Søren Kierkegaard
Philosopher · 1813-1855 · Philosophy, stage 3: Meet the thinkers
Insisted that becoming a genuine self, and a genuine believer, takes a personal leap that reasoning alone cannot supply.
Overview
Søren Kierkegaard wrote in and around Copenhagen, often under pseudonyms that let him argue from several conflicting points of view without endorsing any one of them outright. He is usually read as the forerunner of existentialism because of his insistence that truth in matters of existence, especially religious faith, is something an individual must live out personally rather than something proven objectively. Fear and Trembling, his best-known short work, examines Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac as an example of faith that cannot be justified by ordinary ethical reasoning. New readers often start there before moving to The Sickness Unto Death, his analysis of despair as a mismatch between the self a person is and the self they are meant to become.
Where to start reading
Fear and Trembling 1843
An extended meditation on Abraham's binding of Isaac, using the story to explore faith as a leap beyond what ethical reasoning can justify.
Either/Or 1843
A two-volume work presenting the aesthetic and ethical stages of life through different pseudonymous voices, without resolving which one is correct.
The Sickness Unto Death 1849
An analysis of despair as a sickness of the self, distinguishing different ways a person can fail to become who they are meant to be.
Part of
Sources
- Søren Kierkegaard Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Existentialism Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
