Anxiety's ambiguity : an investigation into the meaning of anxiety in existentialist philosophy and literature
The dissertation has two primary aims: 1) To investigate the significance and role of anxiety in the work of existentialist writers; 2) To synthesize a unified account of its meaning within this tradition. There are seven substantial chapters, the first concerning the divergence between clinical anxiety and the existential version using the fear-anxiety distinction as a foil. Existential anxiety is Thai defined in terms of anxiety A (before the world as contingent), anxiety B (before the self as free), and urangst (an unappropriable disquiet caused by the incommensurability of anxieties A and B). Chapter 2 concerns Kierkegaard's The Concept of Anxiety. His emphasis on choice, guilt and ambiguity lay the foundations for existentialism, but the suggestion that anxiety can be overcome in faith distances him from later existentialists. Chapter 3 reads Heidegger as secularizing Kierkegaard's ideas. Here we find the origins of the anxiety A/B structure, but I find that his attempt to define an 'authentic' comportment which embraces these two sources fails. In Chapter 4 Sartre's anxiety before the 'nothingness' of a self responsible for creating values is discussed and found wanting. However, his ideas on bad faith
Hanscomb, Stuart Roy
Philosophy
Anxiety's ambiguity : an investigation into the meaning of anxiety in existentialist philosophy and literature. The dissertation has two primary aims: 1) To investigate the significance and role of anxiety in the work of existentialist writers; 2) To synthesize a unified account of its meaning within this tradition. There are seven substantial chapters, the first concerning the divergence between clinical anxiety and the existential version using the fear-anxiety distinction as a foil. Existential anxiety is Thai defined in terms of anxiety A (before the world as contingent), anxiety B (before the self as free), and urangst (an unappropriable disquiet caused by the incommensurability of anxieties A and B). Chapter 2 concerns Kierkegaard's The Concept of Anxiety. His emphasis on choice, guilt and ambiguity lay the foundations for existentialism, but the suggestion that anxiety can be overcome in faith distances him from later existentialists. Chapter 3 reads Heidegger as secularizing Kierkegaard's ideas. Here we find the origins of the anxiety A/B structure, but I find that his attempt to define an 'authentic' comportment which embraces these two sources fails. In Chapter 4 Sartre's anxiety before the 'nothingness' of a self responsible for creating values is discussed and found wanting. However, his ideas on bad faith
anxiety ambiguity investigation mean anxiety existentialist philosophy literature primary_aim investigate significance role anxiety work existentialist writer synthesize unified_account meaning within_tradition substantial first_concern divergence clinical anxiety existential version use fear anxiety distinction existential anxiety thai define_term anxiety world contingent anxiety self free cause incommensurability anxiety concern kierkegaard concept anxiety emphasis choice guilt ambiguity lay_foundation existentialism suggestion anxiety overcome faith distance later existentialist read heidegger kierkegaard idea origin anxiety structure attempt_define authentic comportment embrace source fails sartre anxiety nothingness self responsible create value discuss find want however idea bad faith