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zachhois's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
The father of existentialism! So glad I could finally tap in and I’m excited to get deeper into his other works.
Anxiety - an inherent human condition. The precursor to hereditary sin. My favorite example here is the standing on the cliff: our anxiety in this sense is just as much to blame on the cliff for being so tall as it is for our eyes for looking down. However, the true inherent anxiety stems from the understanding of the freedom to throw ourselves off of it.
I can absolutely understand why he is the father of existentialism, because his idea is that the only way to overcome this anxiety of freedom is to embrace it fully.
There are a lot of Hegel references in here as well, I am excited (but also terrified) for when I get to his work.
Anxiety - an inherent human condition. The precursor to hereditary sin. My favorite example here is the standing on the cliff: our anxiety in this sense is just as much to blame on the cliff for being so tall as it is for our eyes for looking down. However, the true inherent anxiety stems from the understanding of the freedom to throw ourselves off of it.
I can absolutely understand why he is the father of existentialism, because his idea is that the only way to overcome this anxiety of freedom is to embrace it fully.
There are a lot of Hegel references in here as well, I am excited (but also terrified) for when I get to his work.
darwin8u's review
4.0
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
― Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety
Sometimes, I am overtaken by a desire to read philosophy. I'm usually overcome with this impulse because of some random reason. DFW leads me to Wittgenstein. Trump leads me to Nietzsche. I chose this book because I am going to Copenhagen with my family in a couple months and wanted to pin down a couple Danish authors/writers before I left.
I figured it was either a book about anxiety or a book about mermaids. Oh, the possibilities. The possibilities of choice made me anxious. But I pressed forward. I picked up this small book that seemed heaver than I first thought. Actually, every page I turned seemed to push the scale on this book. It grew heavier and heavier. What the hell am I doing? Do I really need to explore Kierkegaard's thoughts about original sin, the individual, progression, the flow of time, dogma, dread eroticism, sensuality, modesty, self-knowledge, demons, faith, repentance, anxiety?
I once read, and I think this was attributed to Brian Eno, that the Velvet Underground's first album only sold a few thousand copies, but everyone who bought one formed a band." The Concept of Anxiety sold only 250 copies in the first 11 years after publication, but everyone who bought it seriously __________ .
Look, I'm a fairly smart guy. But sometimes these BIG philosophy books throw me for a loop. They make me feel like I need to study and not just read the book. This is a book where I would probably get more out of it through some sort of 400-level classroom dialectic. I need somebody with more experience with Hegel, Jewish thought, Socrates, and Christian ethics and existentialism than I possess to brief. To hold my hand through this book. To smack my hand as I wander off into unexplored tributaries. Alas, being an adult reading this alone on my bed, I have none of those things. I have my friends on GR. I have a dictionary. I have a fairly large library. I have time (crap, if I write time here now, will I have to explore past, future, eternity, etc?).
Anyway, it was worth it. It wasn't too much to bear. I read it. I'm glad I did. Now I can go visit Søren Kierkegaard and Niels Bohr in Assistens Cemetery and feel like I at least did my best to visit that holy ground with proper dedication and consecration.
― Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety
Sometimes, I am overtaken by a desire to read philosophy. I'm usually overcome with this impulse because of some random reason. DFW leads me to Wittgenstein. Trump leads me to Nietzsche. I chose this book because I am going to Copenhagen with my family in a couple months and wanted to pin down a couple Danish authors/writers before I left.
I figured it was either a book about anxiety or a book about mermaids. Oh, the possibilities. The possibilities of choice made me anxious. But I pressed forward. I picked up this small book that seemed heaver than I first thought. Actually, every page I turned seemed to push the scale on this book. It grew heavier and heavier. What the hell am I doing? Do I really need to explore Kierkegaard's thoughts about original sin, the individual, progression, the flow of time, dogma, dread eroticism, sensuality, modesty, self-knowledge, demons, faith, repentance, anxiety?
I once read, and I think this was attributed to Brian Eno, that the Velvet Underground's first album only sold a few thousand copies, but everyone who bought one formed a band." The Concept of Anxiety sold only 250 copies in the first 11 years after publication, but everyone who bought it seriously __________ .
Look, I'm a fairly smart guy. But sometimes these BIG philosophy books throw me for a loop. They make me feel like I need to study and not just read the book. This is a book where I would probably get more out of it through some sort of 400-level classroom dialectic. I need somebody with more experience with Hegel, Jewish thought, Socrates, and Christian ethics and existentialism than I possess to brief. To hold my hand through this book. To smack my hand as I wander off into unexplored tributaries. Alas, being an adult reading this alone on my bed, I have none of those things. I have my friends on GR. I have a dictionary. I have a fairly large library. I have time (crap, if I write time here now, will I have to explore past, future, eternity, etc?).
Anyway, it was worth it. It wasn't too much to bear. I read it. I'm glad I did. Now I can go visit Søren Kierkegaard and Niels Bohr in Assistens Cemetery and feel like I at least did my best to visit that holy ground with proper dedication and consecration.
lutheranlongaphie's review
5.0
This book is many things, accessible is not one of them. SK works with great concepts here. Esp on original sin, very interesting conclusion and insightful work to get there. It is however very dense and tough to grasp
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