The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety
An empirically informed, philosophical account of the nature of anxiety and its value for agency, virtue, and decision making.

In The Anxious Mind, Charlie Kurth offers a philosophical account of anxiety in its various forms, investigating its nature and arguing for its value in agency, virtue, and decision making. Folk wisdom tells us that anxiety is unpleasant and painful, and scholarly research seems to provide empirical and philosophical confirmation of this. But Kurth points to anxiety's positive effects: enhancing performance, facilitating social interaction, and even contributing to moral thought and action.

Kurth argues that an empirically informed philosophical account of anxiety can help us understand the nature and value of emotions, and he offers just such an account. He develops a model of anxiety as a bio-cognitive emotion—anxiety is an aversive emotional response to uncertainty about threats or challenges—and shows that this model captures the diversity in the types of anxiety we experience. Building on this, he considers a range of issues in moral psychology and ethical theory. He explores the ways in which anxiety can be valuable, arguing that anxiety can be a fitting response and that it undergirds an important form of moral concern. He considers anxiety's role in deliberation and decision making, using the examples of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the abolitionist John Woolman to show that anxiety can be a mechanism of moral progress. Drawing on insights from psychiatry and clinical psychology, Kurth argues that we can cultivate anxiety so that we are better able to experience it at the right time and in the right way.
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The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety
An empirically informed, philosophical account of the nature of anxiety and its value for agency, virtue, and decision making.

In The Anxious Mind, Charlie Kurth offers a philosophical account of anxiety in its various forms, investigating its nature and arguing for its value in agency, virtue, and decision making. Folk wisdom tells us that anxiety is unpleasant and painful, and scholarly research seems to provide empirical and philosophical confirmation of this. But Kurth points to anxiety's positive effects: enhancing performance, facilitating social interaction, and even contributing to moral thought and action.

Kurth argues that an empirically informed philosophical account of anxiety can help us understand the nature and value of emotions, and he offers just such an account. He develops a model of anxiety as a bio-cognitive emotion—anxiety is an aversive emotional response to uncertainty about threats or challenges—and shows that this model captures the diversity in the types of anxiety we experience. Building on this, he considers a range of issues in moral psychology and ethical theory. He explores the ways in which anxiety can be valuable, arguing that anxiety can be a fitting response and that it undergirds an important form of moral concern. He considers anxiety's role in deliberation and decision making, using the examples of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the abolitionist John Woolman to show that anxiety can be a mechanism of moral progress. Drawing on insights from psychiatry and clinical psychology, Kurth argues that we can cultivate anxiety so that we are better able to experience it at the right time and in the right way.
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The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety

The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety

by Charlie Kurth
The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety

The Anxious Mind: An Investigation into the Varieties and Virtues of Anxiety

by Charlie Kurth

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Overview

An empirically informed, philosophical account of the nature of anxiety and its value for agency, virtue, and decision making.

In The Anxious Mind, Charlie Kurth offers a philosophical account of anxiety in its various forms, investigating its nature and arguing for its value in agency, virtue, and decision making. Folk wisdom tells us that anxiety is unpleasant and painful, and scholarly research seems to provide empirical and philosophical confirmation of this. But Kurth points to anxiety's positive effects: enhancing performance, facilitating social interaction, and even contributing to moral thought and action.

Kurth argues that an empirically informed philosophical account of anxiety can help us understand the nature and value of emotions, and he offers just such an account. He develops a model of anxiety as a bio-cognitive emotion—anxiety is an aversive emotional response to uncertainty about threats or challenges—and shows that this model captures the diversity in the types of anxiety we experience. Building on this, he considers a range of issues in moral psychology and ethical theory. He explores the ways in which anxiety can be valuable, arguing that anxiety can be a fitting response and that it undergirds an important form of moral concern. He considers anxiety's role in deliberation and decision making, using the examples of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the abolitionist John Woolman to show that anxiety can be a mechanism of moral progress. Drawing on insights from psychiatry and clinical psychology, Kurth argues that we can cultivate anxiety so that we are better able to experience it at the right time and in the right way.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780262051217
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 03/18/2025
Series: Inside Technology
Pages: 264
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Charlie Kurth is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University.

Table of Contents

I Introduction: The Philosophical Significance of Anxiety 1

1.1 Life's Anxieties 2

1.2 Anxiety as a Biocognitive Emotion 6

1.3 Puzzles and Projects: A Preview of What's to Come 13

1 Unity, Diversity, and the Science of Anxiety 19

2 Kinds: Anxiety, Affect Programs, and the Biocognitive Model of Emotion 21

2.1 The Biocognitive Model and Two Causes for Concern 22

2.2 A Way Forward: Predictive and Explanatory Power 29

2.3 The Case for Anxiety as a Genuine Category 32

2.4 What Kind of Thing Might Anxiety Be? 47

2.5 Conclusion 59

3 Diversity: Varieties of Anxiety and Vindication 61

3.1 Macroindividuation and the Anxiety Affect Program 62

3.2 Microindividuation Part I: Specifying a Standard 66

3.3 Microindividuation Part II: Environmental, Punishment, and Practical Anxiety 67

3.4 Microindividuation Part III: Elaborations and Refinements 84

3.5 Objection: This "Anxiety" Ain't Anxiety 92

3.6 Taking Stock: Two Lessons for What's to Come 97

II Anxiety's Relevance to Moral Psychology and Ethical Theory 101

4 Value: The Ways Anxiety Matters 103

4.1 Is Anxiety Ever Fitting? 105

4.2 Is Fitting Anxiety Instrumentally Valuable? 110

4.3 More Than Just Instrumentally Valuable? 126

4.4 Two Implications 136

4.5 Conclusion 143

5 Virtue: Anxiety, Agency, and Good Decision Making 145

5.1 The Antideliberationist Challenge 147

5.2 Deliberation and the Skill Model of Virtuous Agency 153

5.3 Two Problems with the Skill Model 156

5.4 Vindicating Deliberation 164

5.5 Toward a Better Skill-Based Account of Virtuous Agency 171

5.6 Further Implications: Humean and Kantian Virtue 173

5.7 Conclusion 181

6 Progress: Anxiety and Moral Improvement 183

6.1 Anxiety and Moral Improvement 184

6.2 Anxiety and Resistance to Moral Change 187

6.3 Anxiety, Reformers, and Moral Improvement: A Closer Look 190

6.4 Lessons from the Psychology of Moral Reformers: Cultivating Practical Anxiety 197

6.5 Conclusion 200

III Conclusion 203

7 Conclusion: How Did We Get Here? 205

7.1 Chimps, Foragers, and Egyptians: Getting Here from There 206

7.2 Norms, Punishment, and Uncertainty 207

7.3 Practical Anxiety, Norm Uncertainty, and Social Regulation 211

7.4 Conclusion 215

Acknowledgments 217

References 219

Index 247

What People are Saying About This

David B. Wong

A novel, philosophically sophisticated, and scientifically informed account of how moral anxiety is a valuable moral emotion.

Endorsement

Kurth's The Anxious Mind is an excellent book, convincingly arguing that there is much instrumental and non-instrumental value in anxiety. The book is a model of clarity and is remarkable in the way it combines evidence coming from a variety of disciplines into a coherent whole. Kurth's arguments for concluding that anxiety is a distinctive type of emotion that has aretaic value and his discussions of the challenges this poses to influential accounts of virtue and agency deserve special praise. The book is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in emotion theory and moral psychology.

Fabrice Teroni, Associate Professor, University of Geneva; coauthor of The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction

From the Publisher

A novel, philosophically sophisticated, and scientifically informed account of how moral anxiety is a valuable moral emotion.

David B. Wong, Beischer Professor of Philosophy, Duke University; author of Natural Moralities: A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism

Kurth's The Anxious Mind is an excellent book, convincingly arguing that there is much instrumental and non-instrumental value in anxiety. The book is a model of clarity and is remarkable in the way it combines evidence coming from a variety of disciplines into a coherent whole. Kurth's arguments for concluding that anxiety is a distinctive type of emotion that has aretaic value and his discussions of the challenges this poses to influential accounts of virtue and agency deserve special praise. The book is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in emotion theory and moral psychology.

Fabrice Teroni, Associate Professor, University of Geneva; coauthor of The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction

Fabrice Teroni

Kurth's The Anxious Mind is an excellent book, convincingly arguing that there is much instrumental and non-instrumental value in anxiety. The book is a model of clarity and is remarkable in the way it combines evidence coming from a variety of disciplines into a coherent whole. Kurth's arguments for concluding that anxiety is a distinctive type of emotion that has aretaic value and his discussions of the challenges this poses to influential accounts of virtue and agency deserve special praise. The book is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in emotion theory and moral psychology.

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