Name: 為什麼現代生活讓你焦慮萬分？心理學家揭露真相與解方！| The Gray Area (Why modern life is designed to keep you anxious — and what to do about it | The Gray Area)
Uploaded: 2026-03-04T16:52:55.000Z
Duration: 35 min 22 s

He's a philosopher and the author of a wonderful book called A Philosophical Guide.

他是一位哲學家，也是一本很棒的書《哲學指南》的作者。

I love this book because it's not trying to explain anxiety away or offer some magical cure.

我喜歡這本書，因為它不是要試圖解釋焦慮或提供什麼神奇的療方。

It is really just trying to make the case that anxiety is an inescapable part of being a human being in the world.

它其實只是想說明，焦慮是人類在這個世界上不可避免的一部分。

And if we can accept that fact, there is a lot that anxiety has to teach us about ourselves and the world.

如果我們能接受這個事實，焦慮其實有很多東西可以教我們關於自己和這個世界。

我們聊了這個，還有更多更多。

Check it out, enjoy it, and I'll see you next time.

大家可以去看看，好好享受，下次見囉！

Before we get into the book, I just kind of want to ask about your interest in the topic.

在我們深入聊這本書之前，我其實想先問問你對這個主題的興趣。

I mean, how did you land on anxiety as a philosophical subject?

我是說，你怎麼會把焦慮當成一個哲學主題來探討呢？

You know, it's sometimes said, I'm not quite sure who said it, that the only things you can really genuinely philosophize about are things that are problems for you.

你知道，有時候有人說，我不太確定是誰說的，但你真正能深入哲學探討的，只有那些對你來說是問題的事情。

So in that sense, writing about anxiety was a natural thing for me to do.

所以從這個角度來說，寫關於焦慮的書對我來說是很自然的事。

Though I wrote this late in my academic career, it had always been a topic of great, deep personal interest to me.

雖然這本書是我學術生涯後期寫的，但它一直是我個人非常感興趣的議題。

The problem with anxiety, or the term is that we use it to describe a lot of different things.

焦慮這個詞的問題是，我們用它來形容很多不同的事情。

Brain states, moods, disorders, existential dread.

腦部狀態、情緒、疾病、存在性恐懼。

Why is there so much confusion around this term?

為什麼這個術語會有這麼多混亂？

Is there just a deep disagreement about what anxiety actually is?

是不是對於焦慮到底是什麼，大家有很深的歧見？

I think just even in the kinds of examples you gave of the definitions that people gave of anxiety, these formal definitions where we are trying to capture a mood or an emotion, it's also the case that there is a wide range of emotions and moods and feelings at play.

我認為，即使在你舉的那些人們對焦慮的定義的例子裡，那些我們試圖捕捉情緒或感受的正式定義，也同樣存在著各種各樣的情緒和感受。

In fact, if you look through the literature, the term anxiety is a relatively new one.

事實上，如果你看看文獻，焦慮這個詞相對來說是比較新的。

I would say it's a kind of 18th or 19th century term that we've come to use transculturally.

我會說這是一個十八、十九世紀的術語，後來被跨文化地使用。

There's so many different names given for it.

And there's also this, you know, what I would call a sort of a turf war in some ways that different disciplines lay claim to anxiety.

而且，在某些方面，不同學科都在爭奪焦慮這個領域的「地盤」。

Philosophy does, psychology does, psychiatry does.

哲學是這樣，心理學也是，精神醫學也是。

And it, given its placement in our culture, given its placement in our society, it makes a difference in who gets to treat it, who gets to be authoritative about it.

而且，考量到它在我們文化中的位置，在我們社會中的位置，這會影響到誰有權治療它，誰能對它有權威性。

So there is perhaps a little bit of jockeying for position to see who, who gets Anxiety, Right.

所以，可能有一點點爭奪地位的意味，看誰能「擁有」焦慮。

But I'm content to let anxiety be relatively not undefined, but

但我很樂意讓焦慮保持相對的、不是完全沒定義，而是

for there to be some imprecision in its edges.

I think we can try and make a distinction between anxiety and fear.

我認為我們可以試著區分焦慮和恐懼。

That can be fruitful and productive, and probably that's all we need in order to get started.

這樣做會很有益處且有成效，而且這大概是我們開始需要的所有了。

So once we've established that, I think we can start talking about anxiety.

