Søren Kierkegaard

Born: 1813

Died: 1855, at the age of 42

Country of origin: Denmark

Major Books written by Søren Kierkegaard:

• "Either/Or" (1843)
  
• "Fear and Trembling" (1843)
  
• "Philosophic Fragments" (1844)
  
• "The Concept of Dread" (1844)
  
• "Christian Discourses" (1848)
  
• "The Sickness Unto Death" (1848)
  
• "Training in Christianity" (1850)

Cocktail summary of Søren Kierkegaard's main ideas:

Kierkegaard is often called the first Existentialist. The reason for this is the way he approached questions, and also in the ways in which avoided asking them. Up till his time, philosophers focused on objective answers to the enduring questions, but Kierkegaard was the first to focus seriously on our subjective experience of these same questions. He was less interested in answers, than in trying to understand his own experiences.

Existentialism is not concerned with theory, but in personal experience. You can try to understand an event from 2 sides: from the theory "behind" the event, or in the way in which you experience that event.

For example, you can existentially talk about a glass of water. An Existentialist will explain the glass of water in terms of what it looks like, how it tastes, what it feels like, the feelings he or she gets when drinking it. They will not talk about what water actually is, it's chemical makeup, where it comes from, or what its purpose is. They approach the glass of water from their personal experience, rather than from the perspective of the glass of water's point of view.

This is a subtle point that is often lost when talking about Existentialism. The discipline is often full of confusing terms, but it's a bit clearer if you think of the glass of water. Traditional philosophy will be concerned with objective nature of the glass of water, trying to understand what it is and where it came from. But an Existentialist only cares about how we subjectively experience the water, how it effects us.

This is why Kierkegaard's writings are given the label of Existentialism, although he never used this word. He asked questions subjectively, being more concerned with how he experienced ideas, what his opinions were, rather than any objective explanations "behind" the questions. Give him a glass of water, and he would probably stare at it and ponder its effects on him, rather than trying to understand exactly what water is.

Søren Kierkegaard lived at a key turning-point in the history of ideas, officially closing the door on Rationalism in Philosophy and opening a new door that focused on the role of paradox, faith, and personal opinion in defining the relevance of ideas. He argued that truth is not defined by Rationalism and Logic, but is instead defined by Paradox. He also argued that philosophy is only relevant to the extent that it provides guidance for practical, daily life. He argued that the point of philosophy is not to produce useless collections of abstract knowledge, but instead must guide us in how to live. The Enlightenment began its irreversible decline under the pen of Kierkegaard.

Kierkegaard is usually considered the first of the Existentialists. This is largely due to his distrust of Rationalism and his rejection of the idea that all of knowledge can be packaged into any kind of rational, all-encompassing theory. He argued that real life is defined not by Reason and Logic, but by the subtle regions of opinion, personal choice, and faith. The previous 200 years of philosophy had been dominated by thinkers who proposed various theories of objective knowledge that existed outside of subjective opinion, with the individual and his subjective views being little more than an actor on a much larger stage. This was especially true of the philosopher Hegel, who was a favorite target of Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard suggested that none of this was true, and that the role of the individual is more relevant than that of "the crowd".

Hegel had published a massive collection of ideas and arguments that claimed to explain all knowledge and all ideas, which Kierkegaard referred to as "The System". In Hegel's grand, sysematic theory of knowledge, there was no role for faith. One simply had knowledge or ignorance of knowledge. God, for instance, was a subject that was measured against Hegel's theory of knowledge, and God either passed the test or he didn't. A person didn't have faith in God, they had knowledge of God. Instead of religious faith, in Hegel's System, one put God to the test of Rationalism and ended up with either a fact or a fallacy. This fact existed objectively, and any differing opinion by an individual was irrelevant. Knowledge exists "out there", distinct from individual perception, and subjectivivity was of little importance.

