Product Description
One of the greatest thinkers of the nineteenth century, Soren Kierkegaard (1814-55) often expressed himself through pseudonyms and disguises. Taken from his personal writings, these private reflections reveal the development of his own thought and personality, from his time as a young student to the deep later internal conflict that formed the basis for his masterpiece of duality "Either/Or and beyond". Expressing his beliefs with a freedom not seen in works he published during his lifetime, Kierkegaard here rejects for the first time his father's conventional Christianity and forges the revolutionary idea of the 'leap of faith' required for true religious belief. A combination of theoretical argument, vivid natural description and sharply honed wit, the "Papers and Journals" reveal to the full the passionate integrity of his lifelong efforts 'to find a truth which is truth for me'. ... Read more

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EXCERPTS FROM KIERKEGAARD'S JOURNALS AND PAPERS
Søren Kierkegaard
Papers and Journals: A Selection
selected and translated by Alastair Hannay

(Hamondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1996) 683 pages
(ISBN: 0-14-044589-7; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: )

Several different selections from SK's journals and papers
are available in English,
even a few (like this one) that attempt to condense
the many volumes Kierkegaard left at his death into just one volume.

Alastair Hannay has chosen to focus on the events of SK's life
in preparing this volume.
(Other selections focus on his philosophy.)
Because of this biographical focus,
these selections are organized chronologically
into 7 phases of Søren Kierkegaard's life.

I recommend reading this selection alongside a biography of SK's life,
such as the one by Hannay himself.

James Leonard Park, existential philosopher.

The Master
If you know Kierkegaard, then you know you must buy this. You feel like you are in the same room as this most thoughtful man. A wonderful, wonderful read.

Excellent one- volume selection of the journals
The 'Journals' of Kierkegaard are not simply the testing - ground for many of his ideas and projects, they are the life- record which indicates his mood and feeling. He began them in 1833 when he was twenty, and wrote them to the end of his life. They served in a way as his most important and trusted friend. In them he contemplated important life- decisions. They are an important supplement to his most important works, and contain many of his most original thoughts and aphorisms.
To give a real feeling of the Journals I will quote one of the most famous passages at some length. It was written in 1843.

" . What I really need is to be clear about what I am to do, not what I must know, except in the way knowledge must precede all action. It is a question of understanding my destiny, of seeing what the Deity really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die. And what use here would it be if I were to discover a so-called objective truth, or if I worked my way through the philosophers' systems and were able to call them all to account on request, point out inconsistencies in every single circle? And what use here would it be to be able to work out a theory of the state, and put all the pieces from so many places into one whole, construct a world which, again, I myself did not inhabit but merely held up for others to see? What use would it be to be able to propound the meaning of Christianity, to explain many separate facts, if it had no deeper meaning for myself and for my life? "

In this passage Kierkegaard contemplates and fleshes out his own life- mission. Note how rich the passage is in the figurative 'as if 'language which so enriched his writing. Note too how the writing despite its somewhat awkward mode of motion makes definite progress towards a wise and turning- point life decision."

A superb one-volume distillation of Kierkegaard's journals
Along with an older and somewhat smaller one-volume edition by Alexander Dru (worth seeking out, but very difficult to find), this provides readers of Kierkegaard's works a usable collection of highlights from his massive and exceedingly important JOURNALS AND PAPERS.Although this volume runs to over 700 pages, it does not represent a tenth of the complete edition in Danish.

There are many reasons for someone to read in Kierkegaard's journals.He used his journals for dry runs for many ideas that later cropped up in his various books and discourses.He often presents these ideas in a more straightforward manner than he would in his books.But he also often writes things that he did not intend to be seen by the public in his lifetime.Make no mistake about it:Kierkegaard definitely wrote these journals with the assumption that they would later be read by others in published form.But the knowledge that this would only come after his death freed him from any form of constraint, not that even here he is terribly forthcoming.

Reading the journals is also essential because it is the only way to get a truly balanced picture of his literary career and life.For instance, the caricature of Kierkegaard is of a soul who unhappily engaged in a Quixotic battle with the Danish Lutheran church in the final years of his life.The image is of an unhappy, isolated, tormented soul who never finds his rest.In fact, from the journals we find a person who has achieved a great deal of personal peace and a quiet contentment.This cannot be drawn from the books he published in his lifetime, but only from the journals.For all these reasons, anyone interested in Kierkegaard will profit enormously from these pages.

My lone complaint is that Alastair Hannay is not the most gifted prose stylist in the world.I have read just about all his words in English (all dealing with Kierkegaard or translations of Kierkegaard), and while I have no doubt about his accuracy as a translator, I have no confidence in his literary abilities.As a result, the volume--like the other volumes he has translated for Penguin--is highly serviceable, but not something that will thrill and inspire.

I should mention that Amazon shows a Princeton University Press edition of the JOURNALS scheduled to appear in the fall of 2004.I do not know very much about this edition.I am assuming that it is a single volume edition, but I have no idea how extensive of an edition this will be.Princeton's publications of Kierkegaard's works tend to be somewhat schizophrenic.While their edition of Kierkegaard's works are likely to be the standard edition for a very long time to come, they also produce some odd collections that seem to be targeted at a more popular audience.Perhaps their edition will be scholarly (my hope).Either way, this excellent volume by Penguin will either serve if the Princeton is unhelpful, or a useful alternative if it is successful. ... Read more

Product Description
Soren Kierkegaard, who was born in Denmark and died there at the age of forty-two, is regarded by many as the father of existentialist thinking. During his lifetime the Hegelian theologian he reacted against the Hegelian theologists in Denmark, denounced organized religion and held that the act of choice by an individual was all-important.

The Diary covers the important elements in Kierkegaard's life, including his childhood, his relations with his father, the influence of other writers on him, his broken engagement (which had a far-reaching effect on the rest of his life), and his celebrated quarrel with the Church.

Kierkegaard's writings are important because he is almost the first European writer to take a modern, analytical, psychological approach to religion. Proust, Joyce, and Aldous Huxley were only a few of the modern writers influenced by the Dane; and Jean-Paul Sartre's philosophy of existentialism is based on his thinking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

what a great diary
Well it isn't really a diary. It's more like reading his philosophy, but more intimate.Even though I like his philosophy, I preferred this the most.In this, he doesn't make subtle hints about his father and Regine.He completely bares his relationship with themand it's rather heartbreaking.Also
Kierkegaard has a fresh sarcastic wit that I wasn't expecting.

A Smattering of SK's Voluminous Journal Entries
This highly condnsed anthology of some of SK's journey entries provides a good overview of many of the key events which shaped his life, as well as his own reflections about these events. Worth reading in conjunction with other works. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

PURITY OF HEART IS TO WILL ONE THING
Soren Kierkegaard
Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing

A couple of good translations are available, including:
Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits
Kierkegaard's Writings, XV
Translated by Howard & Edna Hong.
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1993) 442 pages
(ISBN: 0-691-03274-2; hardback)
(Library of Congress call number: BV4505.K4613 1993)
Purity of Heart is the first of these discourses.

Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
Translated by Douglas Steere
(New York: Harper & Row, 1956--and later reprints) 220 pages
(ISBN: 0061300047)

In this meditative book,
SK explores how we might become more single-minded.
This is the first book to present the concept now called Authenticity.
In fact, the Kierkegaard chapter in
"Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism"
is largely an interpretation of this small book by SK.
Chapter 19 is called: Soren Kierkegaard: Willing One Thing.
Details can be found by searching the Internet for that exact title:
"Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism".

Similar books will be found by searching the Internet for:
"Authenticity Bibliography".

Purity of Heart is also reviewed in another Internet Bibliography:
"Books on Existential Spirituality".

