Søren Kierkegaard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Cite this entry Search the SEP • Advanced Search • Tools • RSS FeedTable of Contents• What's New• Archives• Projected ContentsEditorial Information• About the SEP• Editorial Board• How to Cite the SEP• Special CharactersSupport the SEPContact the SEP ©Metaphysics Research Lab,CSLI,Stanford University  Open access to the SEP is made possible by a world-wide funding initiative. Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia FreeSøren KierkegaardFirst published Tue Dec 3, 1996; substantive revision Thu May 11, 2006Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (b.1813, d. 1855) was a profound andprolific writer in the Danish "golden age" of intellectual and artisticactivity. His work crosses the boundaries of philosophy, theology,psychology, literary criticism, devotional literature and fiction.Kierkegaard brought this potent mixture of discourses to bear as socialcritique and for the purpose of renewing Christian faith withinChristendom. At the same time he made many original conceptualcontributions to each of the disciplines he employed. He is known asthe "father of existentialism", but at least as important are hiscritiques of Hegel and of the German romantics, his contributions tothe development of modernism, his literary experimentation, his vividre-presentation of biblical figures to bring out their modernrelevance, his invention of key concepts which have been explored andredeployed by thinkers ever since, his interventions in contemporaryDanish church politics, and his fervent attempts to analyse andrevitalise Christian faith. Kierkegaard burned with the passion of areligious poet, was armed with extraordinary dialectical talent, anddrew on vast resources of erudition. 1. Kierkegaard's Life2. Kierkegaard's Rhetoric3. Kierkegaard's Aesthetics4. Kierkegaard's Ethics5. Kierkegaard's Religion6. Kierkegaard's Politics7. Chronology of Kierkegaard's Life and WorksBibliographyOther Internet ResourcesRelated Entries1. Kierkegaard's LifeKierkegaard led a somewhat uneventful life. He rarely left hishometown of Copenhagen, and travelled abroad only five times —four times to Berlin and once to Sweden. His prime recreationalactivities were attending the theatre, walking the streets ofCopenhagen to chat with ordinary people, and taking brief carriagejaunts into the surrounding countryside. He was educated at aprestigious boys' school (Borgerdydskolen), then attendedCopenhagen University where he studied philosophy and theology. Histeachers at the university included F.C. Sibbern, Poul MartinMøller, and H.L. Martensen.Sibbern and Møller were both philosophers who also wrotefiction. The latter in particular had a great influence onKierkegaard's philosophico-literary development. Martensen also had aprofound effect on Kierkegaard, but largely in a negative manner.Martensen was a champion of Hegelianism, and when he became BishopPrimate of the Danish People's Church, Kierkegaard published avitriolic attack on Martensen's theological views. Kierkegaard'sbrother Peter, on the other hand, was an adherent of Martensen andhimself became a bishop in the church. Kierkegaard regarded Martensenas one of his chief intellectual rivals. Martensen was only fiveyears his senior, but was already lecturing at Copenhagen Universitywhen Kierkegaard was a student there. Martensen also anticipatedKierkegaard's first major literary project, by publishing a book onFaust. Kierkegaard, who had been working up a project on the threegreat medieval figures of Don Juan, Faust and Ahasuerus (the wanderingJew), abandoned his own project when Martensen's book appeared,although he later incorporated much of the work he had done intoEither/Or. Another very important figure in Kierkegaard's life was J.L.Heiberg, the doyen of Copenhagen's literati. Heiberg, more than anyother person, was responsible for introducing Hegelianism into Denmark.Kierkegaard spent a good deal of energy trying to break into theHeiberg literary circle, but desisted once he had found his own voicein The Concept of Irony. Kierkegaard's first majorpublication, From the Papers of One Still Living, is largelyan attempt to articulate a Heibergian aesthetics - which is a modifiedversion of Hegel's aesthetics. In From the Papers of One StillLiving, which is a critical review of Hans Christian Andersen'snovel Only A Fiddler, Kierkegaard attacks Andersen for lackinglife-development (Livs-Udvikling) and a life-view(Livs-Anskuelse) both of which Kierkegaard deemed necessaryfor someone to be a genuine novelist (Romandigter).Kierkegaard's life is more relevant to his work than is the case formany writers. Much of the thrust of his critique of Hegelianism is thatits system of thought is abstracted from the everyday lives of itsproponents. This existential critique consists in demonstrating how thelife and work of a philosopher contradict one another. Kierkegaardderived this form of critique from the Greek notion of judgingphilosophers by their lives rather than simply by their intellectualartefacts. The Christian ideal, according to Kierkegaard, is even moreexacting since the totality of an individual's existence is theartefact on the basis of which s/he is judged by God for h/er eternalvalidity. Of course a writer's work is an important part of h/erexistence, but for the purpose of judgement we should focus on thewhole life not just on one part.In a less abstract manner, an understanding of Kierkegaard's biographyis important for an understanding of his writing because his life wasthe source of many of the preoccupations and repetitions within hisoeuvre. Because of his existentialist orientation, most ofhis interventions in contemporary theory do double duty as means ofworking through events from his own life. In particular Kierkegaard'srelations to his mother, his father, and his fiancée RegineOlsen pervade his work. Kierkegaard's pseudonym Johannes Climacussays of Socrates that "his whole life was personal preoccupation withhimself, and then Governance comes and adds world-historicalsignificance to it." Similarly, Kierkegaard saw himself as a"singular universal" whose personal preoccupation with himself wastransfigured by divine Governance into universal