It was this emphasis on objectivity, to the near-exclusion of subjectivity, that bothered Kierkegaard the most. Hegel was primarilly concerned with society as a whole. A society, like Hegel's native Prussia, formed an organism which perceived objective knowledge collectively and exercised its will as a collective unit. The individual is seen as simply a part of the family, which is simply a part of the community, which is a part of society, which is a part of the State. It was the whole that was important, not the parts. Hegel argued that objective reality was rational, and society went through a series of stages in its gradual perception of this reality. But Kierkegaard argued exactly the reverse: reality is not rational, he insisted, it is a paradox. Any attempt at explaining a paradox according to rational arguments, is itself nothing more than its own paradox. Rationality is an illusion, projected onto an irrational universe by wishful thinking.

Kierkegaard lived at a time of high celebrity for all things Hegelian. Hegel was widely viewed as having completed the task begun by the philosopher Descartes 200 years earlier, who had set out to define knowledge that was objective and consistent to the rules of Reason. Having started with the famous "I think, therefore I am" foundation of Rational philosophy, Descartes set into motion an effort to measure all knowledge against the standards of Reason and Logic, separating the realm of objective knowledge from the realm of subjective opinion. This project of creating a grand-unified-theory of knowledge reached its peak with Hegel, who proposed that all ideas went through a series of stages, defined by opposing forces that merged into a synthesis of opposites, all leading up to the eventual goal of "Absolute Knowledge". This realm of perfect, objective perception was like the peak of a mountain, and those who climbed this high would be able to explain all knowledge according to the laws of one all-encompassing theory.

Kierkegaard argued that all of this was an exercise in futility. Knowledge cannot be reduced down to a system of rational patterns and logic, he argued. Knowledge and Truth, and our perception of it, is not defined by Reason but is instead defined by the irrational. Real life, he argued, doesn't follow the rules of Reason. Rationalism is just one part of a much bigger puzzle, and this bigger puzzle is defined by irrationality, by Paradox, and by our inability to ever see the entire picture. The goal of human thinking is to recognize the paradoxical nature of reality and to make choices according to that which we choose to believe. We must give up the expectation of Reason, and of any rational purpose to life, and instead make a "leap of faith" towards the truth we choose, with this "leap" being probably his most famous idea.

Kierkegaard argued for his own stages of knowledge and perception, but unlike Hegel's stages these were steps leading to the acceptance of paradox and making existential choices "in the dark" of irrationality. He argued that our perception of reality exists in one of 3 realms, with the perceptive individual passing through all 3 realms towards an ultimate goal. Each realm leads to a specific crisis, which leads the individual into the next realm. These 3 realms are the Aesthetic, the Ethical, and the Religious realms.

The Aesthetic Realm

The Aesthetic realm is defined by an attitude of living for the moment, seeking out novel pleasures and excitement, with little depth to any thinking. This aesthetic realm eventually produces a sense of despair, motivated by a growing "Dread" of boredom. The person who lives for the moment supposedly becomes gradually aware of a growing sense of dread that there may be more to life than chasing after novelty. This dread causes a person to pass in to the next realm, that of the Ethical.

The Ethical Realm

The Ethical realm is defined by a concern for duty and obligation and altruism. But this kind of thinking also produces its own crisis, leading to a sense of lost empowerment and diminished autonomy, which leads to the third and most liberating realm, that of the Religious.

The Religious Realm

The religious realm is defined by a submission to God and a passionate faith, in total contrast to false rationalism. This submission to God is defined by faith, which is itself defined by a resignation to paradox and a blind trust in God. God may be rational within his own infinite frame of reference, but this realm of understanding is forever beyond our grasp. We must suspend our ethical understanding when having faith in God. Our faith in him is truly a blind leap.