James Leonard Park, existential philosopher. ... Read more

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"... the most important contribution to Kierkegaard studies to be published in English in recent years.... Not only is it a fascinating, surprising, and perceptive study of Kierkegaard within his time and world, Kirmmse has produced a research resource, a reference work, that is simply without parallel or equal." -- Michael Plekon

"It is a rare work of philosophy that not only clarifies its subject but also places it within an intellectual and historical context. In his study of 19th-century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, Kirmmse accomplishes both, setting a standard... " -- Library Journal

"... an outstanding contribution to Kierkegaard research... The book is intellectual history of the highest calibre." -- So[slash]ren Kierkegaard Newsletter

"This excellent book is recommended for all collections on Kierkegaard... For all readers." -- Choice

"This richly researched and readable book supplies an important contribution to the widespread reappropriation of Kierkegaard's thought currently taking place."  -- Theology Today

"This book is a tour de force in intellectual history." -- Review of Metaphysics

"Kirmmse's book is a major work of scholarship that confers on Kierkegaard's social and intellectual universe a depth and a richness of detail that will permanently alter the familiar stereotypes about Kierkegaard's isolation from his fellow Danes and his supposedly fanatical campaign against philistine Denmark and its corrupt state church." -- American Historical Review

Against the background of Denmark's evolution from a mercantile economy to a broad-based agricultural economy, Kirmmse reinterprets Kierkegaard's thought as a reaction to the tensions within his society.

Customer Reviews (1)

Kierkegaard in context
Kirmmse's book is an attempt to place Kierkegaard in the Politcal, social and religious context of early 19th century Danish Society. There are chapters on the major characters constantly referred to in SK's book. Thereare chapters on Gruntvig, Martinsen, Heiberg and, of course, Mynster. Themajor emphasis in the his discussion of SK, himself is: why was ConcludingUnscientific Postscript not his last book as he planned it to be? Thesecond half of the book is a wonderful exploration of the "secondauthorship." a great read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Despair is the sickness unto death.
This book is a deep meditation on despair by the foremost modern Christian existentialist.If you despair, or want to understand despair, I suggest that you read this book.It might turn your life around.

Slow
The book was in a good condition. However, although I ordered 2-day shipping, the book arrived like 2-3 weeks later.

Kierkegaard was not a confused "self" but an agonized, overly aware self
Anti-Climacus, the pseudonym that Kierkegaard used in this work, defines sickness as the despair that each person experiences whether he/she knows it or not. The feeling of despair is associated with being alive; the only way to overcome despair is death or infinite faith in God.

Kierkegaard analyzes different types of despair and the origins of despair in such lengthy complicated and tedious detail, that I just wanted to tell him: chill and have a drink man, but admittedly, he fully engaged my mind, especially, when he reached the conclusion that despair is a direct result of self awareness. A body and brain makes a person but not a self.A self is one's relationships with self, others and God. Relating to oneself constitutes self awareness and the stronger one's faith is the stronger his/her self awareness.

The most interesting part of Kierkegaard's discussion is his understanding of the will. The will is synonymous with the self that binds a person's different aspect into one whole. However, for Kierkegaard, the inability to make a choice is equivalent to the ability to make a choice. The self is the will, or possibly, the lack of will.

Kierkegaard is one of the first thinkers who wrote about despair or the sickness associated with existence, which is likely the reason he is associated with existentialism. The reader might hear this despair's echo in Sartre's Nausea and Camus' Absurdity. Still, Kierkegaard uniquely explores and presents his philosophy about being, existence and faith but like others before and after him he gets stuck in endless intellectual circles.

Priceless
This was my first Kierkegaard book, and I can't imagine it'll ever not be my favorite. This should be everyone's introduction to him. It's short, sweet, beautiful, encouraging, exotic, convicting, brutal, and funny.

Written by Anti-Climacus, K's very idealized Christian author who always does his best to expose externalisms in the lives of human beings--both Christians and pagans.

I'm not going to get into a major discussion of this book here; you can do that on your own or peruse some of the other reviews on this page. I will, however, give a very cursory sketch of _some_ of his great ideas.

1. It is written from an unabashedly orthodox Christian standpoint (orthodox meaning Apostles Creed). While there are a few passages contained therein that can be read like Arminian creeds, overall this book presupposes God's Word as Truth itself and thus is congruent mostly with what is later called Van Tillian apologetics (of course one could then say that Van Til had some Kierkegaard in him!).

2. It is written to examine what faith, in its nature as an exclusively Christian concept, is. But ever heard that Kierkegaard hated doctrine, that he loved the irrational leap into blind faith? Forget it. That's Johannes de Silentio. The passion and power of his prose here, along with his journal notes as provided by the Hongs' priceless scholarship, show that when he lists "dogma" with the three essentials of Christianity (the other two are faith and paradox), he meant it! (It wasn't just Anti-Climacus's idea.) He even says that once people throw out the "thou shalts" and God's special revelation as what it is--that Christianity is dead. Once we make Christ into an event, once philosophers merge God and man together--that Christianity is dead. Very powerful stuff. Now what does this have to do with faith? Kierkegaard shows that all natural men put their faith in themselves--and they will despair forever as they autonomously insist that they are the source of themselves. What Christianity insists on in men's putting their faith in the Creator as the Bible commands. Faith in God is not irrational, Kierkegaard says; but it is the gospel, as so wonderful, so inexpressibly amazing, that cannot fit into the minds of rationalistic men. This is a huge distinction. And a wonderful one!

3. It is written to examine thanklessness in those who don't look like they're despairing. This is where he attacks the Danish State Church. It's brutal and very convicting. I won't spoil it for you.

Despair is the refusal of man to admit who he is--a creature of his Creator. It's hubris, it's solipsism, it's pride, it's fear of humiliation. But Kierkegaard doesn't stop there. He shows the solution; he shows Christ as the only answer, using Christ's character as manifested in the gospels to show that it is our rebellion that He saves all men from. In this way, Anti-Climacus is in no way judgmental or self-righteous.

Another note: the Hongs are amazing. Write them a letter and tell them how amazing their work is. Each Princeton Kierkegaard book contains journal entries, an historical introduction, earlier draft changes, indices, &c.

And one more: another reviewer was totally right when he said that some of this is so powerful and--yea-- beautiful that you won't know you're reading Theology. The passage starting with the hourglass on pages 27-8 comes to mind immediately.

I only detract a star because of the ambiguity in certain places that has deceived many non-Christians into thinking that they're a-okay. And I've met a few of them, working at a bookstore as I did. It's written for Christians, so use your Biblical framework while reading it.

Hong translation excels
As a student at St. Olaf College, I got Kierkegaard pretty much thrown at me. The professors Hong translations of Kierkegaard are the most erudite I've seen. They own the largest Kierkegaard library in the world... They know their stuff. It's definitely worth the extra money over and against the penguin translation.

"The self is a self which relates itself to itself or is a relation relating itself to itself in the relation."
Don't get too flummoxed by the first page, it gets better.

One thing I like about Kierkegaard is that he knows how to WRITE. Other philosophers lose common literary skills that make writing enjoyable, for example, Kant. You cannot sit down and read 200 pages of a Critique of Pure reason straight, your head will explode. With Kierkegaard however, he is so enjoyable and fun to read, you hardly notice your're reading philosophy.

This book however, I wouldn't recommend to beginners, I'd choose either "Either/Or" or "The two ages" ... Read more

Product Description
Soren Kierkegaard was a 19th Century Danish philosopher. The Crowd Is Untruth is a very short essay, not a book. ... Read more

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Ostensibly, A Literary Review is a straightforward commentary by S&oslashren Kierkegaard on the work of a contemporary novelist. On deeper levels, however, it becomes the existential philosopher's far-reaching critique of his society and age, and its apocalyptic final sections inspired the central ideas in Martin Heiddeger's influential work Being and Time. Embraced by many readers as prophetic, A Literary Review and its concepts remain relevant to our current debates on identity, addiction, and social conformity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

What every one in Westen modernity should appropriate
If a man of western European descent wonders why he is moved by "The Lord of the Rings"; if the Caucasian male finds himself streaming with tears of inspiration when the Rohirrim charge against the over-whelming forces of Mordor(Socialism and the emasculating of the white male), then all he must do to clarify his unexplained passion is read this enormously powerful little book by the master of existential pathos.There are passages in this little heralded, yet nonetheless enormously important, book that describe the "levelling" or "equivocation" of the present age(certainly our age is exactly the present age he describes, maybe even more so)that could just have well been inserted to Tolkien's masterly vivid descriptions of the oppressive desolation that is Mordor.