significance. Kierkegaard's relation to his mother is the least frequentlycommented upon since it is invisible in his work. His mother does notrate a direct mention in his published works, or in his diaries — noteven on the day she died. However, for a writer who places so muchemphasis on indirect communication, and on the semiotics ofinvisibility, we should regard this absence as significant. JohannesClimacus in Concluding Unscientific Postscript remarks, "...how deceptive then, that an omnipresent being should be recognisableprecisely by being invisible." Kierkegaard's mother, who was not welleducated, is represented in his writings by the mother-tongue (Danish).Kierkegaard was deeply enamoured of the Danish language and workedthroughout his writings to assert the strengths of his mother-tongueover the invasive, imperialistic influences of Latin and German. Withrespect to the former, Kierkegaard had to petition the king to beallowed to write his philosophy dissertation On the Concept ofIrony with constant reference to Socrates in Danish. Even thoughpermission was granted he was still required to defend his dissertationpublicly in Latin. Latin had been the pan-European language of scienceand scholarship. In Denmark, in Kierkegaard's time, German language andculture were at least as dominant as Latin in the production ofknowledge. In defiance of this, Kierkegaard revelled in hismother-tongue and created some of the most beautifully poetic prose inthe Danish language — including a paeon to his mother-tongue inStages On Life's Way. In Repetition ConstantinConstantius congratulates the Danish language on providing the word foran important new philosophical concept, viz. Gjentagelse(repetition), to replace the foreign word "mediation". In general, theDanish language is Kierkegaard's umbilical attachment to the motherwhereas Latin and German represent the law of the father, especiallywhen employed in systematic scholarship (Videnskab).The influence of Kierkegaard's father on his work has been frequentlynoted. Not only did Kierkegaard inherit his father's melancholy, hissense of guilt and anxiety, and his pietistic emphasis on the douraspects of Christian faith, but he also inherited his talents forphilosophical argument and creative imagination. In additionKierkegaard inherited enough of his father's wealth to allow him topursue his life as a freelance writer. The themes of sacrificialfather/son relationships, of inherited sin, of the burden of history,and of the centrality of the "individual, human existencerelationship, the old text, well known, handed down from the fathers"(Postscript) are repeated many times in Kierkegaard's oeuvre.The father's sense of guilt was so great (for having cursed God? forhaving impregnated Kierkegaard's mother out of wedlock?) that hethought God would punish him by taking the lives of all seven of hischildren before they reached the age of 34 (the age of Jesus Christ athis crucifixion). This was born out for all but two of the children,Søren and his older brother Peter. Søren was astonishedthat they both survived beyond that age. This may explain the sense ofurgency that drove Kierkegaard to write so prolifically in the yearsleading up to his 34th birthday.Kierkegaard's (broken) engagement to Regine Olsen has also been thefocus of much scholarly attention. The theme of a young woman being theoccasion for a young man to become "poeticized" recurs in Kierkegaard'swritings, as does the theme of the sacrifice of worldly happiness for ahigher (religious) purpose. Kierkegaard's infatuation with Regine, andthe sublimated libidinal energy it lent to his poetic production, werecrucial for setting his life course. The breaking of the engagementallowed Kierkegaard to devote himself monastically to his religiouspurpose, as well as to establish his outsider status (outside the normof married bourgeois life). It also freed him from close personalentanglements with women, thereby leading him to objectify them asideal creatures, and to reproduce the patriarchal values of his churchand father.2. Kierkegaard's RhetoricKierkegaard's central problematic was how to become a Christian inChristendom. The task was most difficult for the well-educated,since prevailing educational and cultural institutions tended toproduce stereotyped members of "the crowd" rather than to allowindividuals to discover their own unique identities. This problem wascompounded by the fact that Denmark had recently and very rapidly beentransformed from a feudal society into a capitalist society. Universalelementary education, large-scale migration from rural areas intocities, and greatly increased social mobility meant that the socialstructure changed from a rigidly hierarchical one to a relatively"horizontal" one. In this context it became increasingly difficult to"become who you are" for two reasons: (i) social identities wereunusually fluid; and (ii) there was a proliferation of normalizinginstitutions which produced pseudo-individuals. Given this problematic in this social context Kierkegaard perceiveda need to invent a form of communication which would not producestereotyped identities. On the contrary, he needed a form of rhetoricwhich would force people back onto their own resources, to takeresponsibility for their own existential choices, and to become whothey are beyond their socially imposed identities. In this undertakingKierkegaard was inspired by the figure of Socrates, whose incessantirony undermined all knowledge claims that were taken for granted orunreflectively inherited from traditional culture. In his dissertationOn the Concept of Irony with constant reference to SocratesKierkegaard argued that the historical Socrates used his irony in orderto facilitate the birth of subjectivity in his interlocutors. Becausethey were constantly forced to abandon their pat answers to Socrates'annoying questions, they had to begin to think for themselves and totake individual responsibility for their claims about knowledge andvalue.Kierkegaard sought to provide a similar service for his owncontemporaries. He used irony, parody, satire, humor, anddeconstructive techniques in order to make conventionally acceptedforms of knowledge and value untenable. He was a gadfly — constantlyirritating