Archetypes of Wisdom

Douglas J. Soccio

Chapter 15 The Existentialist: Soren Kierkegaard

ExistenialismOne of the most influential, intriguing, an arresting responses to the massing of society and the loss of genuine respect for the individual goes under the name existentialism.Existentialism refers to any philosophy that asserts that the most important philosophical matters involve fundamental questions of meaning and choice as they affect actual individuals.Existentialists point out that objective science and rationalistic philosophy cannot come to grips with the real problem of human existence, that general answers, grand metaphysical systems, and objective theories cannot address the concrete concerns of living individuals.

Søren KierkegaardThe most important work of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was virtually ignored during his lifetime, partly because he wrote in Danish, partly because of what he wrote, and partly because of his brilliant use of sarcasm and irony.Because he rebelled against “the system” and against objectivity, Kierkegaard’s work confounds easy classification. His “unscientific” and “unsystematc” attacks on conventional Christian theology and dogma, on science, and professional philosophy took the form of satirical essays, parables, anecdotes, & real and fictional journals.Kierkegaard saw himself as a disciple of Socrates. And like Socrates, Kierkegaard’s life and work make a seamless whole.

The Family CurseBorn in Copenhagen, Denmark, this youngest of seven children was deeply and permanently influenced by his father Michael, a strict and devout Lutheran.Michael Kierkegaard lived his life without peace of mind for his two “great sins”: cursing God and having sexual relations with a housemaid right after his wife had died. And Søren carried his father’s legacy: a sense of despair and melancholy and an obsession with the possibility of a finite individual’s relationship with an infinite God.In 1830, Kierkegaard enrolled in the University of Copenhagen to study theology, but soon discovered it did not interest him as much as philosophy and literature, and spent the next ten years drinking and attending the theatre. In 1838, just before his father died, Søren returned to theology, passing his exams with honors in 1840.

The Universal FormulaAt the age of 27, Kierkegaard fell in love with a 14 year-old girl, named Regina Olsen - and the two became engaged when she turned 17.Almost immediately Kierkegaard broke off the engagement, but struggled for the rest of his life to explain why (one possibility is the conformity marriage suggested to him).But two weeks after his “sacrifice” of Regina Olsen, he fled to Berlin, where he wrote Either/Or, A Fragment of Life (1843), his first important work, and Repetition: An Essay in Experimental Psychology (1843), through which he hoped to reestablish his relation with Regina.Kierkegaard interpreted the story of Isaac being returned to Abraham to mean that if you give up something for God, you get it back plus the love and salvation of God. Applying this formula to himself, he “reasoned” that if he gave up Regina to devote himself to God, he would get both.

The ChristianStruggling with the existential predicament of choice and commitment, Kierkegaard grew increasingly interested in what it means to be a Christian.But he became convinced that institutionalized Christianity suffers the same inauthenticity as other institutions.Inauthenticity results when the nature and needs of the individual are ignored, denied, obscured, or made less important than institutions, abstractions, or groups.Authenticity is the subjective condition of an individual living honestly and courageously in the moment without refuge in excuses or reliance on groups or institutions for meaning and purpose.

That IndividualOn October 2, 1855, Kierkegaard visited his banker brother-in-law to withdraw the last of his money. On his way home, he fell to the street, paralyzed from the waist down. Destitute, helpless, and weak, Søren Kierkegaard died quietly November 11, 1855, at the age of 42, and was buried in the huge Cathedral Church of Copenhagen.The most interesting epitaph for Kierkegaard is found in his own words: “The Martyrdom this author suffered may be briefly described thus: He suffered from being a genius in a provincial town The standard he applied…was on the average too great for his contemporaries…Yet he himself was that individual if no one else was, and became that more and more.”

Truth as Subjectivity

The major existential issue is, “How am I to exist?”

I must find a truth for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.

For Kierkegaard, no amount of objective, abstract knowledge could ever provide a meaning for life.

Truth is a subjective condition not an objective one.

Kierkegaard rejects any descriptive or systematic approach to dealing wit “that individual.”

Objectivity as UntruthFor the most part, philosophers have agreed that arguments should be evaluated rationally and objectively. But Kierkegaard vehemently disagreed, considering objectivity and impartiality to be dangerous delusions. Not only is impartiality impossible, but claims of objectivity and disinterestedness are always lies.Preferring objective impartiality to subjective involvement is itself a bias: Favoring objectivity is a form of partiality. Moreover, “reason” is a mere abstraction, a noble-sounding term that conceals an individual, subjective choice.To complicate matters even more, the impersonal quality of objective language reduces the uniqueness of individual existence to mere generalizations, abstractions, and features held in common. What is individual is not described.

The Present Age

Kierkegaard lamented what he termed the “massing of society.”

In contemporary society “the crowd” overwhelms the individual yet the individual feels lost without “the crowd.”

Modern people are anonymous creatures who depend upon experts to point the way towards salvation.

Rather than being themselves modern people simply conform to an abstract type.

Modern people are reduced to numerical equal at the expense of their own authenticity.

Becoming a Subject

For Kierkegaard I exist (specifically as a Christian) when I appropriate my belief by taking it up subjectively.

There is a qualitative difference between what we often call existence and what Kierkegaard means by truly existing.

To act is not merely to behave but to assent with my whole being, even though one lack sufficient objective information.

Stages on Life’s Way

The Aesthetic Stage is characterized by the pursuit of sensuous pleasure.

The aesthetic stage is immoral and exemplified by Don Juan.

The Ethical Stage is characterized by making commitments to the norms, principles and customs of one’s society.

The ethical stage is secularly moral and exemplified by Kantian ethics.

Stages on Life’s Way

The Religious Stage involves a “teleological suspension of the ethical.”

This stage of life can only be brought about by a “leap of faith.”

The religious stage is exemplified by Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac.

From any perspective but that of faith what Abraham did was absurd.

Only faith allows us to be our authentic, existing selves.