This last detail is key to Kierkegaard's ideas: the absence of the rational in the life of religious faith. He used various Biblical stories to illustrate this point, most famously with his appeal to the story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son Jacob. The idea of killing one's son as a sacrifice to what Abraham believed was an order from God defies all ethical guidelines. A parent does not kill his own child, yet this ethical standard is suspended in the Religious realm, and Kierkegaard argued that Abraham made a blind leap of faith from the Ethical realm to the Religious realm. The fact that an angel of God stopped Abraham just before he was able to kill his son is beside the point, since in the story Abraham fully intended to do so, in spite of him not really wanting to. Kierkegaard argued that this illustrates the futility of trying to apply Reason and rationality to issues of religion. He argued that the Religious realm of thinking was the highest and most pure realm of perception, but it had nothing to do with rationality. Religion is, at its root, a paradox.

Another Biblical story that Kierkegaard appealed to was that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He argued that when Adam was ordered to not eat of the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam was consumed with a growing Dread, brought on by the oppression of Freedom. Adam didn't eat the fruit, Kierkegaard argued, simply because he could, but simply to eliminate his dread and the crushing responsibility of the possibilities brought on by choice.

Kierkegaard had the unique habit of publishing most of his books under many different pseudonyms, with the fake writer of one book sometimes criticizing the ideas of the fake writer of another book, all of them written by Kierkegaard. He named some of his alter-egos Victor Eremita, Constantin Constantius, and Vigilius Haufniensis, creating a sort of split-personality approach to philosophy. He claimed that he used this technique in order to convincingly argue a particular point of view, without claiming to hold that view himself. Most of his readers knew that he was the author behind these names, so the motivation was not to conceal his true identity.

Kierkegaard introduced an approach to philosophy in which the whole idea of objective truth, and systematic philosophy in general, is tossed out of the window. Existentialism (a term with he never personally used) basically replaces the search for objective truth with the exploration of subjective experience, of subliminal will, of personal freedom, and the denial of any objective guiding purpose to life. Prior to Kierkegaard, many people truly believed that a rational system of ideas could be discovered that could explain everything, but after Kierkegaard this goal was abandoned. Kierkegaard argued that "truth is Subjectivity", proposing that truth is defined not by objectivity but by the passionate sincereness of a person's individual belief. This was the birth of Existentialism.

Modern Existentialism comes in 2 basic flavors: Christian Existentialism and Atheist Existentialism. With regards to Christian Existentialism, Kierkegaard's goal was to save the life of religious faith from being drowned by what he considered to be a false Rationality. The details of religious faith, like belief in God, moral conviction, spiritual passion, and religious dogma are all things that are guided by intuition, not by Reason, he insisted. In order to approach God and the purity of the Religious realm, one must embrace Paradox and abandon Rationalism. Once a person has accepted the paradoxical nature of reality and looked beyond Reason, he is ready to make the leap-of-faith that Kierkegaard is famous for.

For instance, a person may have no good reason to believe in God but he chooses to do so anyway - he takes a leap of faith in the dark. This leap is truly done in the dark, with no rational basis or explanation. What is "true" for one person may not be "true" for another person. Two totally contradictory ideas can both be considered "true" as long as each person has passionate faith in their position. Regarding the question of whether passion outweighs error, like if a person sincerely believes that the earth rests on the back of a giant turtle, Kierkegaard argued that since God is benevolent he will guide the sincere seeker of truth towards reality and away from error. This blind trust is a basic element of the nature of faith.

This same leap in the dark is applied to other topics besides God. For example, it's used when studying history. There is no proof that Caesar ever existed. No one today is alive who witnessed his life, we don't have his body, and we have no rational basis for believing that he existed, other than pieces of paper written by people who died a long time ago. But we use this flimsy evidence anyway to believe that Caesar existed. Faith reaches far beyond religion.

The other flavor of Existentialism, Atheistic Existentialism, is the form of Existentialism that is perhaps more familiar today. It is basically a more consistent application of Kierkegaard's ideas, focusing on his stress of total freedom from any underlying theory of ideas of purpose to life. The Existentialism of people like Sartre or Camus argued that God does not exist and humanity is "condemned to be free". If our choices lead to error then we have no one to blame but ourselves. There is no God to appeal to or to be critical of. Our freedom is total and it is oppressive, and the burden of our freedom is ours alone. This form of Existentialism argues that so-called Christian Existentialism is simply Existentialism with left-over baggage, with its proponents like Karl Barth and Paul Tillich simply unwilling to cast off the old baggage of an outdated religion. So, technically, the Existentialism of Sartre and Camus is more honest and more consistent to the core ideas of Kierkegaard.

