The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin

A fresh translation of Kierkegaard's 1844 treatise is long overdue, and Hannay (emeritus, philosophy, Univ. of Oslo) is the best philosopher for the job, having provided well-received translations from the Kierkegaard corpus, including Either/Or and Fear and Trembling. Those familiar with the Walter Lowrie translation of this work will find Hannay's effort familiar but will notice that it provides a keener edge to Kierkegaard's wit and a voice that is more the 19th-century Dane than Lowrie's, which was more 20th-century American. Kierkegaard took anxiety to be an unspecified fear or dread that is a precondition for freedom (and for that matter sin) as anxiety is the recognition of our current state and of the nature of possibility. Here, the philosopher (1813–55) self-consciously argues as a Christian, and while a number of his examples are dated, his arguments are nonetheless engaging. Almost as valuable as the translation is Hannay's introduction in which he provides the background necessary to grapple with Kierkegaard and a heartfelt argument for the value of studying this fountainhead of existentialism in general and Anxiety in particular.