If one were to read this book and substitute the word Socialism with the S.K.'s levelling, well then, one would not loose anything in translation.Socialism reduces the individual, for the individual is unimportant to Socialism, yet the Individual is precisely where passion and resolve reside.Socialism reduces man to a herd-animal, and thus man is left to his reflection or thought activities as his only sense of self-independence, for any action that strives or separates him from others immediately results in envious animosity by those who become different from him.The danger in dwelling too long in reflection, is well known to anyone who has ever realized the anxiety that plagues man while he resides there.As Kierkegaard relates, he flounders in exhaustion and no action at all is taken.With no action, there is no sense of self, and thus gives rise to the transformation from an Individual with his own unique talents and striving to an orcish-like existence with amentality of decay, ugliness, brutishness, sameness, dependency, slavery etc...).The white male most of all feels this.His sense of self is attacked on all fronts, from the news media, advertisements, celluloidwood, television, art, literature, in a word "the public".One hour of watching American television will give the viewer the sense that the white male is impotent, slothful, grubby, idiotic, weak, timid, uncouth and so on.And is it any wonder?Remove the white males sense of self, make him a lesser type of human and then socialism overruns unimpeded the idea of the Individual. It was the white male who brought the notion or idea of Inalienable Rights, itself a concept derived from Natural Law, itself derived from Christianity.Inalienable Rights imply the Individual over the masses.Socialism stems from what is known as positive law or that at the bottom no one has any independent rights because the state is higher then the individual and the state can coerce whatever and whomever it wants.All of the West trembles in anxiety right now for, and though the Rohirrim and the Gondoreans were able to mount one last heroic stand to preserve itself, the the west, and in particularly the Caucasian male, it may already be too late.The Hun is at the gate.

A view of literature, society, and personhood.
I'm possibly not the most qualified person to review this, but since there are no other reviews, I'll just give a quick endorsement.This volume is the same that is published by Princeton as 'The Two Ages', and the final chapter has been published seperately as 'The Present Age'.

The first half gives some interesting views of literature and psychology.The second half is the most remarkable part, where SK declares 'the present age' and the future as a time when the age of heros and authority has passed, when no one can communicate truth to others directly, and each and every individual is faced with a choice of being a zero stuck in endless reflection, or passionately working out his own salvation, to only be obtained at first-hand from God.

Concise and worthwhile. ... Read more

Product Description
"Those who would know Kierkegaard, the intesely religious humorist, the irrepressibly witty critic of his age and ours, can do no better than to begin with this book. [In it] we find the heart of Kierkagaard. It is not innocuous, not genteel, not comfortable. He does not invite the reader to realx and have a little laugh with him at the expense of other people or at his own foibles. Kierkegaard deliberately challenges the reader's whole existence.

"Nor does he merely challenge our existence; he also questions some ideas that had become well entrenched in his time and that are even more characteristic of the present age. Kierkegaard insists, for example, that Christianity was from the start essentially authoritarian--not just that the Catholic Church was, or that Calvin was, or Luther, or, regrettably, most of the Christian churches, but that Christ was--and is. Indeed, though Kierkegaard was, and wished to be, an individual, and even said that on his tombstone he would like no other epitaph than 'That Individual,' his protest against his age was centered in his lament over the loss of authority." --Walter Kaufman, in the IntroductionAmazon.com Review
The first book ever to explore the popular culture created bynew media technologies (in this case, newspapers), The PresentAge is shockingly relevant despite being written more than 100years ago. Kierkegaard's prescience in predicting a public thatconsumes the lives of media stars speaks for itself: "The public... this indolent mass ... is on the look-out for distraction and soonabandons itself to the idea that everything that anyone does is donein order to give it something to gossip about." The PresentAge does a better job of describing the manipulation of massopinion by the media than anything written since the rise oftelevision, and contains Kierkegaard's cutting wit and nimble prose,to boot. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Philosophy and Authority
In this review I would like to consider the second essay collected in this edition -'On the Difference between the Genius and the Apostle'- which is too often overlooked by readers. Kierkegaard begins this meditation by denouncing the tendency of nineteenth century Christians to assume (even hope that) the Apostles were 'geniuses'. But according to Kierkegaard "St. Paul cannot be compared with either Plato or Shakespeare, as a coiner of beautiful similes he comes pretty low down on the scale, as a stylist his name is quite obscure..." So, why read the Apostle Paul? "Genius is what it is of itself, i.e. through that which it is in itself; an Apostle is what he is by his divine authority..." The Apostle represents an Eternal Paradox, the Word made flesh, while the genius may initially be paradoxical "but ultimately the race will assimilate what was once a paradox in such a way that it is no longer paradoxical." Thus the mere 'genius' St. Paul becomes, like the 'mere' genius of Plato, another name one surveys in a 'History of Western Thought' college course.

But an "Apostle is not born; an Apostle is a man called and appointed by God, receiving a mission from him." And what of the Apostle's message? "The new which he may have to bring forth is the essential paradox. However long it may be proclaimed in the world it remains essentially and equally new, equally paradoxical, and no immanence can assimilate it." Kierkegaard is here maintaining that while the Hegelian dialectic may assimilate every other; it cannot assimilate the Eternal Other of God's Word - "for the essential paradox is the protest against immanence." And genius, or so Kierkegaard maintains, is merely the finest flower of imminence. "Divine authority is, qualitatively, the decisive factor." Thus ultimately the Apostle appeals to Authority while the genius can only has resort to his all-to-human reason and rhetoric.

Kierkegaard rightly sees this attempt to assimilate the category 'genius' to the category 'Apostle' as a consequence of modern skepticism about God and authority. But as a consequence of this assimilation the Apostle is "an examinee who appears on the market with a new teaching." And once this teaching is assimilated "there would cease to be any difference between the teacher and the learner."Of course, this is the ideal of Enlightenment; knowledge spread through the world equalizes everyone. To these "impertinent people who will not obey, but want to reason" Kierkegaard says that, "Authority is, on the contrary, something which remains unchanged, which one cannot acquire even by understanding the doctrine perfectly." Divine Authority can never be subsumed in any dialectic because "if authority is not 'the other', if it is in any sense merely a higher potency within the identity, then there is no such thing as authority." In fact, "between man and man qua man, then, no established or continuous authority was conceivable..." Kierkegaard is indicating that either we submit to Divine Authority or we submit to nihilism. There is no third choice.

Many Christians agree with this last but still want to see the Apostle as a genius. But to do so is to make the same what is forever Other and to compare the Incomparable. "To ask whether Christ is profound is blasphemy, and is an attempt (whether conscious or not) to destroy Him surreptitiously; for the question conceals a doubt concerning His authority, and this attempt to weigh Him up is impertinent in its directness, behaving as though He were being examined, instead of which it is to Him that all power is given in heaven and upon earth." Kierkegaard reminds us that no apodictic statement can be profound. "The decisive thing is not the statement, but the fact that it was Christ who said it..." One is tempted to here sneer that people too unintelligent or immature to judge statements on their own will always need some authority. Of course, it is now commonly thought that the Enlightenment is the 'adulthood of the human race', as Kant once remarked. But this is the exact possibility that Kierkegaard is denying; humanity, in its relation to God, will never achieve adulthood. Humanity will always be under the Authority of the Divine Other.