In the history of philosophy, Kierkegaard should be viewed as setting the stage for truly modern ideas. The age of Reason came to a close under his watch, and with the dawning Romantic Age the focus shifted away from the life of the mind and on to the life of passion, and instinct, and psychology. Kierkegaard didn't build his own system of philosophy or school of thought, since this would have been contrary to his entire approach to knowledge. He instead loosened the grip of Rationalism from the study of ideas, but at the same time he cut loose the anchor that grounded the defense of ideas from all sorts of dumb ideas which are defended simply because they are believed with sincere passion.

Today's inherited common sense assumptions that "what is true for you may not be true for me" was born with Kierkegaard. The "ism" associated with his ideas is one of a shifting subjectivity which stresses the role of the individual, but makes objectivity almost impossible to defend. So his legacy is a mixed one of both the emancipation of the individual and the setting-adrift of objectivity.

Few people read Hegel today, but many people read Kierkegaard. The fact that his legacy of the blind leap has outlived Hegel's ideas of objective knowledge speaks volumes about the current approach to knowledge and ideas.

Søren Kierkegaard praised & criticized:

• Kierkegaard's importance in the history of Existentialism is beyond dispute. No person prior to him had considered Rationalism as being divorced from reality, and the later focus on Subjectivity at the expense of the Objective clearly had its birth in his writings. He is praised for allowing the individual to play a key role and influencing his environment, giving priority to personal choice and freedom where prior arguments had diminished the role of subjective perspectives.
  
  On the other hand, Kierkegaard has also been criticized for his argument that Paradox is the foundation of all knowledge. He is sometimes accused of "throwing the baby out with the bath-water" with his abandonment of Reason and arguing that choices must be made in a state of total blindness. For example, his argument that Abraham made his choice to have faith in God in a total absence of any reason to do so is countered with the suggestion that his multiple interactions with God gave him sufficient reasons to believe that God would save his son. God had told him that his offspring would be beyond number and that his descendants would be God's chosen people, and these statements filled the void of blindness and, while it didn't give Abraham total knowledge, it gave him sufficient knowledge with which to act. So Abraham's choice was not the leap of faith that Kierkegaard argued that it was.
  
  It's sometimes pointed out that Kierkegaard was dismissive of the Rationalist philosophical method, but then turned around to use rational arguments to attack the traditional proofs of God. He tended to apply a selective use of reason where it suited him best.
  
  Kierkegaard is also criticized for being responsible for much of the modern stress of the subjective over objective observation. The fact that a person may passionately believe in a position doesn't make it true. Gravity, for instance, has objective effects independent of subjective opinion: believing that a person can fly when jumping out of a window doesn't make the belief true. While Kierkegaard may not have personally believed in the total reliance on subjectivity and blind trust in intent, the legacy associated with him - his "ism" - has created this type environment.

Notable Facts about Søren Kierkegaard:

• Religious affiliation:
  Søren Kierkegaard was born into a family of devout Lutheran Christianity. His father was a man of deep religious conviction, marked by a melancholy obsession with the wages of sin and disapproval of God. Despite his later drifts away from the established church of Denmark, Kierkegaard never lost this inherited melancholy and most of his writings are tinged with a poetic expression of his father's religious melancholy.
  
  Kierkegaard was passionately religious, but he made a distinction between what he considered to be true Christianity and what he called "Christendom". He spent his later years launching a series of stinging attacks on the established Church hierarchy in Denmark of his day. He was disturbed by the Danish assumption that everyone born into Danish, Lutheran society was by default a Christian. He published many articles accusing the Danish Lutheran church of being little more than an empty shell, void of the original passion of the early Church. The Church, naturally, didn't appreciate Kierkegaard's advice and a war of words was waged in the public press.
  
