The Moral Psychology of Anxiety - (Moral Psychology of the Emotions) by David Rondel & Samir Chopra (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Moral Psychology of Anxiety brings a variety of disciplinary perspectives to examine anxiety, providing historical context and incorporating recent advances in philosophical and psychological research on anxiety's nature, causes, and consequences and on its possible benefi...

Book Synopsis

Edited by David Rondel and Samir Chopra, The Moral Psychology of Anxiety presents new work on the causes, consequences, and value of anxiety. Straddling philosophy, psychology, clinical medicine, history, and other disciplines, the chapters in this volume explore anxiety from an impressively wide range of perspectives. The first part is more historical, exploring the meaning of anxiety in different philosophical traditions and historical periods, including ancient Chinese Confucianism, twentieth-century European existentialism, and the Roman Stoics. The second part focuses on a cluster of questions having to do with anxiety's nature and significance: Is anxiety something biological or cultural, or perhaps both? What is at the root of anxiety? Why should human beings suffer in this way? What is the experience of anxiety like, and what, if anything, are the benefits associated with it? Does anxiety have the potential to make us more virtuous or improve the quality of our inquiry? Addressing an area where newer work in moral psychology is sorely needed, this collection and the varied perspectives it offers will be of great interest to scholars, professionals, and students across philosophy, psychology, and related fields.

Review Quotes

"Is anxiety a medical illness, a philosophical problem, or a spiritual condition? Is it something to be understood in biological terms or as a cultural condition, a function of the times we live in? This wonderful, cross-disciplinary collection brings together contributions that tackle anxiety under one or more of these headings and advances our understanding of the good, the bad, and the ugly of anxiety." --Raffaele Rodogno, University of Lausanne

About the Author

David Rondel is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nevada.
Samir Chopra is philosophical counselor and professor emeritus of philosophy at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.