Even the great genius of the genuine philosopher does not escape this stricture. "What Plato says on immortality really is profound, reached after deep study; but then poor Plato has no authority whatsoever." In fact, philosophy, which is thought to be the ultimate 'authority' for our modern 'enlightenment', can be considered the ultimate target of this essay. "The whole of modern philosophy is therefore affected, because it has done away with obedience on the one hand, and authority on the other, and then, in spite of everything, claims to be orthodox." By 'modern philosophy' Kierkegaard is of course here alluding to Hegel. The most important distinction that Kierkegaard makes between the philosopher (i.e., the greatest genius) and the Apostle is that it is only the Apostle that has a purpose, properly speaking. How can we recognize the Apostle? "...[T]hat a man is called by a revelation to go out in the world, to proclaim the Word, to act and to suffer, to a life of uninterrupted activity as the Lord's messenger." But it is otherwise with genius. "Genius has only an imminent teleology; the Apostle is absolutely, paradoxically, teleologically placed."

The genius is "an unnecessary superfluity and a precious ornament." This superfluity is underlined by Kierkegaard's closing remarks on genius: "he has nothing to do with others, he does not write in order that: in order to enlighten men or in order to help them along the right road, in order to bring about something; in short, he does not write in order that. The same is true of every genius. No genius has an in order that; the Apostle has absolutely and paradoxically, an in order that." A genuine 'in order that' (i.e. purpose) must come from God or it is only, at bottom, a private fancy. All philosophers, from Plato to Hegel and beyond, ultimately only have their word on the Truth of whatever it is they teach. Only the Apostle ultimately has a purpose, because it is only he that is not spreading some private fancy.

If there is a God then there is something that endures. If there is no God then we can only have a succession of genius de jour - forever. The History of Philosophy is in fact this History of 'genius de jour'. As High Modernity continues its long disintegration into our low postmodernity we see the consequences of trusting in genius without Authority. It has now been seen by our postmodern nihilists that, regarding their grand theories, Plato and Hegel (and Marx and Nietzsche) only have their word on it. Thus 'reasons' and, far more ominously, thus does everyone (or an ever increasing fraction of everyone) on the planet. Modernity had staked everything on philosophical creativity -the ongoing creation of 'world-views'- but the ongoing war between various philosophical artifacts makes on wonder about the intelligence of this bet. It is the various irreconcilable philosophical artifacts, and their world-views, that are tearing our world apart.

One certainly doesn't need to believe in Divine Authority in order to believe in the utility of authority. But, and this is the answer of philosophy to Kierkegaard's attack, if Divine Authority remains powerless (or unwilling) to enforce its Will then philosophy must continue to 'create'; that is, philosophy will continue to bring a temporary but unifying purpose into the world. All that philosophy has is this ersatz purpose to pit against nihilism - a world bereft of meaning and purpose. And this is all philosophy ever will have...

Nihilism, Forfeited Individuality & The Passionless Age
.
Soren Kierkegaard was a contemporary and unique thinker. In "The Present Age" one finds many thoughts that are both subsequently echoed in parallel thoughts and/or have directly influenced other great thinkers. For instance Kierkegaard speaks of the danger of loosing individuality to the abstract form of public opinion. Many of his thoughts can be found in later writings ofAlex de Tocqueville, Nietzsche and Heidegger. In Kierkegaard's case, true individualism is based on the Christian religion (apart from Christendom). Written over almost two hundred years ago and yet so contemporary are Kierkegaard's words to our present age of nihilism and rule of public opinion.

On Nihilism and relativism, Kierkegaard writes:

"A passionate tumultuous age will overthrow everything, pull everything down; but a revolutionary age, that is at the same time reflective and passionless, transforms that expression of strength into a feat of dialectics; it leaves everything standing but cunningly empties it of significance. Instead of culminating in a rebellion it reduces the inward reality of all relationships to a reflective tension which leaves everything standing but makes the whole of life ambiguous; so that everything continues to exist factually whilst by a dialectical deceit, privatissime, it supplies a secret interpretation - that it does not exist: p. 42

On individualism and public opinion, Kierkegaard writes:

"The abstract principle of leveling . . has no personal relation to any individual but has only an abstract relationship which is the same for every one. There, no hero suffers for others, or helps them; the taskmaster of all alike is the leveling and himself becomes greatest does not become an outstanding man or a hero - that would only impede the leveling process, which is rigidly consistent to the end - he himself prevents that from happening because he has understood the meaning of leveling; he becomes a man and nothing else, in the complete equalitarian sense. That is the idea of religion. But, under those conditions, the equalitarian order is sever and the profit is seemingly very small; seemingly, for unless the individual learns in the reality of religion and before God to be content with himself, and learns, instead of dominating others, to dominate himself, content as priest to be his own audience, and as author his own reader, if he will not learn to be satisfied with that as the highest, because it is the expression of the equality of all men before God and of our likeness to others, then he will not escape from reflection. " p.57

"The public is a concept which could not have occurred in antiquity because the people en masse, in corpore, took part in any situation which arose, and were responsible for the actions of the individual, and, moreover, the individual was personally present and had to submit at once to applause or disapproval for his decision. Only when the sense of association in society is no longer strong enough to give life to concrete realties is the Press able to create that abstraction 'the public', consisting of unreal individuals who never are and never can be united in an actual situation or organization - and yet are held together as a whole." p. 60

"The man who has no opinion of an event at the actual moment accepts the opinion of the majority, or, if he is quarrelsome, of the minority. But it must be remembered that the majority and minority are real people, and that is why the individual is assisted by adhering to them. A public, on the contrary, is an abstraction. To adopt the opinion of this or that man means that one knows that they will be subjected to the same dangers as oneself, that they will be led astray with one if the opinion leads astray. But to adopt the same opinion as the public is a deceptive consolation because the public is only there in abstracto. p.61

It could describe today
Written over 150 years ago, it remarkably seems to describe our age, for example "A revolutionary age is an age of action; ours is the age of advertisement and publicity.Nothing ever happens but there is immediate publicity everywhere".And those in government may appreciate "In the end a whole age becomes a committee".Perhaps the Internet is both a great leveler that Kierkegaard warned of, but also a perpetrator of the anonymous. I think Kierkegaard might laugh at some of the pseudonyms floating around the net, far less creative than his many including Johannes Climacus.Perhaps this anonymous net means no risk, but we need to "Come on, leap cheerfully, even if it means a light-hearted leap, so long as it is decisive".

This book provides a good, short intro to Kierkegaard, and the humor keeps this moving without masking the personal challenges.

Kierkegaard's most accessible
This version of "The Present Age" also includes "On the Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle."These two treatises are two of the most intelligible and actually enjoyable of Kierkegaard's works."The Present Age" is remarkable because, although it was written in the Nineteenth Century, it has a great deal to say about modern society.Kierkegaard's central thesis is that the modern age (that isIt is important to understand, however, that K. does not mean passion as defined by the mob mentality, hate or lust.This is what Marcel, a later Existentialist, meant by "passion." Rather, he is refering to a powerful sense of inward spirituality.
Kierkegaard was a Christian (despite what philosophy professors might tell you) and the second essay in this volume is, essentially, a theological treatise on apostolic and divine authority.K. argues that Christianity is at its core an authoritatian religion.Authoritarian, that is, in the sense that the word and teachings of God have ultimate authority over man and human institutions.
This book isn't a bad place to start if one wants to read a bit of Kierkegaard.The two essays are really pretty easy to read and will surprise you with how appropriate they are to the modern and even post-modern era. ... Read more

Product Description
Of the many works he wrote during 1848, his "richest and most fruitful year," Kierkegaard specified Practice in Christianity as "the most perfect and truest thing." In his reflections on such topics as Christ's invitation to the burdened, the imitatio Christi, the possibility of offense, and the exalted Christ, he takes as his theme the requirement of Christian ideality in the context of divine grace. Addressing clergy and laity alike, Kierkegaard asserts the need for institutional and personal admission of the accommodation of Christianity to the culture and to the individual misuse of grace. As a corrective defense, the book is an attempt to find, ideally, a basis for the established order, which would involve the order's ability to acknowledge the Christian requirement, confess its own distance from it, and resort to grace for support in its continued existence. At the same time the book can be read as the beginning of Kierkegaard's attack on Christendom. Because of the high ideality of the contents and in order to prevent the misunderstanding that he himself represented that ideality, Kierkegaard writes under a new pseudonym, Anti-Climacus. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Has what I wanted, a little hard to find stuff.
I bought this specifically because I wanted some of the writings in the book, so there's not much to say about it's contents.The book is laid out a bit weirdly and it makes it hard to find stuff, but other than that it has what I wanted.