  Kierkegaard appealed to the early Church father Tertullian to justify his insistence on paradox as underlying the Christian faith. As early as the early 3rd century, Tertullian had written "I believe *because* it is absurd." Kierkegaard insisted that Christianity could not be intellectually understood. The Christian's task is to understand this fact, and to build his faith on the foundation of paradox, he insisted.
  
  
• Kierkegaard was nicknamed "The Fork" as a child, since he was once overheard to threaten his food by saying "I am a fork and I will stick you!".
  
  
• Kierkegaard's last name means "Church-yard" in Danish, which is a name his family acquired while poor tenant-farmers tending a plot of land owned by a local priest.
  
  
• Much of Kierkegaard's writings revolve around his one failed attempt at romantic love. While a student he had proposed to a woman named Regine Olsen. But after 1 year he decided that his philosophical obsessions weren't compatible with romance, so he broke off their engagement. He pretended to be motivated out of shallow selfishness, but Regine didn't believe him. He played the role of the heartless cad in order to protect her reputation, but she saw right through his charade, but never understood his motivations.
  
  Regine eventually relented and later married her tutor, Frederik Schlegel, and moved to the Dutch West Indies in the Carribean, where her husband served as Governor of the entire territory. Ironically, she and her husband read Kierkegaard's books, but she never saw Kierkegaard again, despite his attempts to renew contact. She outlived Kierkegaard by almost 50 years, dying in 1904. When Kierkegaard had died, he had left his entire estate to Regine. When Regine died, she was buried in the same cometary as Kierkegaard in Copenhagen, along with her husband. The 3 of them are still buried together to this day.
  
  
• Kierkegaard never worked an honest day in his life. His father left him a handsome inheritance, so he was able to spend his life as a writer, occupying his days with writing, talking long walks through Copenhagen and chatting with the common-folks, and smoking cigars.
  
  
• Kierkegaard died at the ripe old age of 42. He collapsed on the street one day in 1855 and spent a month in a hospital in Copenhagen before dying of unspecified causes. During his stay in the hospital, both of his legs were mysteriously paralyzed. At the time, it was assumed that the cause of death was complications from a fall from he tree he had experienced many years earlier as a child, which had produced a life-long curvature of his spine. Modern opinion is that he may have died of a progressive paralysis, which might explain the immobility of his legs. He is also thought to have perhaps died of a staph infection of the lungs. But no autopsy was ever performed, so the mystery remains. He is buried in his family-plot in Copenhagen.
  
  While he was in the hospital he refused to take Communion, even from his closest friend who was a Lutheran pastor, since he considered the Church leaders of his day as mere bureaucrats and didn't represent God. At his funeral, his nephew Henrik Lund made a big commotion, since it was conducted with full Lutheran ceremony, and Lund argued that this was inappropriate, since Kierkegaard had rejected the authority of modern "Christendom". But he was taken away and later fined.
  
  
  

Quotes:

• "Truth is subjectivity."
  
  
• Leap of faith...
  
  
• "I am a poet. But I was for religion long before I became a poet".
  
  
• "Dread is the dizziness of freedom."
  
  
• "Life must be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."
  
  
• "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
  
  
• "Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays."
  
  
• "Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor."
  
  
• "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."
  
  
• "The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life, and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes, which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo."
  
  
• "Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wander whether in the end anyone will want to make a bid."
  
  
• "Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good."
  
  
• "Repetition is the reality and the seriousness of life."
  
  
• "Since my earliest childhood a barb of sorrow has lodged in my heart. As long as it stays I am ironic -- if it is pulled out I shall die."
  
  
• "I divide my time as follows: half the time I sleep, the other half I dream. I never dream when I sleep, for that would be a pity, for sleeping is the highest accomplishment of genius."
  
  
• "Had I to carve an inscription on my tombstone I would ask for none other than 'The Individual'."
  
  
  

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