his contemporaries with discomforting thoughts. He was alsoa midwife — assisting at the birth of individual subjectivity byforcing his contemporaries to think for themselves. His art ofcommunication became "the art of taking away" since he thoughthis audience suffered from too much knowledge rather than toolittle.Hegelianism promised to make absolute knowledge available by virtueof a science of logic. Anyone with the capacity to follow thedialectical progression of the purportedly transparent concepts ofHegel's logic would have access to the mind of God (which for Hegel wasequivalent to the logical structure of the universe). Kierkegaardthought this to be the hubristic attempt to build a new tower of Babel,or a scala paradisi — a dialectical ladder by which humanscan climb with ease up to heaven. Kierkegaard's strategy was to invertthis dialectic by seeking to make everything more difficult. Instead ofseeing scientific knowledge as the means of human redemption, heregarded it as the greatest obstacle to redemption. Instead of seekingto give people more knowledge he sought to take away what passed forknowledge. Instead of seeking to make God and Christian faith perfectlyintelligible he sought to emphasize the absolute transcendence by Godof all human categories. Instead of setting himself up as a religiousauthority, Kierkegaard used a vast array of textual devices toundermine his authority as an author and to place responsibility forthe existential significance to be derived from his texts squarely onthe reader.Kierkegaard distanced himself from his texts by a variety of deviceswhich served to problematize the authorial voice for the reader. Heused pseudonyms in many of his works (both overtly aesthetic ones andovertly religious ones). He partitioned the texts into prefaces,forewords, interludes, postscripts, appendices. He assigned the"authorship" of parts of texts to different pseudonyms, and inventedfurther pseudonyms to be the editors or compilers of these pseudonymouswritings. Sometimes Kierkegaard appended his name as author, sometimesas the person responsible for publication, sometimes not at all.Sometimes Kierkegaard would publish more than one book on the same day.These simultaneous books embodied strikingly contrasting perspectives.He also published whole series of works simultaneously, viz.the pseudonymous works on the one hand and on the other hand theEdifying Discourses published under his own name.All of this play with narrative point of view, with contrastingworks, and with contrasting internal partitions within individual worksleaves the reader very disoriented. In combination with the incessantplay of irony and Kierkegaard's predilection for paradox and semanticopacity, the text becomes a polished surface for the reader in whichthe prime meaning to be discerned is the reader's own reflection.Christian faith, for Kierkegaard, is not a matter of learning dogma byrote. It is a matter of the individual repeatedly renewing h/erpassionate subjective relationship to an object which can never beknown, but only believed in. This belief is offensive to reason, sinceit only exists in the face of the absurd (the paradox of the eternal,immortal, infinite God being incarnated in time as a finitemortal).Kierkegaard's "method of indirect communication" was designed tosever the reliance of the reader on the authority of the author and onthe received wisdom of the community. The reader was to be forced totake individual responsibility for knowing who s/he is and for knowingwhere s/he stands on the existential, ethical and religious issuesraised in the texts.While much of Kierkegaard's writing is presented indirectly, undervarious pseudonyms, he did write some works under his own name. Theseworks fall into three genres: (i) deliberations; (ii) edifyingdiscourses; and (iii) reviews. The point of indirect communication isto position the reader to relate to the truth with appropriatepassion, rather than to communicate the truth as such. In a review,however, it is appropriate to be objective, especially in drawing outa novel's life-view and life-development. A deliberation[Overveielse], on the other hand, ought to be provocative,and turn the reader's assumptions topsy-turvy. It draws on irony, thecomic and is high-spirited, in order to get thoughts into motion priorto action. A deliberation is a weighing-up, as a propaedeutic toaction. An edifying discourse [Opbyggelige Tale], bycontrast, "rests in a mood" and presupposes that the reader is alreadyin faith. It seeks to build up the faith that it presupposes.Typically Kierkegaard's Edifying Discourses invite "thatsingle individual, my reader" to dwell with a biblical passage for thesake of building up faith. Kierkegaard's "inverted Christian dialectic" was designed not tomake the word of God easier to assimilate, but to establish moreclearly the absolute distance that separates human beings from God.This was in order to emphasize that human beings are absolutely relianton God's grace for salvation.3. Kierkegaard's AestheticsKierkegaard presents his pseudonymous authorship as a dialecticalprogression of existential stages. The first is the aesthetic, whichgives way to the ethical, which gives way to the religious. Theaesthetic stage of existence is characterized by the following:immersion in sensuous experience; valorization of possibility overactuality; egotism; fragmentation of the subject of experience;nihilistic wielding of irony and scepticism; and flight from boredom. The figure of the aesthete in the first volume of Either-Oris an ironic portrayal of German romanticism, but it also draws onmedieval characters as diverse as Don Juan, Ahasverus (the wanderingJew), and Faust. It finds its most sophisticated form in the author of"The Seducer's Diary", the final section of Either-Or.Johannes the seducer is a reflective aesthete, who gainssensuous delight not so much from the act of seduction but fromengineering the possibility of seduction. His real aim is themanipulation of people and situations in ways which generateinteresting reflections in his own voyeuristic mind. The aestheticperspective transforms quotidian dullness into a richly poetic world bywhatever means it can. Sometimes the reflective aesthete will