Søren Kierkegaard · Philosophy

Anxiety, Despair, and the Self

Kierkegaard&rsquo;s psychology of freedom. <em>Anxiety</em> is &lsquo;the dizziness of freedom&rsquo; - the vertigo we feel before our own possibility. <em>Despair</em> is the &lsquo;sickness unto death&rsquo;, the self&rsquo;s failure to be itself, which most people suffer without even knowing it. The self is a relation that must rest transparently in the power that established it.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that for Kierkegaard anxiety is the dizziness of freedom before our own possibility, and despair is the &lsquo;sickness unto death&rsquo; - a misrelation in the self that fails to be itself - which is cured only when the self rests transparently in the power that established it. Explain anxiety, despair, a…

Leads to Jean-Paul Sartre.

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