Anxiety
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, in "The Concept of Anxiety" (1844), described anxiety or dread associated with the "dizziness of freedom" and suggested the possibility for positive resolution of anxiety through the self-conscious exercise of responsibility and choosing. In "Art and Artist" (1932), the psychologist Otto Rank wrote that the psychological trauma of birth was the pre-eminent human symbol of existential anxiety and encompasses the creative person's simultaneous fear of – and desire for – separation, individuation, and differentiation.
Hannah Arendt
Already in this work some of the leitmotifs of her canon were apparent. For instance, she introduced the concept of "" (Natality) as a key condition of human existence and its role in the development of the individual. She made clear, in her revisions to the English translation, through explicit reference, that it was "natality" that she was introducing, and would develop further in "The Human Condition" (1958). Although she did not specifically use the word "Natalität" in the original German version, she explained that the construct of natality was implied in her discussion of new beginnings and man's elation to the Creator as "nova creatura". The centrality of the theme of birth and renewal is apparent in the constant reference to Augustinian thought, and specifically the innovative nature of birth, from this, her first work, to her last, "The Life of the Mind".