Oct 11, 2024
Maria Balaska.
Anxiety and wonder: On being human
Description
At times, we find ourselves unexpectedly immersed in a mood that
lacks any clear object or identifiable cause. These uncanny moments
tend to be hastily dismissed as inconsequential, left without
explanation. Maria Balaska examines two such cases: wonder and
anxiety – what it means to prepare for them, what life may look
like after experiencing them, and what insights we can take from
those experiences.
For Kierkegaard anxiety is a door to freedom, for Heidegger wonder is a distress that opens us to the truth of Being, and for Wittgenstein wonder and anxiety are deeply connected to the ethical. Drawing on themes from these thinkers and bringing them into dialogue, Balaska argues that in our encounters with nothing we encounter the very potential of our existence. Most importantly, we confront what is most inconspicuous and fundamental about the human condition and what makes it possible to encounter anything at all: our distinct capacity for making sense of things.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. What Makes Us Anxious?
2. Anxiety and the Origin of Human Existence
3. Wonder and the Origin of Philosophy
4. The Paradox of Anxiety and Wonder
5. After Anxiety and Wonder
Notes
Bibliography
Editorial
Reviews
Review
“In this astute analysis of anxiety and wonder, Maria Balaska
argues that understanding ourselves requires more than natural
causal explanations and resists psychopathological approaches to
overpowering experiences. With Kierkegaard, Heidegger,
Wittgenstein, and Lacan, she insightfully elucidates the deeply
human desires to feel at home in the world and find meaning in
it-and the possibility of their fulfilment.” ―Kate Kirkpatrick,
Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, UK
“Maria Balaska presents the best treatment to date of wonder and anxiety in Kierkegaard and Heidegger. Focused on the objectlessness of both experiences – what Kierkegaard calls the ambiguous power of spirit and Heidegger terms “the nothing” – the book draws as well on Freud, Lacan, Plato, and Wittgenstein to argue that living authentically means embracing the liberating power of one's mortal open-endedness. Capacious, insightful, and written in lucid prose, Prof. Balaska's text will enrich both lay and professional readers.'” ―Thomas Sheehan, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, German Studies and Philosophy, Stanford University, USA
“Maria Balaska facilitates a conversation between Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Lacan and Wittgenstein that presents philosophy as embodying an anxious wonder at our capacity to make sense of things. She thereby deepens our understanding of all four thinkers, and illuminates not only the distinctive nature of philosophy, but its ineliminable role in the perennial human task of making sense of ourselves and our place in the universe.” ―Stephen Mulhall, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oxford, UK
“This is an excellent book … A must-read for specialists interested in how continental philosophy can contribute to the thriving discourse on the experience and place of anxiety and wonder in our lives.” ―Philosophical Investigations
About the
Author
Maria Balaska is a Research Fellow at Åbo Akademi University,
Finland, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of
Hertfordshire, UK. She is the author of Wittgenstein and Lacan at
the Limit: Meaning, and Astonishment (2019) and editor of Cora
Diamond on Ethics (2020).
Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic (May 2, 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 168 pages
ISBN-10 : 1350302937
ISBN-13 : 978-1350302938