injectinterest into a book by reading only the last third, or into aconversation by provoking a bore into an apoplectic fit so that he cansee a bead of sweat form between the bore's eyes and run down his nose.That is, the aesthete uses artifice, arbitrariness, irony, and wilfulimagination to recreate the world in his own image. The primemotivation for the aesthete is the transformation of the boring intothe interesting.This type of aestheticism is criticized from the point of view ofethics. It is seen to be emptily self-serving and escapist. It is adespairing means of avoiding commitment and responsibility. It fails toacknowledge one's social debt and communal existence. And it isself-deceiving insofar as it substitutes fantasies for actual states ofaffairs.But Kierkegaard did not want to abandon aesthetics altogether infavor of the ethical and the religious. A key concept in the Hegeliandialectic, which Kierkegaard's pseudonymous authorship parodies, isAufhebung (sublation). In Hegel's dialectic, whencontradictory positions are reconciled in a higher unity (synthesis)they are both annulled and preserved (aufgehoben). Similarlywith Kierkegaard's pseudo-dialectic: the aesthetic and the ethical areboth annulled and preserved in their synthesis in the religious stage.As far as the aesthetic stage of existence is concerned what ispreserved in the higher religious stage is the sense of infinitepossibility made available through the imagination. But this no longerexcludes what is actual. Nor is it employed for egotistic ends.Aesthetic irony is transformed into religious humor, and the aesthetictransfiguration of the actual world into the ideal istransformed into the religious transubstantiation of thefinite world into an actual reconciliation with the infinite.But the dialectic of the pseudonymous authorship never quite reachesthe truly religious. We stop short at the representation ofthe religious by a self-confessed humorist (Johannes Climacus) in amedium which, according to Climacus's own account, necessarilyalienates the reader from true (Christian) faith. For faith is a matterof lived experience, of constant striving within an individual'sexistence. According to Climacus's metaphysics, the world is divideddualistically into the actual and the ideal. Language (and all othermedia of representation) belong to the realm of the ideal. No matterhow eloquent or evocative language is it can never be theactual. Therefore, any representation of faith is always suspended inthe realm of ideality and can never be actual faith.So the whole dialectic of the pseudonymous authorship is recuperatedby the aesthetic by virtue of its medium of representation. In factJohannes Climacus acknowledges this implicitly when at the end ofConcluding Unscientific Postscript he revokeseverything he has said, with the important rider that to say somethingthen to revoke it is not the same as never having said it in the firstplace. His presentation of religious faith in an aesthetic medium atleast provides an opportunity for his readers to make their own leap offaith, by appropriating with inward passion the paradoxical religion ofChristianity into their own lives.As a poet of the religious Kierkegaard was always preoccupied withaesthetics. In fact, contrary to popular misconceptions of Kierkegaardwhich represent him as becoming increasingly hostile to poetry, hereferred increasingly to himself as a poet in his later years (all butone of over ninety references to himself as a poet in his journals datefrom after 1847). Kierkegaard never claimed to write with religiousauthority, as an apostle. His works represent both less religiouslyenlightened and more religiously enlightened positions than he thoughthe had attained in his own existence. Such representations were onlypossible in an aesthetic medium of imagined possibilities likepoetry.4. Kierkegaard's EthicsLike the terms "aesthetic" and "religious", the term "ethics" inKierkegaard's work has more than one meaning. It is used to denoteboth: (i) a limited existential sphere, or stage, which is supersededby the higher stage of the religious life; and (ii) an aspect of lifewhich is retained even within the religious life. In the first sense"ethics" is synonymous with the Hegelian notion ofSittlichkeit, or customary mores. In this sense "ethics"represents "the universal", or more accurately the prevailing socialnorms. The social norms are seen to be the highest court of appeal forjudging human affairs — nothing outranks them for this sort ofethicist. Even human sacrifice is justified in terms of how it servesthe community, so that when Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigeniahe is regarded as a tragic hero since the sacrifice is required for thesuccess of the Greek expedition to Troy (Fear and Trembling). Kierkegaard, however, does recognize duties to a power higher thansocial norms. Much of Fear and Trembling turns on the notionthat Abraham's would-be sacrifice of his son Isaac is not for the sakeof social norms, but is the result of a "teleological suspension of theethical". That is, Abraham recognizes a duty to something higher thanboth his social duty not to kill an innocent person and his personalcommitment to his beloved son, viz. his duty to obey God'scommands.But in order to arrive at a position of religious faith, which mightentail a "teleological suspension of the ethical", the individual mustfirst embrace the ethical (in the first sense). In order to raiseoneself beyond the merely aesthetic life, which is a life of driftingin imagination, possibility and sensation, one needs to make acommitment. That is, the aesthete needs to choose the ethical, whichentails a commitment to communication and decision procedures.The ethical position advocated by Judge Wilhelm in "EquilibriumBetween the Aesthetic and the Ethical in the Composition ofPersonality" (Either-Or II) is a peculiar mix of cognitivismand noncognitivism. The metaethics or normative ethics are cognitivist,laying down various necessary conditions for ethically correct action.These conditions include: the necessity of choosing seriously andinwardly; commitment to the belief that predications of good and evilof our actions have a truth-value; the necessity of choosing what