolve the Fear Problem. The author suggests that TFDs project of Kalu which is recently a form of Fear Talks, validates the importance of generalisation and transdisciplinarity in the pursuit of knowing the truth and reality in general and in relation to fear itself.