ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Authentic Dasein and the Anxious Uncanny Introduction: Comparing Notions of Anxiety “I often feel that I must have this life - Angs t - it is essential to me - and that I would not exist without it.” Edvard Munch Both fear and anxiety are pivotal when it comes to literature, art and philosophy. Nevertheless, the two are often confused, at least partly because they are in many cases intertwined. Both terms can be distinguished easily enough.

Fear is in reference to a certain object or situation-one is afraid of “something.” Anxiety, on the other hand, is a state of mind, or mood; its object and/or source is never clear and remains a source of torment for the person who experiences this emotion. Immanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger provide us with the tools for distinguishing fear and anxiety. Kant in The Critique of Judgment discusses anxiety in relation to the sublime.

Distinguishing between the mathematically and the dynamically sublime, the former gives birth to anxiety through its size, i.e. by enforcing a feeling in man of being diminished; the latter, which is evident in nature, resonates anxiety when the subject feels helpless in the face what is overwhelming - as long as a certain distance or safety is in play. In such cases, anxiety produces a sense of and the sublime. For Heidegger, anxiety lies at the core of the authentic Dasein.

For this reason, anxiety performs a crucial role in Being and Time . Through anxiety the Self is revealed, and since the Self is transcendental, it is irreducible to the object-world.

In moments of anxiety, we confront ourselves; we come to terms with what defines us; the world is the background to understanding the ontological “who.” In this situation, anxiety allows the self to emerge as unique to the individual; it is no longer collective and does not follow “the they.” In other words, anxiety allows the Self to be authentic. Fear is almost always noticeable. In literary texts, the tone and the language used by the author can communicate fear directly.

Both description and dialogue can indicate that fear is felt on a simple emotional level. Anxiety, however, is not as easy to detect. In some cases, the word “anxiety” appears, thus asserting its presence; however, in other instances, one needs to read between the lines in order to understand the complexity of the character in question, along with the situation at hand.