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[heading]Leviathan[/heading] Conceptions of fear

In [i]Leviathan[/i], Hobbes outlines three conceptions of fear: iconic, indexical and intellective. These three conceptions interrelate to establish fear as an organising principle in social life. Indexical fear is a fear which is linked directly to a stimulus that gives rise to it; a fear that arises from a referent. The iconic conception of fear refers to the emotion or state of fear, while the intellective conception of fear is based upon intellectual value- or knowledge-based assessments. Hobbs claimed that the most fundamental human fear was not a fear of the unknown, but rather a fear of what cannot be known. Humans find the iconic sense of fear intolerable; thus, refuge is sought within the "known" fears of the indexical and intellective.