所以，一旦我們確立了這一點，我認為我們就可以開始談論焦慮了。

It is, especially in the world of philosophy, it's very often that you can define something most clearly by explaining what it isn't.

尤其在哲學領域，常常可以透過解釋某個東西「不是什麼」來最清楚地定義它。

What is the distinction between anxiety and fear?

焦慮和恐懼之間的區別是什麼？

They are clearly cousins of some sort, but how do you draw a line between them?

牠們顯然是某種近親，但我們要怎麼劃分界線呢？

So one line traces its origins back to Freud, who suggested that anxiety was a fear that didn't have a specific object of fear.

所以其中一種劃分方式可以追溯到佛洛伊德，他認為焦慮是一種沒有特定恐懼對象的恐懼。

you didn't have something precisely well defined in front of you to call it fear.

你沒有一個明確的東西擺在你面前，讓你稱之為恐懼。

An example would be something like, I am on my way to the mountains to go climbing, right?

舉個例子，像是「我要去爬山了」，對吧？

As I'm driving to the trailhead, as I wake up in the morning, I feel a pit in my stomach.

當我開車要去登山口，當我早上醒來，我會覺得肚子裡有個洞。

At that moment, nothing is happening that is concretely endangering me, Right.

在那個當下，沒有什麼事情正在具體地威脅我，對吧。

But I can anticipate some of the situations that might arise.

但我可以預期可能會發生的一些情況。

I might get into bad weather, I might fall down, I might get lost.

我可能會遇到惡劣天氣，我可能會摔倒，我可能會迷路。

這些事情都可能發生在我身上。

None of them have taken determinate form as yet.

When I'm actually in the mountains, when I'm climbing and I step across a chasm and.

當我真的在山上，在攀爬的時候，跨越一個峽谷，然後。

And I feel the ice slide beneath my feet, and

然後我感覺腳下的冰塊滑動，然後

I feel that I could fall at this moment, then that's fear, because there's a very concrete object.

我覺得我可能會在這個時候跌倒，那就是恐懼，因為有一個非常具體的對象。

I am apprehensive of the presence of dangerous wildlife.

我會擔心有危險的野生動物出現。

When I have the mountain lion in front of me standing and blocking the trail, and

當我面前有山獅站著，擋住小徑，然後

I feel my bowels start to loosen, that's fear.

我感覺我的腸子開始鬆弛，那就是恐懼。

所以焦慮缺乏一個確定的對象。

And I would say in later existentialist treatments, the thing that is not formed, the thing that is indeterminate, is the future.

我會說在後來的存在主義論述中，那種未成形、不確定的事物，就是未來。

It's not upon us yet, and we dread what it might bring.

它還沒到來，而我們害怕它可能會帶來什麼。

So in that sense, is anxiety almost fear of fear or kind of like a preemptive.

所以從這個角度來看，焦慮幾乎是害怕恐懼，或者有點像預防性的。

我有時候會稱它為預期性恐懼。

Like, just to go back to the wildlife example, the mountain lion isn't upon me yet, but

像是，回到野生動物的例子，那隻山獅還沒撲向我，但是

I can anticipate how I would feel if the mountain lion were to confront me.

我可以預期如果山獅真的來對峙我，我會有什麼感覺。

But when I think ahead of what it would be like to drown, I feel a chill run through me because I can almost feel my lungs starting to implode, dragging the water in.

但當我預想溺水的感覺時，我全身會起雞皮疙瘩，因為我彷彿能感覺到我的肺部要塌陷，把水吸進去。

So I anticipate, I imagine, I fill the space with my imagination, and

所以我預期、我想像、我用我的想像力填滿那個空間，然後

I'm fully able to feel the fear that I would feel in that situation.

我完全能感受到我在那種情況下會有的恐懼。

So I think that's a very good attempt to capture the sense of anxiety.

所以我認為這是一個很棒的嘗試，來捕捉焦慮的感覺。

It does sort of the experience of it, subjectively.

這在某種程度上，是主觀的體驗。

It does feel like your mind is sort of turning on itself.

這感覺就像你的腦袋在對自己下手一樣。

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為什麼現代生活讓你焦慮萬分？心理學家揭露真相與解方！| The Gray Area (Why modern life is designed to keep you anxious — and what to do about it | The Gray Area)

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