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Anxiety accompanies us whenever and wherever we are. It is part of being human. Humans are creatures of anxiety, and this shapes their relationship to the world, to others, and to themselves. In order to highlight the different ways in which anxiety manifests, a distinction is proposed between three basic functions: affective fear, felt anxieties, and mental anxiety. Each represents a specific form of vital danger management, encompassing not only physical protection functions but also the mental anticipation of possible risks and threats. However, anxiety particularly in the form of emotional experiences can become imbalanced, be experienced as distressing, and even become pathological.
Therefore, it is hoped that people possess the mental strength to meaningfully incorporate their anxieties into their lives. To offer a nuanced perspective of the topic, relevant theories from biology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy are considered, with further exploration of the findings in social, political, and ideological-worldview applications.
List of contents
1 Introduction: The conceptual distinction between affective fear, felt anxieties, and mental anxiety.- 2 How humans became beings of anxiety: Evolution and culture.- 3 Biology and psychology on fear, anxieties, and anxiety.- 4 Fear, anxieties, and anxiety in European theoretical history.- 5 The concept of anxiety in existential philosophy.- 6 Anxieties and anxiety as a social phenomenon.- 7 Political anxieties, power, totalitarianism, terror.- 8 Religions, ideologies, and conspiracy theories.- 9 Final reflections: The human as a being of anxiety and the power of the human mind.
About the author
Bärbel Frischmann
is a Professor of the History of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Erfurt. Her main areas of research include: classical German philosophy and early Romanticism, Existential Philosophy, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Cassirer, Postmodern Philosophy and Deconstruction, philosophy of culture, political philosophy, social philosophy and theories of anxiety.
Summary
This book highlights the different ways in which anxiety occurs, and, at the same time, sheds light on the importance of anxiety and in what ways it can be meaningful. The book proposes a distinction between three basic manifestations of anxiety: affective fear, felt anxieties, and mental anxiety. Each represents a specific form of vital danger management, encompassing not only physical protection functions but also the mental anticipation of possible risks and threats.
Anxiety accompanies us whenever and wherever we are. It is part of being human. Humans are creatures of anxiety, and this shapes their relationship to the world, to others, and to themselves. Anxiety can become imbalanced, be experienced as distressing, and even become pathological. This book offers a nuanced perspective on the topic, incorporating relevant theories from biology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy, as well as social, political, and ideological-worldview applications, as such demonstrating the relevance as well as the pitfalls of various manifestations of anxiety.
