Anguish  

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The Swing (ca. 1767) by Fragonard   One of the iconic images of French erotica. Notice the peeping tom lying at her feet trying to glare upskirt
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The Swing (ca. 1767) by Fragonard
One of the iconic images of French erotica. Notice the peeping tom lying at her feet trying to glare upskirt

Anguish is a term used in contemporary philosophy, often as a translation from the Dutch angst, meaning "dread". It is a paramount feature of existentialist philosophy, in which anguish is often understood as the experience of an utterly free being in a world with zero absolutes (existential despair). In the theology of Kierkegaard, it refers to a being with total free will who is in a constant state of spiritual fear that his free will leads him to fall short of the standards that God has laid for him. In the teachings of Sartre, anguish is seen when an utterly free beings realizes the unpredictability of his or her action. For example, when walking along a cliff, you would feel anguish to know that you have the freedom to throw yourself down to your imminent death.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Anguish" or a Wikipedia translation thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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