I had to stop reading it
I am a minister, and although I though I was a prety good theologian, I only understood the fullest of Christ's message (if this is attainable at all) after I started reading this book.
From the beginnings, through his prayer on the first pages, it is the most brillant Christology/Soteriology ever exposed.
I had to stop reading this book because I wasn't sure that I was ready to deal with the type of feelings that I was being exposed to, and I wanted the book never to end, to be honest.
Although I am a convict Protestant, I must say that the Orthodox principle of Theosis started to make sense to me.

If you want to "get it" Christ, I would recommend this and "Works of Love".

"..Infinite Qualitative Difference..." a Central SK Work
I seldom review classical works feeling that posterity has spoken on their behalf far more weightily than I could hope to.However, I had to comment on this fantastic, underrated text.SK wrote in his journal that while he often used pseudonyms in his other works, in part, to distance himself from the ideas, in this book the pen name was employed to distance the ideas from him, feeling himself an imperfect messenger.If we have any access at all to the center of SK's program, this is it, yet it is rarely mentioned as an important work of his authorship.

There is no doubt that Either/Or, Fear and Trembling and Concluding Unscientific Postscript are all brilliant.However, Practice in Christianity deserves every bit as much attention as these works.It is a work of self disclosure calling the reader to examine the basis for their faith and confront the startling choice between imitation and offense based on the risky prospect of embracing paradox.It is also one of SK's most accessible texts that can be read devotionally.One of my favorite books ever.

Important Kierkegaard
_Practice in Christianity_ is one of Kierkegaard's more underrated books, and should not be overlooked.I will summarize his concepts as best I can:In this book Kierkegaard encourages a rigorous and "militant" practice of Christianity.By "militant" he does not mean violence in the physical sense, obviously.What he means is a determination to constantly find better ways to understand God and Christ, even though every question that gets answered seems to spawn more questions.Rigorous Christianity is a continuous chasing after that which perpetually eludes us.Even though we may never reach a true catharsis in our understanding, the process of continually seeking understanding is still beneficial to the individual.It helps to strenthen the uniqueness of our individuality, and helps to set us apart from society in a way that preserves the "heterogeneity" of society.Kierkegaard stresses the importance of maintaining heterogeneity within society because this is essential in the creation of individual personalities, and is an essential ingredient to conscious life in general.Kierkegaard states it thus: "woe to the Christian Church when it will have been victorious in this world, for then it is not the Church which has been victorious but the world.Then the heterogeneity between Christianity and the world has vanished, and Christiantiy has lost" (p. 223).It is important that society does not ever reach a consensus on what to believe in, because then we will all rest on our laurels and abandon the continual, rigorous striving that is essential in enhancing our individualist personalities.The loss of individualism is synonymous with the end of conscious life and self-awareness as we know it.There must always be individuals who stand out as beacons of virtue, if for no other reason than to infuse other people with life by making them feel inadequate and subjugated.Rigorous, militant Christians must always turn their back on the world and strive for something better, and indoing so they help to blaze a trail into higher realms of understanding, dragging the reluctant congregation behind them.

If these concepts sound interesting to you, I highly recommend this volume.Die hard atheists will probably view this book as a fruitless discussion over a moot point.But people who consider themselvesChristian, and want to set themselves apart from other lackadaisical, so-called Christians, could benefit greatly by reading this book.This is not a book for people who show up to church just to show up and then fall asleep in the pew - it is for people who want to reach a higher standard of rigorous practice in religion.

Below the surface of modern theology
To describe Kierkegaard is, to say the very least, difficult!Not that his style of writing is boring or even overly difficult.Not at all!His style is poetic, warm, and loving.Yet all the while, he makes you feeluncomfortable, leads you to questioning your faith, and often makes oneangry!However, the thing that I admire most about the author and the book"Practice in Christianity", is how he has led me to recklesslylook inside myself, so that I can see the the truth about who I am!Inshort, no other author has ever made me just "think", the waythat SK has. I have read and heard much of modern theology.For me, this"modern theology" only scratches the surface of these importantthoughts.SK will take your mind and heart, to spiritual depths that arethus far, undiscovered. ... Read more

Product Description

For Self-Examination and its companion piece Judge for Yourself! are the culmination of Søren Kierkegaard's "second authorship," which followed his Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Among the simplest and most readily comprehended of Kierkegaard's books, the two works are part of the signed direct communications, as distinguished from his earlier pseudonymous writings. The lucidity and pithiness, and the earnestness and power, of For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself! are enhanced when, as Kierkegaard requested, they are read aloud. They contain the well-known passages on Socrates' defense speech, how to read, the lover's letter, the royal coachman and the carriage team, and the painter's relation to his painting. The aim of awakening and inward deepening is signaled by the opening section on Socrates in For Self-Examination and is pursued in the context of the relations of Christian ideality, grace, and response. The secondary aim, a critique of the established order, links the works to the final polemical writings that appear later after a four-year period of silence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Potent yet readable
This book, page for page, may be Kierkegaard's best ever.This is a rather slim volume, but is packed with Kierkegaard's most profound and life-changing philosophy.Compared to his other works (almost all of which I highly, HIGHLY recommend) this book comes across as one of the most potent and dense.Therefore, I would recommend this one first and foremost to a reader who is pressed for time and is intimidated by the sheer length of Kierkegaard's other works.If you have not devoted every minute of your spare time to reading every page of every book ever written by Kierkegaard, my first question, of course, is WHY NOT?!?!? What are you thinking???Get with the program!!!I am willing to forgive you, however, if you could just find time in your busy schedule to read this one slim pamphlet.It is the "Reader's Digest" condensed Kierkegaard for realistic 50-hour-a-week men, and it could radically change your life for the better.Profound, uplifting, loving, hopeful, and positive, I recommend this book to all readers.

Masterpiece of true Christianity
Kierkegaard exposes what it means to be a Christian. And be warned. It isimpossible to read the book and walk away. A spiritual mirror is setup forthose who dare to look. Individual's life including Scripture study is thecore of this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Tracing a path through Kierkegaard's writings, this book brings the reader into close contact with the texts and purposes of this remarkable 19th-century Danish writer and thinker. Kierkegaard writes in a number of voices and registers: as a sharp observer and critic of Danish culture, or as a moral psychologist, and as a writer concerned to evoke the religious way of life of Socrates, Abraham, or a Christian exemplar. In developing these themes, Mooney sketches Kierkegaard's Socratic vocation, gives a close reading of several central texts, and traces "The Ethical Sublime" as a recurrent theme. He unfolds an affirmative relationship between philosophy and theology and the potentialities for a religiousness that defies dogmatic creeds, secular chauvinisms, and restrictive philosophies. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

AN EXISTENTIAL UNDERSTANDING OF DEATH
Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions
by Søren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard's Writings, X
Translated by Howard & Edna Hong
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1993)
(ISBN: 0-691-03300-5)
(Library of Congress call number: BV4505.K48413 1993)

"At a Graveside" (the third of these discourses)
is perhaps the most profound of these essays.
It explores death as inwardly appropriated.
In a way, it may be the earliest presentation
of being-towards-death or ontological anxiety.
For a 21st century presentation of this concept,
search the Internet for the following title:
"An Existential Understanding of Death:
A Phenomenology of Ontological Anxiety".

