Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide

Among the vast array of literature on anxiety, the book by Samir Chopra occupies a special place. Acknowledging the urgency of the issue in the modern world and the validity of declaring our age as the age of anxiety, Chopra convincingly shows that anxiety is an inherent part of our nature and not experiencing it would simply be unnatural. Many philosophers, including Buddha, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger, viewed anxiety as an inevitable response of human existence: to be is to experience anxiety. Referring to social theories and realities, the author investigates how material factors exacerbate anxiety and emphasizes that neither wealth, power, nor the latest achievements can free one from it. Combining a touching, candid account of personal experience with scientific knowledge, the scholar demonstrates how philosophical contemplation of anxiety helps to get along with it, learn to live with it, and find an ally within it.