oneis actually doing, rather than just responding to a situation; actionsare to be in accordance with rules; and these rules are universallyapplicable to moral agents.The choice of metaethics, however, is noncognitive. There is noadequate proof of the truth of metaethics. The choice of normativeethics is motivated, but in a noncognitive way. The Judge seeks tomotivate the choice of his normative ethics through the avoidance ofdespair. Here despair (Fortvivlelse) is to let one's lifedepend on conditions outside one's control (and later, more radically,despair is the very possibility of despair in this first sense). ForJudge Wilhelm, the choice of normative ethics is a noncognitive choiceof cognitivism, and thereby an acceptance of the applicability of theconceptual distinction between good and evil.From Kierkegaard's religious perspective, however, the conceptualdistinction between good and evil is ultimately dependent not on socialnorms but on God. Therefore it is possible, as Johannes de Silentioargues was the case for Abraham (the father of faith), that God demanda suspension of the ethical (in the sense of the socially prescribednorms). This is still ethical in the second sense, since ultimatelyGod's definition of the distinction between good and evil outranks anyhuman society's definition. The requirement of communicability andclear decision procedures can also be suspended by God's fiat. Thisrenders cases such as Abraham's extremely problematic, since we have norecourse to public reason to decide whether he is legitimately obeyingGod's command or whether he is a deluded would-be murderer. Sincepublic reason cannot decide the issue for us, we must decide forourselves as a matter of religious faith.5. Kierkegaard's ReligionKierkegaard styled himself above all as a religious poet. The religionto which he sought to relate his readers is Christianity. The type ofChristianity that underlies his writings is a very serious strain ofLutheran pietism informed by the dour values of sin, guilt, suffering,and individual responsibility. Kierkegaard was immersed in thesevalues in the family home through his father, whose own childhood waslived in the shadow of Herrnhut pietism inJutland. Kierkegaard's father subsequently became a member of the layCongregation of Brothers [Brødremenighed] inCopenhagen, which he and his family attended in addition to thesermons by Bishop J. P. Mynster.For Kierkegaard Christian faith is not a matter of regurgitatingchurch dogma. It is a matter of individual subjective passion, whichcannot be mediated by the clergy or by human artefacts. Faith is themost important task to be achieved by a human being, because only onthe basis of faith does an individual have a chance to become a trueself. This self is the life-work which God judges for eternity.The individual is thereby subject to an enormous burden ofresponsibility, for upon h/er existential choices hangs h/er eternalsalvation or damnation. Anxiety or dread (Angest) is thepresentiment of this terrible responsibility when the individual standsat the threshold of momentous existential choice. Anxiety is atwo-sided emotion: on one side is the dread burden of choosing foreternity; on the other side is the exhilaration of freedom in choosingoneself. Choice occurs in the instant (Øjeblikket),which is the point at which time and eternity intersect — for theindividual creates through temporal choice a self which will be judgedfor eternity.But the choice of faith is not made once and for all. It isessential that faith be constantly renewed by means of repeated avowalsof faith. One's very selfhood depends upon this repetition, foraccording to Anti-Climacus, the self "is a relation which relatesitself to itself" (The Sickness Unto Death). But unless thisself acknowledges a "power which constituted it," it falls into adespair which undoes its selfhood. Therefore, in order to maintainitself as a relation which relates itself to itself, the self mustconstantly renew its faith in "the power which posited it." There is nomediation between the individual self and God by priest or bylogical system (contra Catholicism and Hegelianismrespectively). There is only the individual's own repetitionof faith. This repetition of faith is the way the self relates itselfto itself and to the power which constituted it, i.e. the repetition offaith is the self.Christian dogma, according to Kierkegaard, embodies paradoxes whichare offensive to reason. The central paradox is the assertion that theeternal, infinite, transcendent God simultaneously became incarnated asa temporal, finite, human being (Jesus). There are two possibleattitudes we can adopt to this assertion, viz. we can have faith, or wecan take offense. What we cannot do, according to Kierkegaard, isbelieve by virtue of reason. If we choose faith we must suspend ourreason in order to believe in something higher than reason. In fact wemust believe by virtue of the absurd.Much of Kierkegaard's authorship explores the notion of the absurd:Job gets everything back again by virtue of the absurd(Repetition); Abraham gets a reprieve from having to sacrificeIsaac, by virtue of the absurd (Fear and Trembling);Kierkegaard hoped to get Regine back again after breaking off theirengagement, by virtue of the absurd (Journals); Climacus hopesto deceive readers into the truth of Christianity by virtue of anabsurd representation of Christianity's ineffability; the Christian Godis represented as absolutely transcendent of human categories yet isabsurdly presented as a personal God with the human capacities to love,judge, forgive, teach, etc. Kierkegaard's notion of the absurdsubsequently became an important category for twentieth centuryexistentialists, though usually devoid of its religiousassociations.According to Johannes Climacus, faith is a miracle, a gift from Godwhereby eternal truth enters time in the instant. This Christianconception of the relation between (eternal) truth and time is distinctfrom the Socratic notion that (eternal) truth is always already withinus — it just needs to be recovered by means of recollection(anamnesis). The condition for realizing (eternal) truth forthe Christian is a gift (Gave) from God, but its realizationis a task (Opgave) which must be