Le plus grand philosophe du monde sur une planche plus large qu'il ne faut, s'il y a au-dessous un précipice, quoique sa raison le convainque de sa sûreté, son imagination prévaudra. Plusieurs n'en sauraient soutenir la pensée sans pâlir et suer. Je ne veux pas en rapporter tous les effets. Qui ne sait qu'il y en a à qui la vue des chats, des rats, l'écrasement d'un charbon emportent la raison hors des gonds. (Pascal, Pensées)

The point is clear. We have fears that are absurd. We fear when there is nothing to fear, and we know that there is nothing to fear. There is nothing to fear, but these fears have an object. They are what we would now call phobias. They are not Heidegger's Anguish. It is only that the object of the fear is nothing to be afraid of. A cat, a rat, or a bit of coal represent no danger. The plank above the abyss is wide enough. But the emptiness, or the cat, the rat, the noise of the coal being crushed, takes away our ability to reason. Or it takes away the power of reason. We may reason but our reasoning has no effect. Reason, and philosophy, are powerless against phobias. Phobias come from elsewhere – the imagination, says Pascal. They remain buried in this "imagination," inaccessible to philosophy. Philosophy cannot help us overcome our phobias. Philosophy would not even be able to analyze phobias. These are outside the domain of philosophy. They mark the limits of philosophy, if philosophy is only referred to as reason.

To discuss phobias, to try and overcome our phobias, we need to look elsewhere, use some other method. That is what the present work is about: explore various ways to overcome phobias – wit, sport, poetry, psychoanalysis, grammatical analysis, imaginary analysis. If Pascal is right, we need to extend philosophy beyond the domain of reason. We need to encroach philosophy into the imagination. We need to tell stories.