Dancing on the Edge of the Abyss

According to Kristen Dunphy’s presentation of the TV series “Wakefield” (2020): “There’s a fine line between sanity and madness”. Every episode of this series starts with a psych nurse standing at the edge of an abyss in the Australian Blue Mountains. In fact, the psych ward where he works is situated near to that abyss. Sanity and madness are presented as something that goes far beyond a simple clinical situation: they may be considered almost as a symbol of a vulnerability common to each and every human being: we all stand at the edge of an abyss—the abyss of mortality. And yet, at the same time, the notion that, even when you have to take care of someone, you are also hit by your own fragility, results in an interpretation of human existence as a complex web of caring and being cared for. Our common vulnerability may lead human beings to be drawn into the abyss or to dance on its edge, even if that dance is precarious. This text focuses on the awareness of our common vulnerability and precarious condition, as defined by Judith Butler, as grounds to build an ethics of care.