Begrebet Angest (The Concept of Anxiety) is a philosophical work written by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in 1844. The 1981 translation of this work into English translates the title as The Concept of Anxiety. The original 1946 English translation of the book (now out of print) had the title The Concept of Dread.
For Kierkegaard (or his pseudonymous author, Vigilius Haufniensis), anxiety/dread/angst is unfocused fear. Haufniensis uses the ...
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Begrebet Angest (The Concept of Anxiety) is a philosophical work written by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in 1844. The 1981 translation of this work into English translates the title as The Concept of Anxiety. The original 1946 English translation of the book (now out of print) had the title The Concept of Dread.
For Kierkegaard (or his pseudonymous author, Vigilius Haufniensis), anxiety/dread/angst is unfocused fear. Haufniensis uses the example of a man standing on the edge of a tall building or cliff. When the man looks over the edge, he experiences a focused fear of falling, but at the same time, the man feels a terrifying impulse to throw himself intentionally off the edge. That experience is anxiety or dread because of our complete freedom to choose to either throw oneself off or to stay put. The mere fact that one has the possibility and freedom to do something, even the most terrifying of possibilities, triggers immense feelings of dread. Haufniensis called this our ...
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