Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety 

Professor Anderson, I have read Kierkegaard for 40 years & even hold a few 1sr edition works, and attend the Kierkegaard Circle at University of Toronto. The poinr being i have read every explanation of Kierkegaards concept of Anxiety. Your deconstruction to practical 1st person experience is the most illuminating yet.

It is truly wild how quickly one can spiral out once they've gotten lost in that infinity

“Freedom’s possibility”....so true. The foundation of anxiety seems to me to be staring down a vast infinity of empty space

“freedom's actuality as the possibility of possibility” 🔥🔥🔥

This is so beautiful. What's great about reading philosophy is that once in a while you can see the same phenomena in a new light, and thus changes your relationship with that phenomena. Eventually, a new life.

anxiety is asking a question, “which action will you take?”. i worry too much about the outcomes of each action rather than just picking one. also forgetting that “no action” is always a possible action too

Your channel is my daily dose of philosophy. I watch one video every morning with breakfast to stay healthy and feel smart!

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom 🎉

best content on YT. so refreshing. big thanks!

It's interesting to notice how nowadays, more than ever I'd say, we tend to refer our anxiety to something and give it attributes. Think of social anxiety, separation anxiety, or the relatively new 'range anxiety' people have about electric vehicles. In a sense you could say that, even though we claim that we understand the world and ourselves better and better as civilization evolves, we insist on misreading this fundamental part of us as humans.

I loved your video. I find philosophy fascinating and you explained everything really well

What a great teacher. I normally don’t like the Americans when watching lectures, but this lady is fantastic, very British like, I.e straight to the point. Excellent

I think this form of anxiety, if i'm reading this correctly, is from the enormous, virtually unlimited amount of freedom of possibility we have-infinite really, and we at any given point in time, need to focus our awareness or become consumed in its awe. The realization that our time here is not infinite, so theres that kind of unsettling feeling that we need to choose wisely in how we will select from our infinite possibility. I get this feeling almost constantly, that i get so excited about life and its potential, that i experience a kind of overload of possibility, and often will fail to focus my attention to do one thing impeccably well....and that gives me that angst feeling, since i think i may unconsciously feel my time slipping away.... anyway, just my interpretation of what i get from the way he speaks of this term. so maybe in a sense, it IS a type of fear...a fear of wasting time. thanks for the wonderful analysis as always!🥰

Kierkegaard's books changed my life! always happy to see you cover his stuff

I like Dr. Anderson's tone of voice, peaceful and relaxing. When I was a child I'd think oh damn Adam got us all in trouble.

Thank you for posting Professor-you do a great job of explaining these concepts!

It seems to me that decisiveness is what therefore reduces anxiety, both in this framework and in practical reality to some degree. After all, to decide is to commit oneself to a particular path through the infinitude of potentials, thus (at least in the actor's mind) to reduce the vast scale of those potentials to contingencies upon a path. Those other potentials are no longer "potentials" in the strictest sense, because you have set your mind to something specific. The uncertainties that are left are those that surround the path, which are certainly anxiety inducing (what if I fail?, what if they stop me upon the path?, what if I am stricken ill?, what if I have chosen the wrong path?, etc...), but less anxiety inducing than to stand paralyzed by infinitude. Thus to plan, to decide, and to commit, are the antidotes to anxiety. In my own personal experience, this also rings true. I was paralyzed by possibility when I was young and, accordingly, that was when I was most anxious. Accordingly, I am less anxious now, having committed myself to a path. The remaining anxieties I have are about the fact that I *could be doing* the things I have committed to; which remains, of course, a statement about potentials, vindicating Kierkegaard.

'infinity' not 'immortality', Professor Anderson? and how refreshing it is listen to someone talk about anxiety for ten minutes without using the 'emotion.' you deserve an award!

Clicked on the video as soon as I saw "Kierkegaard" on it. He is 🔥fire.

🙏 commenting for the algorithm😆 as an old naive hobbyist most all historical philosophy like this is worthwhile to understand because of the brilliant thinking but antiquated… we simply know way more now than a century ago in all disciplines worldwide. Keep up the wonderful work!

And this channel still producing bangers!

Good chat. Recently found Kierkegaard and I'm loving the experience.

I like the topic and the way it's presented. Great, interesting content. I subscribed!

babe wake up Overthink podcast just dropped

The book I haven’t read of Kierkegaard and always wanted to get to. Thanks for the overview. God rest

Hi, I love the content of your channel. It's so educational and philosophical. I would like to see you cover spinoza and his philosophy if you get the time to get through the things he discovered

Anxiety for Kierkegaard is the moment,that brings together the different kinds of time, and really concentrates, synthesize them, but also at the same time, nothing.

