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Single Idea 20755

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 3. Angst ]

Full Idea

Anguish is distinguished from fear in that fear is fear of being in the world whereas anguish is anguish before myself.

Gist of Idea

Fear concerns the world, but 'anguish' comes from confronting my self

Source

Jean-Paul Sartre (Being and Nothingness [1943], p.65), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 5 'Radical'

Book Ref

Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.73

A Reaction

I'm guessing that the anguish comes from the horror of the infinite choices available to me. Once you've made major life choices with full commitment (such as marriage), does that mean that existentialism becomes irrelevant?

The 18 ideas with the same theme [life permeated by insecurities and meaninglessness]:

20732 If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal]
22029 Irony is the response to conflicts of involvement and attachment [Schlegel,F, by Pinkard]
22096 Anxiety is not a passing mood, but a response to human freedom [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
22097 The ultimate in life is learning to be anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
21909 Ultimate knowledge is being anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
20758 Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom [Kierkegaard]
7078 The freedom of the subject means the collapse of moral certainty [Nietzsche, by Critchley]
2876 The thought of suicide is a great reassurance on bad nights [Nietzsche]
21952 Anxiety about death frees me to live my own life [Heidegger, by Wrathall]
22224 Anxiety is the uncanniness felt when constantly fleeing from asserting one's own freedom [Heidegger, by Caputo]
22165 Anxiety reveals the possibility and individuality of Dasein [Heidegger]
20755 Fear concerns the world, but 'anguish' comes from confronting my self [Sartre]
19604 Unlike other creatures, mankind seems lost in nature [Cioran]
19606 We can only live because our imagination and memory are poor [Cioran]
19601 Life is now more dreaded than death [Cioran]
23074 In anxiety people cling to what reinforces it, because it is a deep need [Cioran]
20761 If existence is absurd it can never have a meaning [Beauvoir]
20734 Anxiety, nausea, guilt and absurdity shake us up, revealing our freedom and limits [Aho]