The Concept of Anxiety
Vigilius Haufniensis examines anxiety as a response to possibility and freedom, using the story of Adam to investigate innocence and the emergence of sin. The psychological inquiry does not replace a clinical account of anxiety disorders.
Understanding the text
Kierkegaard wrote in nineteenth-century Copenhagen amid debates about philosophy, Lutheran Christianity and modern public life. His pseudonymous authors are constructed perspectives, not simple masks whose every statement expresses his settled view. Signed discourses, posthumous manuscripts and editions must be distinguished from the published pseudonymous books.
Key points
- 01
Possibility
Anxiety is linked to open possibilities rather than a single identifiable external threat.
- 02
Freedom
Possibility can attract and unsettle because the self confronts what it might become.
- 03
Inheritance
The text explores how an inherited history and individual responsibility relate without reducing one to the other.
Explore the ideas in depth
Anxiety and open possibilities
Vigilius Haufniensis examines anxiety as a response to possibility and freedom, using the story of Adam to investigate innocence and the emergence of sin. The psychological inquiry does not replace a clinical account of anxiety disorders.
Possibility
Anxiety is linked to open possibilities rather than a single identifiable external threat. Kierkegaard wrote in nineteenth-century Copenhagen amid debates about philosophy, Lutheran Christianity and modern public life. His pseudonymous authors are constructed perspectives, not simple masks whose every statement expresses his settled view. Signed discourses, posthumous manuscripts and editions must be distinguished from the published pseudonymous books.
Freedom
Possibility can attract and unsettle because the self confronts what it might become. Distinguish the philosophical term from medical diagnosis and read the Adam narrative as part of the argument.
Inheritance
The text explores how an inherited history and individual responsibility relate without reducing one to the other. Vigilius Haufniensis examines anxiety as a response to possibility and freedom, using the story of Adam to investigate innocence and the emergence of sin. The psychological inquiry does not replace a clinical account of anxiety disorders.
Questions to carry into your reading
- What possibilities make a choice unsettling?
- How does a philosophical concept differ from a clinical diagnosis?
Distinguish the philosophical term from medical diagnosis and read the Adam narrative as part of the argument.
How to read it
Distinguish the philosophical term from medical diagnosis and read the Adam narrative as part of the argument.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