repeatedly performed by theindividual believer. Whereas Socratic recollection is a recuperation ofthe past, Christian repetition is a "recollection forwards" — so thatthe eternal (future) truth is captured in time.Crucial to the miracle of Christian faith is the realization thatover against God we are always in the wrong. That is, we must realizethat we are always in sin. This is the condition for faith, and must begiven by God. The idea of sin cannot evolve from purely human origins.Rather, it must have been introduced into the world from a transcendentsource. Once we understand that we are in sin, we can understand thatthere is some being over against which we are always in the wrong. Onthis basis we can have faith that, by virtue of the absurd, we canultimately be atoned with this being.6. Kierkegaard's PoliticsKierkegaard is sometimes regarded as an apolitical thinker, but in facthe intervened stridently in church politics, cultural politics, and inthe turbulent social changes of his time. His earliest published essay,for example, was a polemic against women's liberation. It is areactionary apologetic for the prevailing patriarchal values, and wasmotivated largely by Kierkegaard's desire to ingratiate himself withfactions within Copenhagen's intellectual circles. This latter desiregradually left him, but his relation to women remained highlyquestionable. One of Kierkegaard's main interventions in cultural politics was hissustained attack on Hegelianism. Hegel's philosophy had been introducedinto Denmark with religious zeal by J.L. Heiberg, and was taken upenthusiastically within the theology faculty of Copenhagen Universityand by Copenhagen's literati. Kierkegaard, too, was induced to make aserious study of Hegel's work. While Kierkegaard greatly admired Hegel,he had grave reservations about Hegelianism and its bombastic promises.Hegel would have been the greatest thinker who ever lived, saidKierkegaard, if only he had regarded his system as athought-experiment. Instead he took himself seriously to have reachedthe truth, and so rendered himself comical.Kierkegaard's tactic in undermining Hegelianism was to produce anelaborate parody of Hegel's entire system. The pseudonymous authorship,from Either-Or to Concluding Unscientific Postscript,presents an inverted Hegelian dialectic which is designed to leadreaders away from knowledge rather than towards it. This authorshipsimultaneously snipes at German romanticism and contemporary Danishliterati (with J.L. Heiberg receiving much acerbic comment).This intriguing pseudonymous authorship received little popularattention, aimed as it was at the literary elite. So it had littleimmediate effect as discursive action. Kierkegaard sought to remedythis by provoking an attack on himself in the popular satirical reviewThe Corsair. Kierkegaard succeeded in having himselfmercilessly lampooned in this publication, largely on personal groundsrather than in terms of the substance of his writings. The sufferingincurred by these attacks sparked Kierkegaard into another highlyproductive phase of authorship, but this time his focus was thecreation of positive Christian discourses rather than satire orparody.Eventually Kierkegaard became more and more worried about thedirection taken by the Danish People's Church, especially after thedeath of the Bishop Primate J.P. Mynster. He realized he could nolonger indulge himself in the painstakingly erudite and poeticallymeticulous writing he had practised hitherto. He had to intervenedecisively in a popular medium, so he published his own pamphlet underthe title The Instant. This addressed church politics directlyand increasingly shrilly.There were two main foci of Kierkegaard's concern in churchpolitics. One was the influence of Hegel, largely through the teachingsof H.L. Martensen; the other was the popularity of N.F.S. Grundtvig, atheologian, educator and poet who composed most of the pieces in theDanish hymn book. Grundtvig's theology was diametrically opposed toKierkegaard's in tone. Grundtvig emphasized the light, joyous,celebratory and communal aspects of Christianity, whereas Kierkegaardemphasized seriousness, suffering, sin, guilt, and individualisolation. Kierkegaard's intervention failed miserably with respect tothe Danish People's Church, which became predominantly Grundtvigian.His intervention with respect to Hegelianism also failed, withMartensen succeeding Mynster as Bishop Primate. Hegelianism in thechurch went on to die of natural causes.Kierkegaard also provided critical commentary on social change. Hewas an untiring champion of "the single individual" as opposed to "thecrowd". He feared that the opportunity of achieving geniune selfhoodwas diminished by the social production of stereotypes. He lived in anage when mass society was emerging from a highly stratified feudalorder and was contemptuous of the mediocrity the new social ordergenerated. One symptom of the change was that mass society substitutesdetached reflection for engaged passionate commitment. Yet the latteris crucial for Christian faith and for authentic selfhood according toKierkegaard.Kierkegaard's real value as a social and political thinker was notrealized until after his death. His pamphleteering achieved littleimmediate impact, but his substantial philosophical, literary,psychological and theological writings have had a lasting effect. Muchof Heidegger's very influential work, Being And Time, isindebted to Kierkegaard's writings (though this goes unacknowledged byHeidegger). Kierkegaard's social realism, his deep psychological andphilosophical analyses of contemporary problems, and his concern toaddress "the present age" were taken up by fellow Scandinavians HenrikIbsen and August Strindberg. Ibsen and Strindberg, together withFriedrich Nietzsche, became central icons of the modernism movement inBerlin in the 1890s. The Danish literary critic Georg Brandes wasinstrumental in conjoining these intellectual figures: he had given thefirst university lectures on Kierkegaard and on Nietzsche; he hadpromoted Kierkegaard's work to Nietzsche and to Strindberg; and he hadput Strindberg in correspondence with Nietzsche. Taking his cue fromBrandes, the Swedish literary critic Ola Hansson subsequently promotedthis