The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin

Every person takes their own qualitative leap into anxiety and sin, just as Adam did. However, anxiety is present even in a state of innocence. Although Kierkegaard stresses that Adam was not the ultimate origin of sin, anxiety has nonetheless been “growing” (52) as humanity, throughout its history, has been accumulating sin and anxiety over the course of generations. Sin and anxiety are also intertwined, with one always bringing with it the other. This is why anxiety has worsened over time, as people have historically become more aware of their sins. Kierkegaard suggests there are two types of anxiety: The anxiety that was already present when a person first takes the qualitative leap away from innocence in the course of their life, and the anxiety that comes with and from sin.

Although Kierkegaard is influenced by psychology, he writes that in his discussion of anxiety he will not use case studies or literary examples. Part of this is because of his claim that psychologists have not yet extensively studied anxiety. Another reason is that Kierkegaard prefers to make his “observations entirely fresh from the water, wriggling and sparkling in the play of their colors” (55).