• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.639-648
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• 2008

This study is to examine the meaning of death, the level of death anxiety, and the aspect of death anxiety that the aged have. For this, a quantitative research subjecting 532 of the aged living in local area, Jeollabuk-do was carried out. And among those 532 questionnaires, 10 were subjected for depth interview. The following is a summary of the result from this study. First, the meaning of death for the aged is classified into three classes as positive, neutral and negative meaning. Among these, there were far greater numbers of the aged who put neutral or negative meanings on their death than the positive one. Second, death anxiety of the aged are divided into three factors: 'annihilation anxiety', 'process anxiety', and 'afterdeath anxiety'. The factor that involves death anxiety the most was process anxiety, then afterdeath anxiety, and annihilation anxiety, in the order. Third, as a result of classifying the feature of death anxiety in the aged into the symptoms of death anxiety and the motive of recognizing death anxiety. Death anxiety is classified into the people with symptoms and those without symptoms, and those with certain symptoms are classified into the physical symptoms and the mental symptoms. The motive of recognizing death anxiety appeared when the individual is aged, experiences the death of other people, suffers physical pains, and when there is a mental loneliness.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.105
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• pp.351-372
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• 2008

This Thesis is the study on the corresponding relations between Kierkegaard's existential stages and the forms of despair. the subjects of Kierkegaard's philosophical psychology are despair and anxiety. He studies the forms of despair in Sickness Unto Death, and anxiety in The Concept of Anxiety. He seeks to elucidate the human existence by way of the psychological inquiry on despair and anxiety. I will primarily study Kierkegaard's concept of despair in order to make out his understanding of human existence and, then, inquire into his concept of anxiety supplementarily. Until now, many studies on Kierkegaard's concept of despair have been carried out mainly focusing on his Sickness Unto Death. Of course, those studies focusing on his Sickness Unto Death are meaningful in a sense, but have a limit of abstract understanding, since Kierkegaard argues many forms of despair abstractly through the ontological form of the self which is constituted by the opposing constituents such as necessity and possibility. In order to understand his abstract explanation about despair, I think, we have to compare various modes of existence and the forms of despair which are portrayed in Either/Or and Fear and Trembling. Therefore, I will enquire into his seemingly unrelated works synthetically and elucidate his understanding on the relation of the forms of despair and the stages of existence.