Why Are We Anxious?

A singular characteristic of student-led campus media is that most of their staff members and readers are of roughly the same age. That is why we consider the young the most when we compose our pages. In the current issue, the cover story highlights the university’s efforts to provide the convergence education which harmonizes the humanities with science and technology. The global lounge piece contains an international perspective on youthful despair. In keeping with these themes, the story I want to tell starts with a question, "Why are we anxious?" Here, "we" refers to the young generation.

Youth anxiety can be attributed to a variety of social, economic, and psychological factors. When we focus solely on anxiety as a phenomenon, we often overlook that it is a psychological language. Fundamentally, our anxiety is rooted in our lack of knowledge, or uncertainty. Anticipation and fear blend for young people who face the unknown future. However, after leaving university, we enter a society that is primarily based on capitalism. Then, pursuing efficiency becomes necessary to achieve profits. When life is viewed exclusively through a prism of profit and loss, the value of intangibles such as human emotions and relationships diminishes. Society has become more individualistic and lonelier. In such a world, where capitalism devalues human complexity, literature must be prized, along with history and philosophy, as cornerstones of the humanities - the study of what makes us human.

Science and technology are rapidly changing our society. The young have simultaneous fear of and unwavering trust in science and technology. It is possible that our reverence for science and technology could lead to the belief that they are superior to human values one day. Utilizing science and technology for personal development requires a healthy sense of ownership. While it is natural to fear the unknown, the reality is that there are few truly new things left to emerge in this world. What we can grasp from this is the significance of history. Even what is considered new can sometimes be nothing more than a resemblance to or a variation of something from the past, traceable within history. Therefore, studying history can provide us with valuable insights and wisdom.

Humans desire a simplistic and stable foundation. The prevalent rigid standard of ”either/or” is based on human characteristics of seeking simplicity apart from the complexity of reality. Such binary attitudes lead humans to make confirmation bias errors, which further result in a refusal to acknowledge opinions different from their own, thus depriving relationships of understanding and isolating individuals. Cartesian anxiety, defined by Richard Bernstein, is said to lead to nihilism when our desire fora stable and unquestionable foundation of reality cannot be adequately found or relied upon.

However, nihilism itself is not a novelty. Throughout history, philosophy has been a robust discipline with ongoing inquiry into humans, including oneself, through discussion and refutation. Even if philosophy is difficult, due to its ambiguous and multifaceted topics and language, there may be no discipline more intrinsically human than philosophy. Humans can find their pursuit of happiness, values, and even understanding of themselves in various aspects of philosophy. Engaging in genuine self-understanding facilitates meaningful interactions. It can lead to the understanding of others and solidarity with them. By understanding human complexity within the humanities, accepting mistakes and failures, and seeking to enhance self-esteem, positive social relationships can be formed around individuals. Ultimately, genuine interaction stems from healthy self-love.

By Jung Da-gyo, Editor-in-Chief