More books by Kierkegaard are reviewed on the Internet:
"Books on Existential Spirituality".

James Leonard Park, existential philosopher. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Enjoyable storytelling
A great collection of parables. Many of them only a few lines short. Thomas C. Oden has done a good job collecting the best and most relevant parables from the extensive work of Kierkegaard.

An anthology of extraordinary passages
Kierkegaard's thought was a thought of paradox and complication, irony , insight and humor. Like Kafka he could take a well- known myth and remake it as his own .And always he will do this in such a way as to move the reader into a new level of question and involvement in his thought.
Kierkegaard challenges questions and delights us. He too may contradict us and our sense of things but most often in such a way as to lead us to rethink our own assumptions and ideas.
He is a thinker who helps make us think.
And this anthology of extraordinary passages from his work does just that.

McKierkegaard, Fast & Easy, a good & enjoyable glimpse of SK
"A Possibility" (from Stage's on Lifes Way)
starting on Page 104, I found to be particularly
poignant and impressive among the parables presented.

I liked this book and still do.:)

Very accessible, and interesting even
apart from the whole of his writing,
therefore more digestable to the average person.

The other parable mentioned in another review
as most notable is unseemly to note without
mentioning any other, but that is opinion.

"A Possibility" is widely regarded
as profound and noteworthy.:)

The introduction well describes the purpose and intent
of this book, and of SK's parables, to the readers.

Many short parable presented that are witty or amusing.

A few longer ones such as "A Possibility."

Not definitive as a representative of his thought or writing
if you are looking for anything like a synopsis or condensed
representation of his authorship/ideas/"philosophy"/thought.

Enjoyable light(er) reading than trying to delve
into his actual titles, per se, however.:)

Soren Kierkegaard's authorship has always
been not commonly well understood, in part
due to his "unique 'method/mode of authorship'",
but more than that, and is somewhat out of
the range of most readers, unfortunately,
however highly regarded by some of intellect
to comprehend his work properly, he has
been represented foolishly at times,
by those who quote him, as in the old
playboy interview style of photo's
and obscure references to SK, taken by many
in the intelligentsia in the 20th cent.
as the "father" of existentialism,
and fashionable to be seen as one familiar
with im and his work, but also rightly viewed
as being influential upon modern ideas,
his take on things however to those who don't
even know his name would find very similar
to their own, and not just some silly obscure
neurotic rambling as obscure dense complex
literature is usually perceived and represented as.

In some ways his authorship could be summed up
in an extremely oversimplified way as an
exhaustive exposition of the term "subjectivity",
which is the term as buzzword often employed
in attempts at explaining or representing his
thought and ideas/"philosophy", which he was not
regarded as contemporaneously as a "philosopher",
but as a writer, actually quite ridiculed in his lifetime,
after his upbringing and training in seminary (churchdom),
to be a pastor himself, and wrote along multi-level
world views at differing times.
His life is almost always presented when discussing him
or his writings.His father Michael Pederson (melancholy),
and the impact upon his life from childhood and family life,
his dissapointed relationship with Regine his onetime
fiance whom he broke relations deliberately in a caddish way,
becasue he felt it incongruent with his chosen path in life,
and that he was unworthy of her, insultingly, so as to hope he would not break her heart, with before marrying,
in a decision to do so which would haunt his entire life,
and probaly regretted later on, as well.
The affair with "The Corsair" a popular publication
there in Copenhagen which was basically a tabliod,
and that publishers smear campaign maligning
SK over an extended period of time, mocking and ridiculing
him, putting him up for scorn shallowly because the public
this, like a dog barking at someone, mailman, beggar, or king.

His sharp and keenly critising mind was often
and substantially and notably directed toward
the church & "christendom" itself, and here
is "your sign" why he was not well
taken then, or ever will be, and why he is
misperceived, misunderstood, misrepresented, or ignored.

His ideas are anathema, heretical, undermining
or subversive to christianity to the average christian
who tries to be as such and wants to beieve all, etc.

He (Kierkegaard) basically tells us that
Christians aren't real christains, at least most.

That most want to be in that category and be taken
and included as such for societal reasons i.e "pretend".

Christianity is demanding and harsh, people go to
church sing, pray, etc. but still live as normal people, with all the associated faults and foibles and are not "better."

It was more important to put on that face then.

He was saying there are very few real and true Christains.

Something people do not want to hear.

Kierkegaard by and large is not for everyone,
(literacy level, etc.) in this world of declining
lterary standards, but this book is.

Lawrence Connor

EVEN OUT OF CONTEXT, IT'S A GREAT READ
Soren was a brilliant surveyor of the human soul. Collected in this volume are what amounts to a greatest hits of parables highlighting the discoveries he made along the way that compel the reader to get off the philosophical phence when it comes to life's decisions. Don't sweat the small stuff? More like, Think, Choose, and the small stuff never surfaces. Perhaps the greatest of all his parables is "The Jewel on Thin Ice", and its inclusion here is worth the purcahse price all by itself.

If you are familiar with Kierkegaard, you know what a brilliant reference tome this will be. If you are not, this is a great way to begin your examination of a man who was justifiably the Danish Dalai Lhama. His spirituality is immersed in being present in the moment, and would lay the foundation for all existentialist (i.e., Buddhist thinkers in Western trappings) thought in the 20th Century from Husserl and Sartre to Heidegger and Neil Young.
Well done, well worth keeping by your reading lamp. It is a jewel on thin ice well worth risking one's immersion.

The Master of Existentialism in a pocket guide
I initially purchased this book to try and explain to my then girlfriend my reasoning for certain things in life.The parables that Kierkegaard exemplifies here are easy for others to understand.I think this is a good point to start if you are interestesed in existentialism as he is more than likely one of the first.If you break the confines of the religious zealousy that crush all of us then this is the first chain for your new armor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

K-GAARD
Good condition for a 1962 student textbook. Binding and cover are solid. Jacket cover in fair shape. Some lining and margial notations, but expected in a philosophical text.I am pleased with the purchase as well as delivery time.

Essential reading for the mature believer
I was warned this would be a really tough book. I had to read several chapters twice before I could even get the sense of them, and one particular chapter took me a good hour to even catch a clue on. But, the important thing is this: there's a payoff.

I found Climacus really enjoyable, in the same way that C.S. Lewis is in "Mere Christianity" and Tim Keller is in "The Reason for God." He essentially reasons toward an active God who injects himself into humanity via an incarnation (which is, of course, only matched in Christianity). More importantly, Climacus forces a willing reader to consider their own concerns, and perhaps most of all, their own role in salvation.

Although I keep hearing that Kierkegaard was a staunch Armenian, this book reads almost like a treatise on irresistible grace, as Climacus again and again argues for the minuscule role of man in salvation. This book will push you, and taunt you at times. But it's rewarding, and if not classic, certainly valuable reading.

understanding faith
if you wonder about faith and will whether we can choose to believe or not, read this book.kierkegaard provides an excellent argument for the kind of freedom we have in response to the paradox.i find in general that kierkegaard speaks truthfully from his heart.this book helps me think through my faith and understand the relationship between faith and will.read the interlude - that's where kierkegaard discusses the paradox.i recommend this book highly:it's thought provoking and not too hard to read.i also recommend sickness unto death if you are at all interested in the relationship between faith and despair.

One of Kierkegaard's most essential works
If one were to read only two or three of Kierkegaard's works, this is unquestionably one of the ones to read.In this work and in its successor, Kierkegaard, employing the pseudonym of Johannes Climacus, seeks to explain the nature of Christianity in such as way as to bring out its demands on the individual, and to emphasize its incompatibility with the theology based on the work of Hegel that was becoming progressively more influential in Denmark (and in the rest of the world as well).In PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS, Kierkegaard explains through his pseudonym, he wants to present the problem of Christianity "algebraically" (i.e., logically), while in the ironically titled CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS (ironic because the earlier book is quite short, while the POSTSCRIPT is four times longer) intends to "clothe the problem in historical dress."What Kierkegaard purports to do in this brief book is present the logic of Christianity.

