A PHILOSOPHICAL REMEDY FOR ANXIETY

Course Objectives:

The aim of this course is to examine some of the historical ways of approaching and dealing with anxiety. Anxiety, before being considered as a special topic of clinical psychology was initially discussed as an obstacle on the way towards happiness and a satisfied life. It was a practical issue, whose solution was searched not through clinical practices but rather through the general advice of “embracing a philosophical life”. Such a life depended on understanding the true principles of life and death; what remains controllable and what is beyond our control; how to live in accordance with virtue and wisdom; and finally, how to be true to oneself (be authentic). In lead of these historical points, which date all the way back to Ancient Greece (Epicureanism, Stoicism) and reappear in existential philosophy and psychology, we will examine the concept of anxiety and reevaluate its daily effects from an objective and historical perspective. 

Course Content:

Some of the main topics and questions are as following:

• Hellenistic philosophy (ataraxia: attaining happiness through the tranquility of the mind; the controllable inner states versus the uncontrollable externals);
• A comparison between the object of anxiety and the object of fear (in Freud, Heidegger);
• Does the freedom of choice function as the source of anxiety, or as the solution?
• The positive approaches: Is anxiety intrinsically bad? Or can it be a key for an authentic life?

The human nature and its existential impasses: death, the meaning of life, responsibility, freedom and alienation. Can we overcome these basic anxieties? (What do existential philosophy and psychology have to offer?)