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Portrait of Søren Kierkegaard

Philosophy

Søren Kierkegaard

1813–1855 · Danish

Existentialism (precursor); Christian philosophy

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and religious writer, often called the father of existentialism. Writing largely under pseudonyms, he attacked Hegelian system-building and complacent state Christianity, insisting on the individual's passionate, subjective choice and on faith as a leap beyond reason.

How to spot them

  • ▸Copenhagen; pseudonyms such as Johannes de silentio, Johannes Climacus and Anti-Climacus
  • ▸Abraham and Isaac; the "knight of faith"; the "teleological suspension of the ethical"
  • ▸The aesthetic, ethical and religious stages of existence; anxiety, despair and the "leap"
  • ▸Broken engagement to Regine Olsen; attack on Bishop Mynster and the Danish state church

Key works

Either/Or (Enten – Eller) (1843)

Edited by "Victor Eremita"; contrasts the aesthetic life (including "The Seducer's Diary") with the ethical life of Judge William

Fear and Trembling (Frygt og Bæven) (1843)

By "Johannes de silentio"; meditates on Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, the knight of faith and the teleological suspension of the ethical

The Concept of Anxiety (1844)

By "Vigilius Haufniensis"; anxiety as the "dizziness of freedom" in relation to original sin

Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846)

By "Johannes Climacus"; argues that "subjectivity is truth" and critiques Hegelian objectivity

The Sickness Unto Death (1849)

By "Anti-Climacus"; despair as the sickness of the self that fails to relate rightly to itself and to God

Key ideas

  • Three stages (spheres) of existence: the aesthetic (pleasure and immediacy), the ethical (duty and commitment) and the religious (faith)
  • Faith is not a rational conclusion but a passionate commitment in the face of paradox and uncertainty, involving a qualitative leap
  • Teleological suspension of the ethical: in faith, the individual may stand in an absolute relation to God above universal ethical norms, as Abraham did
  • "Subjectivity is truth": what matters existentially is the individual's inward, passionate relation to truth, not detached objective system-building
  • Anxiety and despair are fundamental to the human condition and reveal our freedom and our need to become a true self before God
  • "Christendom" — comfortable state-church religion — betrays the demanding faith of the New Testament

Quick-fire facts

  • •Born, lived and died in Copenhagen
  • •His surname means "churchyard" in (old-spelling) Danish
  • •Broke off his engagement to Regine Olsen in 1841, an episode that haunts his writings
  • •Was mercilessly lampooned by the satirical magazine The Corsair (the "Corsair affair", 1846)
  • •In his final years attacked Bishop Mynster and the Danish People's Church in pamphlets titled The Moment (Øjeblikket)
  • •Wrote in his journals that life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards
  • •Published many works under pseudonyms alongside "upbuilding discourses" under his own name
  • •Largely neglected until rediscovered in the 20th century by Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre, Camus and Barth

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Sources