The title is badly translated in all English editions, being a Biblical reference, to the story of the rich man Dives and Lazarus.Just as the poor man Lazarus had to be content with the crumbs from the rich man's table, so Johannes Climacus, who passionately denies that he has any contributions whatsoever to make to the grand Hegelian System, claims to be content with mere philosophical crumbs.For some reason, no publisher or translator has been willing to employ the more accurate if less palatable PHILOSOPHICAL CRUMBS.

Johannes Climacus presents the heart of the conflict between Hegel and Christianity in the first chapter.In Hegelian thought, Jesus in essence is viewed as the non-unique Son of God, and sees him as important for his teachings and the example for others for a transition to all people potentially becoming children of God.The emphasis is on the teachings, and the "truth" of Jesus can be construed as that which he taught.Kierkegaard thinks this is profoundly mistaken, and tries to get at the problem by a thought project that opens the book.Kierkegaard contrasts two kinds of teacher.One is the kind of teacher found in Socrates, where he is able to assist others in learning things because they already had the capacity to learn them.In the case of the Socratic teacher, the individual instructor is not essential to learning the truth.But Kierkegaard asks us to consider a second kind of teacher, one who not merely teaches us the truth, but provides the conditions for making such learning possible.This second kind of teacher is essential to someone learning the Truth, and it is this kind of teacher that Kierkegaard sees as representing Christ.The problem, as Kierkegaard understands it, is that we are separated from God by sin, and therefore we are in a position of needing to be restored to a relationship with God before coming to know God.Jesus is therefore not an accidental teacher of truths of a divine nature, but himself the essential foundation for anyone wanting to come to know God.In other words, for Kierkegaard, Christianity is an event and not a set of teachings: the incarnation of God in Christ as opposed to the things he wanted to teach us.

The remainder of the book explicates this essential distinction between the Christ of Christianity and the Jesus of Hegel.In particular, he deals with the question of the "disciple at second hand" versus the "contemporary disciple."This is essential to consider because while Hegel is thought to take history seriously, his Jesus becomes nonhistorical, while Kierkegaard is intent on emphasizing his historicity.

This is essential Kierkegaard, and along with the CONCLUDING UNSCIENTIFIC POSTSCRIPT and THE SICKNESS UNTO DEATH, my own favorites among his writings.One cannot understand Kierkegaard's thought without reading this book, and along with its sequel represents the heart of what he was trying to achieve in what he called his "Authorship."

Precursor to _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_
_Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus_ is essential reading for anyone who wishes to read the sequel, _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_, which is arguably Kierkegaard's most important work.This first volume, even taken by itself, is still a valuble, well written, and entertaining work.But its primary purpose is to establish the personality of Kierkegaard's infamous, neurotic character "Johannes Climacus", the pseudonym under which he wrote this book as well as the monumental _Postscript_.It is very important that any Kierkegaard scholar realize the author's intentions behind the creation of the Johannes Climacus character, and the exact relationship between Kierkegaard's real views and the often-antithetical, illogical, absurd, and even farcical views of his pseudonymous alter-ego.In this book, the character of Johannes Climacus is established, and the careful reader should be able to identify the discrepency between Climacus' ideas and Kierkegaard's real ideas.This characterization process is very interesting and makes for a good read, but to get the full effect you must also read _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_, in which the reader is treated to the full effect of the neurotic ramblings of Kierkegaard's alter-ego. ... Read more

Product Description
A work that "not only treats of irony but is irony," wrote a contemporary reviewer of The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates. Presented here with Kierkegaard's notes of the celebrated Berlin lectures on "positive philosophy" by F.W.J. Schelling, the book is a seedbed of Kierkegaard's subsequent work, both stylistically and thematically. Part One concentrates on Socrates, the master ironist, as interpreted by Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes, with a word on Hegel and Hegelian categories. Part Two is a more synoptic discussion of the concept of irony in Kierkegaard's categories, with examples from other philosophers and with particular attention given to A. W. Schlegel's novel Lucinde as an epitome of romantic irony.

The Concept of Irony and the Notes of Schelling's Berlin Lectures belong to the momentous year 1841, which included not only the completion of Kierkegaard's university work and his sojourn in Berlin, but also the end of his engagement to Regine Olsen and the initial writing of Either/Or. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A review of the "Concept of Irony"
In his dissertation The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates, 1841 Soren Kierkegaard lays the foundation for his subsequent works and for existentialism. He states "Just as philosophy begins with doubt, so also a life that may be called human begins with irony". Socrates, the master ironist, questions Sophist pretensions to knowledge and Protagoras' belief that virtue can be taught. In his dialectical method Socrates introduces irony into discourse. He concludes that the Oracle declared him the wisest man in Athens because he alone is aware of his ignorance. Kierkegaard states irony is the very incitement of subjectivity. In his/her moral freedom the individual stands alone against the established order, and irony becomes a qualification of subjectivity. The ironist's great requirement is to live poetically, to become conscious of what is original in himself, and stand above the self in freedom to create. The supreme poetic joy is in possibilities to be realized as victory over the world. In a brief discussion ofShakespeare as ironist Kierkegaard praises Shakespeare, whose use of controlled and pervasive irony allows him to "float above the work" as the characters become "free artist of themselves". Among the writers discussed this scholarly work are Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Schlegel, Tieck, Solger, and Schelling whose Berlin lectures Kierkegaard critiques. The editorial appendix contains excellent notes.
Bonnie W. Jones

Look silvannus, Gullible is written on the Ceiling!
1. Infuriating style?You're missing most of the irony.Don't you see it?The irony of the book has gone around like a serpent biting its own tail!And that's the point.

2. On whether or not Irony is a mature work: the first part is not.The first part begins and ends with Hegel, with occasional allusions to what points he will hit in the second part.Want to skip the first part because it's long and doesn't seem to get to the point, or you don't know enough about Socrates?Forget the second part then, which won't make any sense at all without the working definition it takes until the discussion of Aristophanes to get to.And don't worry about not having a background on the Greeks.All you have to do is have a little working knowledge of the Apology of Plato, and know that Xenophon is a bit of a dimwit.Everything you wouldn't know and Kierkegaard doesn't tell you is said in the commentary, which is both repititious to those who know, and vexatious to those who don't, but is really helpful nonetheless.

3. The second part, especially in the discussion of Lucinde is a microcosm of the rest of Kierkegaard's philosophy.It just takes a little bit of a skewed lens (an ironic lens, if you will).Irony as infinite negativity? (which is probably an infuriating way of putting it since it really doesn't say anything about irony unless you understand the context provided by the discussion on Socrates in the first part... see why you can't just skip ahead?) alludes to concious despair, or at least if you're an ironist, and you see the emptiness of your position LEADS you to concious despair.The Ironic itself becomes sublimated somewhere between the aesthetic and the humorous, something unsustainable in it of itself, because after all, it is infinite negativity (once again,i refer you to the first part.It has something to do with Socrate's position that he was the wisest man in Athens because he knew nothing, and about the soul after death.See why Socrates is so necessary an ingredient now?).

4. The discussion on Lucinde in the second part is his descisive turn away from the Aesthetic and from Regine, not the Seducer's Diary as presented in EITHER/OR.In fact, EITHER/OR is his more direct explanation of his position that he first touched upon in Irony.Do you see the irony in that?He had to write a pseudonymonous work of an editor who finds a pile of papers in a desk in order to be more direct about a subject he indirectly touched upon in his dissertaition.

