SØren Kierkegaard By: Hima Nesbit Kendall Hart Todd Wright Ethan Conroy

Biographical Info Born May 5th, 1813 Died November 11th, 1855 (age 42) Mother- Ane Sorensdatter Lund Kierkegaard Father- Michael Pederson Kierkegaard Nationality- Danish School- Christian Existentialism, Existential psychology, Existentialism, Neo-orthodoxy Alma Mater- University of Copenhagen Known as “Father of Existentialism”, and “The ultimate anti-Christianity Christian”

Spiritual History Born to a Lutheran Protestant family His father believed his family was cursed after he cursed God Father wanted Soren to become a pastor instead Soren pursued a degree in philosophy He believed in Christ as the ultimate authority He questioned the evolution of God because if God is evolving in a systematic way then the awe and wonder of religion is replaced with speculations about where God is in relation to the system about God

Existential/Aesthetic Point of View ● Pseudonymous authorship - Ex: (Victor Eremita) ● Aesthetic: ○ Immersion in sensuous experience ○ Valorization of possibility over actuality ○ Egotism ○ Fragmentation of the subject of experience ○ Nihilistic wielding of irony and scepticism ○ Flight from boredom ● The aesthete uses artifice, arbitrariness, irony, and wilful imagination to recreate the world in his own image. ● The prime motivation for the aesthete is the transformation of the boring into the interesting. ● Example: Either-Or (Part One)

Ethical 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 Uses marriage as an example: the excitement of passion can quickly fade, leading to boredom and a diminishing of aesthetic pleasure. By consistently acting for the good of one’s spouse, one learns that there is enjoyment beyond excitement Self-exploration is necessary for faith-the key requirement for a properly religious life. Distinction between good and evil is ultimately dependent on God It is not enough simply for God to issue a command. Individuals must hear and obey Need to cultivate hope, patience, devotion, and above all love An ethical person lives to serve others

Influences Poul Martin Moller was one of Kierkegaard’s professors of philosophy at Copenhagen University. After Moller published his works, Kierkegaard would read them and assess what he felt was correct and would later talk to Moller to see why he believed something Kierkegaard didn’t. His ninth book, The Concept of Anxiety, was written completely for Moller a few years after he died in his deathbed.

Influences Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling was an influential German Philosopher around Kierkegaard’s time. He believed that nature wasn’t something as basic as what the other philosophies were led to believe. His basis of understanding influenced Kierkegaard to believe that nature was more than what people at the time were led to believe.

Influences Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an influential philosopher who worked with Schelling to develop ideas and taught Kierkegaard at Copenhagen University. He believed that a person must translate his or her freedom into the the external world “in order to exist as an Idea,” one holds property not merely by means of the subjective will externalized in a thing, but by means of another’s will, and that if the wrong passes in the doer’s eyes as right, the wrong is non-malicious. His beliefs brought the idea that the mind determines the fate of the being, to the philosophers of the 19th Century.

Works Cited osophy%20and%20Beyond.pdf