BAUTISTA, MARIEL WYNLOVE M.

BS ChE / 1710327

SOREN KIERKEEGARD

Kierkeegard is a Danish philosopher, theologian and

religious author that is interested in human philosophy, the
Father of existentialism, a literary critic, a social theorist, a
humourist, a psychologist, and a poet.

EPISTEMOLOGY

“ .. the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live
and die” Soren Kierkeegard (Journal 1835)

Abstract and ‘pure thought’ are the type of thinking. For ‘pure thought’ type of
thinking he has nothing but scorn. It is the speculative thinking of the idealistic
philosophers. The great mistake of “pure” thought is that it identifies thought and
being.

Kierkegaard is so completely dualistic in his epistemology that he holds that

thought by itself is nothing real. It is nothing but thought. It is “pure.” For this reason,
a purely intellectual approach to reality can never succeed because the way between
pure thought and existence is forever closed. At best, such an approach can tell us
what is possible, but it can never present existence to us

PHILOSOPHY OF MAN

He said that man’s life is a precious thing. For he himself used the word
existential and existentialism in relation to his works, his heartfelt view was that life,
existence, in its aspects was subjective and ambiguous and was seen an expression
of hopeful and free from illusion life. In his view individuals must be prepared to defy
the accepted practices of society, if this was necessary to their leading, that seemed
to that person, to be a personally valid and meaningful life.

While in his earliest major work ‘Either / Or’ (1843) he suggests that people might
effectively choose to live within either of two “existence spheres” or he also calls
Aesthetical and Ethical.
AESTHETICS

According to Kierkeegard, Aesthetics lives were lives lived in search of such

things like pleasure, novelty, and etc., and to live the aesthetic life to the fullest one
must seek to maximize those pleasures.

The importance of the aesthetic is acknowledged, but it is also presented as

an immature stage. The aesthete is only concerned with his or her personal
enjoyment, and because aesthetic pleasure is so fleeting, an aesthete has no solid
framework from which to make coherent, consistent choices.

Boredom (state of being bored/weariness), anxiety (general term for several

disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying) and despair
(loss or absence of hope) are the human’s general term for several disorders that
cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying.

ETHICS

Ethics are the social rules that govern how a person ought to act. Ethics are
not always in opposition to aesthetics, but they must take precedence when the two
conflict. The aesthetic life must be subordinated to the ethical life, as the ethical life
is based on a consistent, coherent set of rules established for the good of society. A
person can still experience pleasure while living the ethical life.

The ethical person considers the effect his or her actions will have on others
and gives more weight to promoting social welfare than to achieving personal gain.

Kierkegaard uses marriage as an example of an ethical life choice. In

marriage, the excitement of passion can quickly fade, leading to boredom and a
diminishing of aesthetic pleasure. However, by consistently acting for the good of
one’s spouse, one learns that there are enjoyments beyond excitement.
BEJO, FRANS LYNDON B.

BS ChE 1710389

SOREN KIERKEGAARD

(1813-1855)

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and
religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He is an
outsider in the history of philosophy. His peculiar authorship comprises a baffling array of
different narrative points of view and disciplinary subject matter, including aesthetic novels,
works of psychology and Christian dogmatics, satirical prefaces, philosophical "scraps" and
"postscripts," literary reviews, edifying discourses, Christian polemics, and retrospective self-
interpretations.

COSMOLOGY

“...but the one who takes away the consciousness of sin and gives the consciousness of
forgiveness instead-he indeed takes away the heavy burden and gives the light one in its
place.”

Kierkegaard's theological work focuses on Christian ethics, the institution of the

Church, the differences between purely objective proofs of Christianity, the infinite
qualitative distinctionbetween man and God, and the individual's subjective relationship to
the God-Man Jesusthe Christ, which came through faith. Much of his work deals with
Christian love. He was extremely critical of the practice of Christianity as a state religion,
primarily that of the Church of Denmark. His psychological work explored
the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices.

While the Savior of the world sighs, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me,"
the repentant robber humbly understands, but still also as a relief, that it is not God who has
abandoned him, but it is he who has abandoned God, and, repenting, he says to the one
crucified with him: Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Søren Kierkegaard, 1847 Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, Hong p.280

METAPHYSICS

"Fear and trembling is not the primus motor in the Christian life, for it is love; but it is
what the oscillating balance wheel is to the clock-it is the oscillating balance wheel of the
Christian life”.

He was writing about the inner being and his goal was to get the single individual
away from all the speculation that was going on about God and Christ. Speculation creates
quantities of ways to find God and his Goods but finding faith in Christ and putting the
understanding stops all speculation. He defined this as a "special type of religious conflict the
Germans call Anfechtung" (contesting or disputing). In Kierkegaard's view the Church should
not try to prove Christianity or even defend it. It should help the single individual to make
a leap of faith, the faith that God is love. He wrote the following about fear and trembling
and love as early as 1839.

LOGIC

“…it's the choice to love or not, to hope or not. It's the choice between the possibility of
the "temporal and the eternal", "mistrust and belief, and deception and truth", "subjective
and objective"

Kierkegaard believed "each generation has its own task and need not trouble itself
unduly by being everything to previous and succeeding generations". In an earlier book he
had said, "to a certain degree every generation and every individual begins his life from the
beginning", and in another, "no generation has learned to love from another, no generation is
able to begin at any other point than the beginning", "no generation learns the essentially
human from a previous one." He was against the Hegelian idea of mediation because it
introduces a "third term" that comes between the single individual and the object of
desire. Kierkegaard asked if logic ends in actuality, and can a person logically prove God's
existence? and when Logic says no, he finds that Hegelian philosophy is negative rather
than positive.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL

"…the present age is essentially a sensible age, devoid of passion ... The trend today is in
the direction of mathematical equality, so that in all classes about so and so many uniformly
make one individual".

In this, Kierkegaard attacked the conformity and assimilation of individuals into "the
crowd" which became the standard for truth, since it was the numerical. How can one love
the neighbor if the neighbor is always regarded as the wealthy or the poor or the lame?

As part of his analysis of the "crowd", Kierkegaard accused newspapers of decay and
decadence. Kierkegaard stated Christendom had "lost its way" by recognizing "the crowd", as
the many who are moved by newspaper stories, as the court of last resort in relation to "the
truth". Truth comes to a single individual, not all people at one and the same time. Just as
truth comes to one individual at a time so does love. One doesn't love the crowd but does love
their neighbor, who is a single individual. He says, "never have I read in the Holy Scriptures
this command: You shall love the crowd; even less: You shall, ethico-religiously, recognize
in the crowd the court of last resort in relation to 'the truth.'"