Thank you for this! Kind of relatable what you communicate haha :)

very cool, thank you. i wasn't aware of his idea of "the moment", and it made me wonder how Kierkegaard's thought might have influenced Rudolf Otto's idea of the "numinous" (in the sense of completely different and awesome i.e. terrifying), and perhaps Eliade's idea of "illud tempus" (in the sense of outside linear time). Or even Demieville's idea of "subitism" in his studies on Buddhism. philosophy is such a fun puzzle

Yes! I love these types of videos. Could you do a podcast episode about suicide? I think that it would be really interesting

Anxiety comes from frustration. We do deserve strive for freedom and self care and care for others ❤❤❤ be blessed and loved and learn loving more and more. Welcome to earth

This is actually a great synopsis nice

Religious people aren't supposed to feel any existential anxiety because the answers are already there, it's just whether or not your "faith" is great enough. I love that Kierkegaard spoke of the same isolation and backlash we'd deal with in todays church.

Realisation of Metaphysical nature of possibilities as an cause of anxiety which we see through the actual possibility (actuality) and get overwhelmed and fail to understand stand its an moment to act and nothing beyond. It's like derrida's deconstruct.

maybe one day i’ll take one of your classes, Ellie ❤

thank you so much 😇

Thank you a lot!

That footnote is still so interesting.

Keirkegaards' mindset differs from most everyday people. What we invariably equate with being anxious as a negative .Positive, if not manifested, has the potential to be achieved, so positive implicit pending on the action the individual decides . On a deeper subconscious level the inversion of our traditional customary way of thinking Keirkegaards indirection of logic creates the Kantian spin or sonic cadence as if the semantics reverberates within the readers consciousness...he ✍️ philosophy with poetic licence making him one of the literary giants

Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all of it 11:45

Yes, the French have been good at this but let's not forget the Russian anxiety via Dostoyevsky. Thanks for bringing up this great Dane.

I agree with you and i add another thing that anxiety prepares us to bring change inside or outside of the person or go to submissive mode. But always remember such conditions vary from person to person. So if you like seek medical refuge according to your own life game plan. But never surrender to nonsense people in life. Regards

When you talk, it’s like listening to the singing of The Calculus. And just like when I took Calc on school, I had to read it 3 or 4 times b before I got it.

I'm not sure if I would focus on the possibility itself and nothingness as the centre of Kierkegaard's anxiety. I always interpreted it in such a way the infinite possibilities cause the anxiety due to the fact that one can never be certain of making the right choice and of the best use of one's time. The responsibility of choosing an appropriate route for oneself from the ocean of possibilities weighs heavy. Am I wrong?

“Leap of faith- yes, but only after reflection. “ so does the anxiety for K come from the reflection of our possibilities? Hence the dizziness of our freedom? Or does it come from the choice of picking between an either/or situation ? Or a culmination of both? Thank you for the great content.

Thank you

Thanks for this video! Are you suggesting that to be authentic a person must be anxious?

It would be soo great if there wa a script that you could read instead of listen. I´d love it, please.

was Kierkegaard's concept of spirit ( when he referred to the word ) like traditional concept of spirit/artificial religious concept of spirit ? or like Hegel he made an artificial concept of spirit of his own ?

I've been working my way through Kierkegaard's first work, Enten-Eller (either-or) that is about the issue of choice as well. I think one of the main things that is missing from your analysis (although I like your video) is the presence of the ∞: In Enten-Eller there is an addition of the infinite (∞) to the concept of choice, e.g. what if the choice being made is of indefinite duration. From this immediately follows anxiety, i.e. what if I make the wrong choice in an ∞ context. But (my opinion) ultimately if a choice is being made in an ∞ context, the choice itself is infinitesimal so as you report Kierkegaard as saying 'anxiety is nothing' ... i.e. it is in a way meaningless to consider choice at all in an infinite context. In modern geometry there is a concept of the 'point or line at infinity', that basically means that if you go infinitely far in a given direction, you wind up in the same place regardless of the direction, so it doesn't really matter. Anxiety, it seems, is the failure to grasp that.

my life makes sense after all - instead of 'being', the choice to spend my life 'becoming' is my acceptance of freedom's possiblity. cheers.

Would i be right in saying the more you know the more anxious you become?

Thank you professor anderson for taking your personal time to give your explanations and share knowledge, as well as awareness.