5. This is seminal Kierkegaard.This is the book that makes clear the infinite bottomless pit that Kierkegaard points you to in his later work is in fact, an infinite bottemless pit--WAAAUUGHHHH!

6. I hereby disclaim all my references to Kierkegaard.Especially this one.

An immature work
There are four things you need to remember about this book:

1) It isKierkegaard's doctoral thesis and he bears a great load of hostilityagainst his professors. He works this out passive-aggressively, by writingin a near impenetrable style. They are testing him by making him defend athesis and he, in his turn, is testing them to see whether they can figureout exactly what thesis he is defending. He claims that Irony, the concepthe is explicating, is "infinite absolute negativity." Certainly his thesisis. The thesis is not just about Irony, it enacts Irony. The thesis showshim the master of Irony.

2) The thesis seems hostile to Socrates who,throughout his authorship he always speaks of with approval. This isbecause among the contemporary witnesses he chooses to credit Aristophanesabove Xenophon and Plato. Aristophanes' portrayal is indeed negative.Aristophanes is clearly hostile to Socrates. Socrates even blamesAristophanes at his trial for poisoning the peoples' minds against him.

3) He later repudiated the idea that Irony is "infinite absolutenegativity," claiming that at the time he was an "Hegelian fool."Kierkegaard claims he did not, in his thesis, appreciate certain positiveaspects of Socratic Irony, qualities that made Socrates a great ethicist.Certainly, he would never have believed Aristophanes except that heconfirms Hegel's view of Socrates.

4) This book does not belong with theother books of his authorship (starting with Either/Or). While it isbrilliantly shrewd, it does not carry out Kierkegaard's program. While itillustrates a mastery of technique, it is not a mature work in the sensethat it lacks the his characteristic questions and concerns. This is thesource of a negativity absent from his later works.

If you want to reada classic on the subject, read this book. An acquaintance with Xenophon,Plato and Aristophanes is vital. Moreover, patience with Kierkegaard'sinfuriating style is also a must. ... Read more

Product Description
In Philosophical Fragments the pseudonymous author Johannes Climacus explored the question: What is required in order to go beyond Socratic recollection of eternal ideas already possessed by the learner? Written as an afterword to this work, Concluding Unscientific Postscript is on one level a philosophical jest, yet on another it is Climacus's characterization of the subjective thinker's relation to the truth of Christianity. At once ironic, humorous, and polemical, this work takes on the "unscientific" form of a mimical-pathetical-dialectical compilation of ideas. Whereas the movement in the earlier pseudonymous writings is away from the aesthetic, the movement in Postscript is away from speculative thought. Kierkegaard intended Postscript to be his concluding work as an author. The subsequent "second authorship" after The Corsair Affair made Postscript the turning point in the entire authorship. Part One of the text volume examines the truth of Christianity as an objective issue, Part Two the subjective issue of what is involved for the individual in becoming a Christian, and the volume ends with an addendum in which Kierkegaard acknowledges and explains his relation to the pseudonymous authors and their writings. The second volume contains the scholarly apparatus, including a key to references and selected entries from Kierkegaard's journals and papers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

TRUTH IS SUBJECTIVITY
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
to the Philosophical Fragments

by Johannes Climacus (Søren Kierkegaard)

Kierkegaard's Writings, XII
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992)
(ISBN: 10691073953; hardback)
(ISBN: 10691020817; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: B4373.A472E5 1992)
Earlier translations also available.

This is a large and difficult book by Søren Kierkegaard.
But it is the place where he most completely explores
the idea of subjectivity
and makes the extraordinary claim that "truth is subjectivity".
This means that the way we appropriate a 'truth'
matters more than the objective content of that 'truth'.
For example, SK says that it is better
to worship a false god truly
than the true God falsely,
which is what was happening in 19th century Danish Christianity
in Kierkegaard's view.
The passion of faith is more important than doctrinal correctness.

Kierkegaard is the champion of subjectivity
in reaction against all attempts to 'prove' Christian faith objectively.
There can be no philosophical system or method that leads to Grace.
In the final analysis, very little factual knowledge about Jesus
is required for us to move
from our Existential Malaise to Existential Freedom.

This is the longest of Kierkegaard's books,
but it is rich with inward spirituality for the careful reader.

If you might be one of those careful readers of existential spirituality,
search the Internet for more food for thought:
"Books on Existential Spirituality".

James Leonard Park, seeker on the path of existential spirituality.

An original Christian
Kierkegaard should be read by Christians today just for his ability to inspire one to be a different kind of Christian.Kierkegaard is a profound thinker and this is perhaps the best translation available.The Hong's are outstanding scholars and are well known for their expertise on the topic of Kierkegaard.Christians of all denominations should read Kierkegaard so that they can get out of their narrow definition of what it means to be a Christian.This work is one of his many masterpieces.However, to call this work his best work is a difficult proposition to defend since all of his work is brilliant.It is the area of apologetics (a topic that Kierkegaard eshewed) that Kierkegaard can be fruitful inspiration for.The only one who seems to recognize this is Edward John Carnell, who wrote a book along these lines "The Burdern of Soren Kierkegaard."

Seminal work in western philosophy
This, along with The Concept of Anxiety, Fear and Trembling, and The Sickness Unto Death, constitutes Kierkegaard's major contribution to western philosophy and the beginning of existentialism.They have tended to be misread as direct philosophical statements by Kierkegaard, but they are in fact all attributed to pseudonymous authors designed to represent specific, and limited, points of view.That being said, these books are potentially life-changing, complex, and difficult, but the work required to apprehend them pays off.

The Answer
While devouring this book, I really felt that I was getting close to, quote unquote, "The Answer."That's how powerful it was on both me and, as I see, some of my fellow reviewers.So much of it has to do with making decisions, and making decisions is an integral part of Soren K's definition of truth.But you have to get at it subjectively, not objectively.There's one part where, let's say, you (the reader) are in prison, and you will get your head chopped off by the guillotine tomorrow.You are afraid, naturally.I, as your friend, can talk to you and say (objectively), "Oh, you're worried about the guillotine tomorrow.You see, it's very simple: you just walk out to the scaffold, put your head down on the slab of wood, making sure to put your neck in the appropriate neck hole; they will cut a rope, the blade of the guillotine will come down, your head will be chopped off, and it will all be over in a minute."You, the subjective decision-maker, do not see it in the same way.

take the leap
Along with Nietzsche's The Gay Science, this book had the most impact on me of any philosophy books I have ever read. For those who find themselves running around in cirles looking for objective proof of this or that, Climacus (Kierkegaard) insists you are just wading out into the sea of life. Take the leap onto 70,000 fathoms of roaring ocean! Live!

After Hegel's reduction of the individual to a cog in the grumbling historical machine, it is refreshing to read of the individual and the individuals concerns. As mentioned, Climacus ridicules objectivity and focuses the reader in on subjective truth, encouraging us to be authentic and take responsiblity for life. Christian or non-Christian alike, this book will challange the reader in many ways. It was a major influence on existentialist and Continental thought for a good reason. Unconditionally recommended. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Great translation, in-depth supplement
This translation of one of Soren Kierkegaard's most famous work is impressive in its ability to communicate not only the denotative arguments, but many of the literary and connotative thoughts behind them. I've only other read one other translation, but this one, when compared to it, is much more adept at transforming the work into an English-language masterpiece. As well, the supplementary material is quite thorough and useful for further understanding of the work. My only complaint is that there is occasionally a bit of overcomplication in the notation-- sometimes, one uses a footnote only to see a page reference to the supplementary material. Upon finding the page with the supplementary material, one reads that they must find another page with a more thorough explanation. These instances, however, are very rare, and by no means take away from the excellent quality of the work.

I love Kierkegaard!
I love Either/Or.I really relate to a lot of the philosophy.I've heard the first one is often considered more interesing, but I related more to the second.Probably too long and dense for people who either aren't serious about philosophy, or can't handle reading really long books. ... Read more