conjunction of writers in Berlin itself. Berlin modernismself-consciously sought to use art as a means of political and socialchange. It continued Kierkegaard's concern to use discursive action forsocial transformation.7. Chronology of Kierkegaard's Life and Works1813born May 5 in Copenhagen (Denmark)1830matriculated to the university of Copenhagen1834mother died1837met Regine Olsen1838father died -From the Papers of One Still Living. Publishedagainst his Will by S. Kierkegaard (Af en endnu Levendes Papirer —Udgivet mod hans Villie af S. Kierkegaard)1840passed final theological examination -proposed to Regine Olsen, who accepted him1841broke off his engagement to Regine Olsen -defended his dissertation On the Concept of Ironywith constant reference to Socrates (Om Begrebet Ironi med stadigtHensyn til Socrates) -trip to Berlin, where he attended lectures bySchelling1842returned from Berlin1843Either-Or: A Fragment of Life edited by VictorEremita (Enten-Eller. Et Livs-Fragment, udgivet af VictorEremita) -second trip to Berlin -Two Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Toopbyggelige Taler) -Fear and Trembling: A Dialectical Lyric byJohannes de Silentio (Frygt og Bœven. Dialektisk Lyrik afJohannes de Silentio) -Repetition: A Venture in Experimenting Psychologyby Constantin Constantius (Gjentagelsen. Et Forsøg i denexperimenterende Psychologi af Constantin Constantius) (publishedthe same day as Fear and Trembling) -Three Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Treopbyggelige Taler) -Four Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Fireopbyggelige Taler)1844Two Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Toopbyggelige Taler) -Three Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Treopbyggelige Taler) -Philosophical Fragments or a Fragment ofPhilosophy by Johannes Climacus, published by S. Kierkegaard(Philosophiske Smuler eller En Smule Philosophie. Af Johannes Climacus.Udgivet af S. Kierkegaard) -The Concept of Anxiety: A SimplePsychologically-Oriented Reflection on the Dogmatic Problem of OriginalSin by Vigilius Haufniensis (Begrebet Angest. En simpelpsychologisk-paapegende Overveielse i Retning of det dogmatiske Problemom Arvesynden af Vigilius Haufniensis) -Prefaces: Light Reading for Certain Classes as theOccasion may Require by Nicolaus Notabene (Forord.Morskabslœsning for enkelte Stœnder efter Tid og Lejlighed,af Nicolaus Notabene) (published on the same day as TheConcept of Anxiety) -Four Edifying Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Fireopbyggelige Taler)1845Three Addresses on Imagined Occasions by S.Kierkegaard (Tre Taler ved tœnkte Leiligheder) -Stages On Life's Way: Studies by Various Persons,compiled, forwarded to the press, and published by Hilarious Bookbinder(Stadier paa Livets Vej. Studier af Forskjellige. Sammenbragte,befordrede til Trykken og udgivne af Hilarius Bogbinder) -third trip to Berlin -Eighteen Edifying Discourses by S.Kierkegaard (a collection of the remaindered EdifyingDiscourses from 1843 and 1844) -in an article in Fœdrelandet FraterTaciturnus (a character from Stages on Life's Way) asked to belambasted in The Corsair1846Kierkegaard lampooned in The Corsair -Concluding Unscientific Postscript toPhilosophical Fragments: A Mimetic-Pathetic-Dialectic Compilation, AnExistential Plea, by Johannes Climacus, published by S. Kierkegaard(Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift til de philosophiske Smuler. —Mimisk-pathetisk-dialektisk Sammenskrift, Existentielt Indlœg, afJohannes Climacus. Udgiven af S. Kierkegaard) -A Literary Review: "Two Ages" — novella by theauthor of "An Everyday Story" — reviewed by S. Kierkegaard (Enliterair Anmeldelse af S. Kierkegaard)1847Edifying Discourses in Different Spirits by S.Kierkegaard (Opbyggelige Taler i forskjellig Aand af S.Kierkegaard) -Works of Love: Some Christian Reflections in theForm of Discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Kjerlighedens Gjerninger. Noglechristelige Overveielser i Talers Form, af S. Kierkegaard) -Regine marries Fritz Schlegel1848Christian Discourses by S. Kierkegaard(Christelige Taler, af S. Kierkegaard) -The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actressby Inter et Inter (Krisen og en Krise i en Skuespillerindes Liv afInter et Inter) -The Point of View for my Work as an Author: ADirect Communication, A Report to History (Synspunktet for minForfatter-Virksomhed. En ligefrem Meddelelse, Rapport til Historien, afS. Kierkegaard) (unpublished)1849second edition of Either-Or -The Lilies of the Field and the Birds of the Air:Three devotional discourses by S. Kierkegaard (Lilien paa Marken ogFuglen under Himlen. Tre gudelige Taler af S. Kierkegaard) -Two Ethico-Religious Treatises by H.H. (Tvendeethisk-religieuse Smaa-Afhandlinger. Af H.H.) -The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian psychologicalexposition for edification and awakening by Anti-Climacus, edited by S.Kierkegaard (Sygdommen til Døden. En christelig psychologiskUdvikling til Opvœkkelse. Af Anticlimacus. Udgivet af S.Kierkegaard) - "The High Priest" — "The Publican" —and "The Woman taken in Sin": three addresses at Holy Communion onFridays by S. Kierkegaard (,,Yppersteprœsten" —,,Tolderen" — ,,Synderinden", tre Taler ved Altergangen omFredagen. Af S. Kierkegaard) 1850Training in Christianity by Anti-Climacus, Nos. I,II, III, edited by S. Kierkegaard (Indøvelse i Christendom. AfAnti-Climacus — Udgivet af S. Kierkegaard) -An Edifying Discourse by S. Kierkegaard (Enopbyggelig Tale. Af S. Kierkegaard)1851On My Activity As A Writer by S. Kierkegaard (Ommin Forfatter-Virksomhed. Af S. Kierkegaard) -Two Discourses at Holy Communion on Fridays by S.Kierkegaard (To Taler ved Altergangen om Fredagen) -For Self-Examination: Recommended to theContemporary Age by S. Kierkegaard (Til Selvprøvelse, Samtidenanbefalet. Af S. Kierkegaard) -Judge For Yourselves! Recommended to the presenttime for Self-Examination. Second series, by S. Kierkegaard(Dømmer Selv! Til Selvprøvelse Samtiden anbefalet. AndenRœkke, af S. Kierkegaard) (published posthumously 1876)1854Bishop Mynster died -Martensen appointed bishop -"Was Bishop Mynster ‘a witness to thetruth,’ one of ‘the true witnesses to the truth’ —is this the truth?" by S. Kierkegaard