Upon considering anxiety I think it is potential energy stored in the psyche, searching for expression. Was Special K perhaps the first psychologist? Thanks Professor, for the great video. PS - I guess what I feel on Monday, that dreaded feeling of back to work - is not anxiety but fear - because it is specific? Did I understand that point correctly? Also the talking snake has a role to play in the drama that unfolded in Eden too, no? God awakens choice and freedom, the snake tells Eve a lie, she goes for it and finally Adam gets sucked into the promise of power and knowledge. Is the snake our Ego and Eve our Jungian female half, or what? Talk about a slippery slope. Also, there are no apple trees in that part of the world, we are not reading the original Hebrew, but anyhow I'm headed way off track here, its just a story however you read it. Do you have a video on hating your job but being trapped :) I think the best way to deal with negative emotion that causes suffering is to replace it with a positive one by means of developing a positive narrative. God, who knows all, knows that Adam is going to make the wrong choice (if indeed it was wrong) - what an ass. Adam will have to leave the innocence of a hunter-gatherer existence where he is one-with-nature and develop agriculture, cities, capital and war, surplus and scarcity, law and crime and all of the suffering that goes along with dualism, knowledge, technology and 'civilization'. Our fate was sealed from day one. No real choice at all given our nature it was to be expected (Sapolsky, Sam Harris and others agree, we have no free will which I figured out without a PhD BTW). Our brains make choices but are not free of constraints by any means. Anyhow I digress. To deal with anxiety or fear beware the passive, transcendent path of Buddhism, accepting and submitting, letting go and not judging at least know what you are getting into. Buddhism teaches us to accept suffering but offers no real solution because life must have a purpose and all purpose, all creation is inherently egotistical. Buddhism provides perspective and emotional grounding and addresses the cause of existential anxiety (fear and ego caused by separation and forgetting who we truly are and getting distracted by desire). Buddhism and Hinduism are deep, they are profound and they awaken us to the transitory nature of reality and the illusion of being an individual in the world. But just being awake is not enough as Adam found out. Buddhism is like Aspirin for the soul, it eases the pain but cannot cure it. At least secular Buddhism that is. If you are dumb enough to buy into reincarnation and nirvana, go for it. Taoism teaches balance and the male/female aspect of life as one and the creative energy that emerges from the interplay between the two which is tension and a kind of anxiety that managed by seeing the big picture (the Tao) and by going with the flow, and by participating willingly in the dance and being flexible and knowing that this too will pass. Not bad. Existentialism tells us to take charge of your life and find a purpose, create a purpose, do everything with purpose (my advise is to tell no one what your purpose is) to perform every act with purpose (a bit Zen like). Nietzsche was the answer to Special K but again beware, the purpose you choose is not an end, it is just a path, a place to stand in the cosmic shit show where entropy wins in the end. Try not to become a Nazi or a woke moron along the way. Christianity is an attempt to save Adam, a negative narrative that makes man simply, pathetic and hopeless - we cannot save ourselves, we need a new myth - Jesus to save our sorry asses from ourselves. We are sinners and apart from the God who made us in his image (not egotistical at all this God). No thanks. Which path will you take (1) transcend and struggle to pay your mortgage (2) go with the flow and see where you end up (3) pray to Jesus for forgiveness, good luck with that (4) drink beer and watch football and say F it. (5) create your self and live with purpose. I am Beowulf - the greatest words in the English language. That's how to deal with anxiety. Did I Overthink?

What is the name of the book? I need it. Please.

which edition is that

hi ellie I'M buggie I've been researching the concept of anxiety book because I've been involved with anxiety and adhd all my life . for sociological and economic reasons I"ve tried to be a guide on my own all my life and I've done it very successfully untill NOW. what I want to say is that I found out about kierkegaard's existence today and I started researching most of the thoughts he talked about while I was researching . I realized that I accessed them while I was guiding myself and I think I have the potential to develop kierkegaard's thoughts or I dont know maybe somebody ask to me the rıght questıons and maybe a butterfly flaps its wings you know

Can you help me understand the link between anxiety and “caring?” I saw something about this on another podcast but need to understand. Thanks!!!

funny how I've scheduled a blog post about existential anxiety in a few hours' time and this video was just recently uploaded :)

wasnt that the tree of awarness? but due to that eventuall translatemisunderstanding i had some kind of the same idea. not also that awarness is not the wrong or right thing wich adam and eve had before like you said. like adam was aware that it is not right to eat the appel. so already done. for me the idea was they recognized that they where naked. so the sinfall is to be ashamed.

would it be fair to say then that the human spirit is affirmed through the surpassing of anxiety (towards the human / ones spirit itself, I guess)?

Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam Maybe I'll go to Rome And rent me a grand piano And put some flowers 'round my room But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now The night is a starry dome And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll Beneath the Matala Moon

I'm have knowledge in Islamic philosophy. I think it's good to have discussion on topics such as anxiety, morality, and so on, in also eastern philosophy viewpoint.

Does Kierkegaard write about the deinon?

Just wanted to comment on one thing ( though a few have jumped out at me ) Dr. Anderson's specialty is Derrida. The most common reading of the archetypal story of Adam and Eve is that God told Adam and Eve they eat the fruit in the garden but not to eat the fruit from the centre of the garden. The tree of knowledge. The message being knowledge claims to be at the centre ( not God's word) Now jump ahead to Derrida. Derrida is not a fan of logo-central thinking. He goes around it believing it can't be pinned down. That is no different from knowledge as acting out through intellect ( evil serpent ) at the centre of logos opposed to spirit.(God ) the meaning of things through knowledge as the centre opposed to the unknown ( in spiritual understanding that is the anxiety that only a spiritual person can understand. Thanks .

A bit general on things Soren don't you think?

I think my anxiety has to do with thinking that others don’t like me or care about me! It makes me talk too much and too fast in social situations… My Orthodox faith tells me these thoughts are logismoi that I can fight with the Jesus Prayer!

I have never heard discussions of Genesis 3:22 in which God seems to be made uneasy by the fact that Adam and Eve now seem to be like "one of us", some sort of peers, and even expresses a sort of fear that they may eat of the tree of life. And who is "us" anyway?

“they cripped him” 1:14 What does that even mean? Is it English?

what kind of examination of Kierkegaard focuses on feminism and not God and/or Christianity?

You seem to have a very structured life. I am saying that a philosophy can only exist in a very structured life, where false or propaganda identifies of any nature have been formed. Rather in living meaning basically being there you start to see them as some kind of phenomena.

Too many detours, derailing my attention, answering the question stated with a rephrase of itself had me tune out about 6mins in. 🐪💨🌾

isn't this book titled "fear and trembling"?

I think part of my anxiety is knowing I am connected to God and that He is watching while I can’t feel in that moment that He loves me. Maybe it’s me knowing He is watching me and I instinctively know I’m going to “miss the mark” or sin! Wow! My freedom to choose to not act within His will for me to be virtuous. Although I’ve been an Orthodox ascetic struggler towards Theosis for 8 years, I still choose to behave out of my passions- especially lust for power- instead of submitting my will to His perfect will for me. Next time I feel anxious “in the Moment” I will practice self examination to see what’s going on in my thoughts and will try to choose the good… thanks!

I don't understand it

This professor is too perfect. AI robot? Reptilian? You tell me... In all seriousness, thanks for blessing us with your work.

This rips.

So maybe we’d all be in paradise if our creator didn’t mention the tree?

Kierkegaard would've loved propranolol

so essentially god tempted adam and eve into sin? i know this isnt kierkegaard's or the video's point but i cant get over the notion that god created and informed adam and eve about the tree just to tempt them into sin aka freedom. could god not perceive human curiosity? or could he not foresee that the devil (also god's creation) would attempt to tempt adam and eve into trying the apple? ik this sounds like edgy atheist shit and that none of this "critique" really even matters because it misses the point of the story, but its just something i cant stop thinking about and something that ultimatly prevents me from beginning to embrace christianity or any religion for that matter. i feel like god is either all knowing (omnipotent) or all-loving, and that it is impossible for him to be both.

“Indeed, mankind was created anxious" (Quran. 70:9)

Ok how this started upset me. See I've been annoyed by the fact that there isn't a true synonym for anxiety in Dutch. You need to use multiple words to describe it .. angst is a Dutch / Germanic word, which is one of the words you'd use to describe anxiety but not a synonym... see angst means fear. Not anxiety. And although anxiety includes angst .. I wouldn't call it angst. Then again I'm not sure if the word angst means more in German than it does in Dutch.

The one cool religious thinker.

I feel like anxiety arises from the contention between freedom and limitation. I have the freedom to make a risque joke around a new group of friends, but I develop anxiety due to the acknowledgment that I have the freedom to do such but I am in the limitation of a social context that might shun such humor. Just as Eve develops temptation and anxiety due to the freedom but limitation set by God. But I guess that is the notion of the absurd, a contention that forces us into experience.