Today, anxiety is usually thought of as a pathology, the most diagnosed and medicated of all psychological disorders. But anxiety isn’t always or only a medical condition. Indeed, many philosophers argue that anxiety is a normal, even essential, part of being human, and that coming to terms with this fact is potentially transformative, allowing us to live more meaningful lives by giving us a richer understanding of ourselves. In Anxiety, Samir Chopra explores valuable insights about anxiety offered by ancient and modern philosophies—Buddhism, existentialism, psychoanalysis, and critical theory. Blending memoir and philosophy, he also tells how serious anxiety has affected his own life—and how philosophy has helped him cope with it.
Chopra shows that many philosophers—including the Buddha, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger—have viewed anxiety as an inevitable human response to existence: to be is to be anxious. Drawing on Karl Marx and Herbert Marcuse, Chopra examines how poverty and other material conditions can make anxiety worse, but he emphasizes that not even the rich can escape it. Nor can the medicated. Inseparable from the human condition, anxiety is indispensable for grasping it. Philosophy may not be able to cure anxiety but, by leading us to greater self-knowledge and self-acceptance, it may be able to make us less anxious about being anxious.
Personal, poignant, and hopeful, Anxiety is a book for anyone who is curious about rethinking anxiety and learning why it might be a source not only of suffering but of insight.
Samir Chopra is a philosophical counselor and professor emeritus of philosophy at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author and coauthor of many books, including Shyam Benegal: Philosopher and Filmmaker, A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents, and Eye on Cricket: Reflections on the Great Game. His essays have appeared in the Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Aeon, Psyche, and other publications.
"Readers will appreciate Chopra’s lucid explanations and refreshing assertion that anxiety is an inherent part of being human that doesn’t necessarily need fixing. . . . This carefully considered assessment of a 'universal, perennial human condition' provides plenty of food for thought."—Publishers Weekly
"Chopra has composed a graceful account of the intrinsic relationship between philosophy and anxiety—and how it compels us to question the very meaning of our existence. The aim of this unique book is not to calm our inner seas, but to provide tools for reinterpreting our relation to the anxiety that drives us to the clinic and the medicine cabinet. Chopra has hit the bull’s eye."—Gordon Marino, LitHub
"Chopra is right to want to normalize the anxiety that people really do feel, saying that it is wrong to think that mental health consists in being anxiety-free. His basic therapeutic advice—not to push anxiety away but “to see what it ‘points to’ ”—is also spot-on . . . a good primer on the major philosophers of anxiety"—Julian Baggini, Wall Street Journal
“The best book about being anxious since Søren Kierkegaard’s On the Concept of Anxiety. Chopra has given us the definitive philosophical account of anxiety—in original, enormously readable, and exhilarating prose. Who knew we could read about anxiety with such pleasure? You might actually discover, as Chopra shows, that every time you’re stressed out, you’re brushing against the possibility of real freedom.”—Clancy Martin, author of How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind
“Poignantly eloquent and movingly intimate, Chopra’s brilliant book is a philosophical journey that plumbs the curious nature of the dreadful phenomenon that is anxiety. Chopra is a compassionate guide who shares his own harrowing experiences and empathetically invites readers to reflect on their own struggles. Reading the book feels like a warm and validating conversation with an extremely wise and dear friend who shows us how to think in a new, less anxious way about anxiety.”—Skye C. Cleary, author of How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment
“Unlike the stacks of books promising to allay the anxieties of jittery readers, Chopra has composed a graceful account of the intrinsic relationship between philosophy and anxiety—and how it compels us to question the very meaning of our existence. The aim of this unique book is not to calm our inner seas, but to provide tools for reinterpreting our relation to the anxiety that drives us to the clinic and the medicine cabinet. Chopra has hit the bull’s eye.”—Gordon Marino, author of The Existentialist’s Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age
“With insight and moving examples, Chopra argues that ‘to not be anxious would be inhuman’ and that, in many cases, philosophy is just the right medicine.”—Nancy Sherman, author of Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience
