Anxiety as a philosophical problem of contemporary society

Abstract

The article is devoted to the philosophical comprehension of anxiety as one of the key characteristics of the psycho-emotional state of a person in contemporary society. The study aims to identify the sociocultural, existential, and anthropological prerequisites for the spread of anxiety and to analyze its transformation from an individual experience into a background mode of modern existence. Methods. The research applies an interdisciplinary approach: socio-philosophical analysis is used to examine the connection between anxiety and the transformations of late modern society and crisis processes; the phenomenological approach is employed to describe changes in the structure of world-experience associated with anxiety, including the narrowing of the horizon of possibilities and the weakening of meaning orientations; the hermeneutic method is used to interpret contemporary theories of fear, uncertainty, and social acceleration. Elements of cultural analysis are also involved in understanding the role of symbolic and creative practices in working with anxious states and in restoring the sense of coherence of personal experience. The results show that anxiety in contemporary society goes beyond a purely clinical or psychological phenomenon and becomes an integral characteristic of human existence under conditions of instability. Social acceleration, crises, information overload, and fragmentation of life trajectories contribute to the formation of anxiety as a constant background of everyday life. It is demonstrated that anxiety is associated with a transformation in the mode of being-in-the-world, manifested in the loss of predictability, weakening of long-term meaning orientations, and an increase in existential vulnerability. Anxiety thus possesses not only an individual psychological but also a social and cultural dimension, as collective narratives of danger and uncertainty support it. The conclusions substantiate the view that anxiety is a complex sociocultural and existential phenomenon reflecting deep transformations in contemporary society and requiring further interdisciplinary reflection.