inFœdrelandet (,,Var Biskop Mynster et "Sandhedsvidne", etaf "de rette Sandhedsvidner", er dette Sandhed?" Af S.Kierkegaard) (the first of 21 articles inFœdrelandet)1855This Must Be Said, So Let It Be Said, by S.Kierkegaard (Dette skal siges; saa vœre det da sagt. Af S.Kierkegaard) -The Instant by S. Kierkegaard (Øjeblikket.Af S. Kierkegaard) -Christ's Judgement on Official Christianity by S.Kierkegaard (Hvad Christus dømmer om officiel Christendom. Af S.Kierkegaard) -God's Unchangeability: A Discourse by S.Kierkegaard (Guds Uforanderlighed. En Tale — Af S.Kierkegaard) -Kierkegaard died November 11.BibliographyAdorno, Theodor W., Kierkegaard: Construction of theAesthetic,trans. Robert Hullot-Kentor, Minneapolis: University ofMinnesota Press, 1989.Agacinski, Sylviane, Aparté: Conceptions and Deaths ofSøren Kierkegaard, trans. Kevin Newmark, Tallahassee:Florida State University Press, 1988.Bigelow, Pat, Kierkegaard & The Problem Of Writing,Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1987.Billeskov Jansen, F.J., Studier i Søren Kierkegaardslitterœre Kunst, Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger,1951.Bloom, Harold (ed.), Søren Kierkegaard, New York:Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.Brandes, Georg, Søren Kierkegaard. En kritiskFremstilling i Grundrids, Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1877.Derrida, Jacques, The Gift of Death, trans. David Wills,Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1995.Diderichsen, Adam, Den Sårede Odysseus: Kierkegaard ogsubjektivitetens genese, København: Hans Reitzels Forlag,1998.Dooley, Mark, The Politics of Exodus: Kierkegaard's ethics ofresponsibility, New York: Fordham University Press, 2001.Ferguson, Harvie, Melancholy and the Critique of Modernity:Søren Kierkegaard's Religious Psychology, London & NewYork: Routledge, 1995.Ferreira, M. Jamie, Transforming Vision: Imagination and Willin Kierkegaardian Faith, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.Ferreira, M. Jamie, Love's Grateful Striving: A Commentary onKierkegaard's Works of Love, Oxford University Press, 2001.Garff, Joachim, Den søvnløse: Kierkegaardlœst æstetisk/biografisk, Copenhagen: C.A.ReitzelsForlag, 1995.Garff, Joachim, SAK: Søren Aabye Kierkegaard: enbiografi, København: Gad, 2000.Hall, Ronald L., Word and Spirit: A Kierkegaardian Critique ofthe Modern Age, Bloomington: Indiana State University Press,1993.Hannay, Alastair, Kierkegaard, London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1982.Henriksen, Aage, Kierkegaards Romaner, Copenhagen:Gyldendal, 1954.Houe, Poul, Gordon D. Marino, & Sven Hakon Rossel (eds),Anthropology and Authority: Essays on SørenKierkegaard, Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA: Editions Rodopi B.V.,2000.Jegstrup, Elsebet (ed.), The New Kierkegaard, Bloomingtonand Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004.Kirmmse, Bruce H., Kierkegaard in Golden Age Denmark,Bloomington: Indiana State University Press, 1990.Kirmmse, Bruce H.(ed.), Encounters with Kierkegaard: A Life asSeen by His Contemporaries , trans. Bruce H. Kirmmse &nVirginia R. Laursen, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,1996.Lippitt, John, Humour and Irony in Kierkegaard's Thought ,London: Macmillan & New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.Lowrie, Walter, Kierkegaard, 2 volumes, New York: Harper& Brothers, 1962.Mackey, Louis, Points of View: Readings of Kierkegaard,Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1986.Malantschuk, Gregor, Frihed og Eksistens. Studier iSøren Kierkegaards tœnkning, Copenhagen: C.A.ReitzelsForlag, 1980.Malik, Habib C., Receiving Søren Kierkegaard: The EarlyImpact and Transmission of His Thought , Washington, D.C.: TheCatholic University of America Press, 1997.Matustík, Martin J., Postnational Identity: CriticalTheory and Existential Philosophy in Habermas, Kierkegaard, andHavel, New York & London: The Guilford Press, 1993.Nordentoft, Kresten, Kierkegaard's Psychology, trans.Bruce H. Kirmmse, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Duquesne University Press,1978.Pattison, George, Kierkegaard: The Aesthetic and theReligious, London: Macmillan, 1992.Pattison, George, & Stephen Shakespeare (eds), Kierkegaard:the self in society, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.Pojman, Louis, The Logic of Subjectivity, University ofAlabama Press, 1984.Rée, Jonathan, & Jane Chamberlain (eds),Kierkegaard: A Critical Reader , Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.Roos, Carl, Kierkegaard og Goethe, Copenhagen: GadsForlag, 1955.Rudd, Anthony, Kierkegaard and the Limits of the Ethical ,Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.Schleifer, Ronald, & Robert Markley(eds), Kierkegaard andLiterature: Irony, Repetition, and Criticism, Norman: Universityof Oklahoma Press, 1984.Scopetea, Sophia, Kierkegaard og grœciteten: en kamp medironi , Kœbenhavn: C.A. Reitzel, 1995.Taylor, Mark C., Journeys to Selfhood: Hegel &Kierkegaard, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University ofCalifornia Press, 1980.Viallaneix, Nelly, Écoute, Kierkegaard: Essai sur lacommunication de la parole, 2 volumes, Paris: Éditions duCerf, 1979.Walsh, Sylvia, Living Poetically: Kierkegaard's ExistentialAesthetics, University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania StateUniversity Press, 1994.Watkin, Julia, Historical Dictionary of Kierkegaard'sPhilosophy , Lanham, Maryland & London: The Scarecrow Press,2001.Weston, Michael, Kierkegaard and Modern ContinentalPhilosophy, London: Routledge, 1994.Westphal, Merold & Martin J. Matustik, Kierkegaard inPost/Modernity, Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana UniversityPress, 1995.Other Internet ResourcesSøren Kierkegaard ForskningscenteretInternational Kierkegaard InformationThe Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard LibraryRoyal Library Denmark Kierkegaard ManuscriptsThe Literary Encyclopedia entry on KierkegaardKierkegaard en español, at Universidad IberoameriacanaRelated Entries Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich | individuals | personal identity | Socrates Copyright © 2006 byWilliam McDonald<wmcdonal@metz.une.edu.au> |
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