Synopses & Reviews
Philosophy’s greatest luminaries brought down to earth.Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp offers fast, easy access to the life and works of the legendary architect of existentialism. In fewer than 100 pages, you’ll get all the essentials in everyday language. A short biographical sketch sets the scene, followed by chapters illuminating Kierkegaard’s overall philosophy and his most important writings.
For students and lifelong learners seeking an entry point into this remarkably prolific thinker’s social commentary, Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp is the springboard to enriched understanding.
Inside you’ll find all the vital details, including:
Life
- Family and upbringing
- Religion–from influence to critique
- The Copenhagen intellectual scene
Philosophy
- Overview of key works, themes, and impact
- Perspectives on faith, individualism, literature, and psychology
- Individual chapters on Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, The Concept of Dread, and Concluding Unscientific Postscript
Additional Resources
- Tracking down Kierkegaard’s major works
- Collections, biographies, and critical writings
- Kierkegaard on the Internet
Get a grip–Kierkegaard is within your grasp!
Synopsis
Sø ren Kierkegaard (1813-5-5), the Danish philosopher and religious thinker, was the precursor to one of the 20th century's most important philosophical movements, existentialism. This to-the-point guide demystifies Kierkegaard's difficult dialectics and poetical style, and includes detailed discussions of his works Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, The Concept of Dread, and The Concluding Unscientific Postscript.
Synopsis
Philosophy's greatest luminaries brought down to earth.
Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp offers fast, easy access to the life and works of the legendary architect of existentialism. In fewer than 100 pages, you'll get all the essentials in everyday language. A short biographical sketch sets the scene, followed by chapters illuminating Kierkegaard's overall philosophy and his most important writings.
For students and lifelong learners seeking an entry point into this remarkably prolific thinker's social commentary, Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp is the springboard to enriched understanding.
Inside you'll find all the vital details, including:
Life
* Family and upbringing
* Religion-from influence to critique
* The Copenhagen intellectual scene
Philosophy
* Overview of key works, themes, and impact
* Perspectives on faith, individualism, literature, and psychology
* Individual chapters on Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, The Concept of Dread, and Concluding Unscientific Postscript
Additional Resources
* Tracking down Kierkegaard's major works
* Collections, biographies, and critical writings
* Kierkegaard on the Internet
Get a grip-Kierkegaard is within your grasp!
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.
1 Kierkegaard’s Life.
As the Father, So the Son.
Kierkegaard Seeks His Path.
Love (Or Not) for Kierkegaard.
Kierkegaard Publishes Profusely.
Kierkegaard Takes On.
The Press.
The Danish People’s Church.
An Early Death.
2 Kierkegaard’s Philosophy.
Modern Philosophy’s Quest for Answers.
Kierkegaard Responds to Hegel.
The Father of Existentialism.
Themes in Kierkegaard’s Work.
How Should Life Be Lived?
How Can You Know God?
What Is Faith?
The Importance of the Individual.
The Sacrifice for a Higher Good.
How Can One Be a Christian in Christendom?
Kierkegaard’s Work.
Kierkegaard’s Writing Style.
Kierkegaard’s Pseudonymous Writing.
Kierkegaard’s Signed Writing.
A Brief Explanation of Kierkegaard’s Major Works.
Kierkegaard’s Philosophy Continues.
3 Either/Or.
The “Authors” of Either/Or.
How Either/Or Is Set Up.
Life from an Aesthetic View.
A Fear of Commitment.
Boredom Is the Root of Evil.
The Tale of Seduction.
Moving to an Ethical View.
An Ethical Approach to Life.
A Summary of Themes from Either/Or.
4 Fear and Trembling.
Abraham, the Father of Faith.
The Parts of Fear and Trembling.
The Preface: Setting the Scene.
Attunement: What Happened on that Fateful Trip to Moriah?
The Preamble: Knight versus Knight.
Problem 1: Can God Trump Ethics?
Problem 2: Do We Have an Absolute Duty to God?
Problem 3: Should Abraham Have Told?
The Epilogue.
Major Themes in Fear and Trembling.
5 Philosophical Fragments.
The Philosophy of the Time: Hegel and Lessing.
Hegel Again.
Lessing and the Leap.
The Author, Johannes Climacus.
The Setup.
How Can You Learn Truth?
The Socratic View.
The Religious View.
God as Teacher.
The Thought You Cannot Think.
Which Generation Has It Easier?
Themes in Philosophical Fragments.
6 The Concept of Dread.
The Author, Vigilus Haufniensis.
The Writing Style.
Adam and Eve’s First Sin.
Placing Sin in Its Place.
Sin from Ignorance.
The Paradox of Sin.
Anxiety Defined.
Anxiety and the Forbidden.
Anxiety of the Future.
Anxiety for All.
Faith and Anxiety.
Themes in The Concept of Dread.
7 Concluding Unscientific Postscript.
The Author and Structure of Concluding Unscientific Postscript.
Problems with Hegel and Rationalism.
Hegel’s System.
The Incomplete System.
Where Does the System Start?
Outside Looking In.
The Problem with Abstractions.
Truth Is Subjectivity.
Communicating Subjectivity.
The What and How.
The Definition of Existence.
Ethics and Abstraction.
The Crowd versus The Individual.
Becoming Subjective.
What Is a Christian?
Accepting Paradoxes.
Existentialism Beginnings.
The Role of Faith.
The Difficulty in Existing in Truth.
Kierkegaard’s Role as Author.
Further Reading.
Kierkegaard’s Books.
Anthologies.
Biographies and Critical Works.
Kierkegaard Web Sites.
General Philosophy.
Index.