Philosophical Roots of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy Part I

 
The first existentialists

Do you recognize any of the faces or names in the picture above? They are some of the foundational figures of existentialism whose work revolved around making sense of human existence and are pertinent to the development of existential psychology and psychotherapy. Amongst them are Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, two important thinkers from the 19th century whose work have said to mark the beginning of existential philosophy (Warnock, 1970). Interestingly though, while Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are widely considered as the fathers of existentialism, neither of them had used the term "existentialism" at all! Both, however, were acutely interested in the human condition, especially people's quiet struggle with the apparent meaninglessness of life. The two were also committed to the exploration of reality as experienced in a subjective manner, which put them both in conflict with the predominant ideologies of their time.  

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855)

Danish born Kierkegaard came from an affluent family, which enabled him to devote his life to the pursuits of various intellectual interests. He was many things indeed: a Christian theologian, philosopher, poet, literary critic, just to name a few and has been profoundly influential on philosophy, psychology, theology, and literature much later after his death. His work is not easy to understand however but in Kierkegaard's words, "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". I shall try my best then to introduce one of his key ideas that become fundamental to existential psychology and psychotherapy.

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom
Of particular importance to existential psychology are Kierkegaard's concepts of anxiety and freedom. In fact, he wrote what is generally considered the first psychological essay on anxiety in his book, The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin (1844). There, he posited that "anxiety is freedom's actuality as the possibility of possibility", which is "altogether different from fear and similar concepts that refer to something definite". He wrote: 

"Anxiety may be compared with dizziness. He whose eye happens to look down the yawning abyss becomes dizzy. But what is the reason for this? It is just as much in his own eye as in the abyss, for suppose he had not looked down. Hence, anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, which emerges when the spirit wants to posit the synthesis and freedom looks down into its own possibility, laying hold of finiteness to support itself."

But what has this got to do with sin? Well, recall that Kierkegaard was a Christian theologian? In his book, he discussed the first anxiety experienced by man: Adam's choice to eat from God's forbidden tree of knowledge or not. At that point, Adam did not know that eating from the tree was evil as the concepts of good and evil had not come into existence yet. What Adam did know was that God warned him not to eat from the tree, the anxiety thus came from the implication that he was ultimately free and could choose whether or not to obey God. Kierkegaard considered this anxiety as inherent in human existence as man is the synthesis of both the infinite and the finite, which necessarily brings about tension. On the one hand, man, created in God's image, is an infinite being that can choose and act according to his will; at the same time, however, man is a finite being, restricted by his body and environment. 

In the end, Adam chose to eat from the tree and sin was born. As such, Kierkegaard considered anxiety as the presupposition for hereditary sin. At the same time, however, he also considered anxiety as a way for humanity to be saved. In Kierkegaard's view, anxiety can be both destructive and generative, depending on how it is approached. He wrote:

"[W]hoever is educated by possibility is exposed to danger... of a fall, namely, suicide. If at the beginning of education he misunderstands the anxiety, so that it does not lead him to faith but away from faith, then he is lost. On the other hand, whoever is educated [by possibility] remains with anxiety; he does not permit himself to be deceived by its countless falsification and accurately remembers the past. Then the assaults of anxiety, even though they be terrifying, will not be such that he flees from them. For him, anxiety becomes a serving spirit that against its will leads him where he wishes to go."

With the leap of faith, that is faith in oneself and in God and the courage not to flee from anxiety, Kierkegaard believed that a person would flourish through the experience of such anxiety and becomes truly aware of his potential and identity. In Kierkegaard's words: "Because he is a synthesis, he can be in anxiety; and the more profoundly he is in anxiety, the greater is the man". 

Kierkegaard's ideas on anxiety and freedom have profoundly influenced existential psychology and psychotherapy, and I have no doubt that we will return to these concepts later on. Before ending this post, I want to briefly share some other ideas of Kierkegaard that I find very inspiring:

Kierkegaard strongly criticized the so-called 'objectivity' of science   and institutionalization of Christianity of his time. He saw both as avoiding the anxiety inherent in human existence and believed that truth could only be discovered subjectively by the individual in action as one lives from the inward depth of existence. 
References
Burnham, D., & Papandreopoulos, G. (n.d.). Existentialism. The internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/existent/
Kierkegaard, S. (1980). In R. Thomte & A. B. Anderson (Eds.), The concept of anxiety: A simple psychologically orienting deliberation on the dogmatic issue of hereditary sin. New Jersey, NJ: Princeton University Press. 
Warnock, M. (1970). Existentialism. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.   

Upcoming...
Let's turn our attention next to the other father of existentialism, Nietzsche, the one who daringly asserted that "God is dead"...