Kierkegaard was a highly influential philosopher, and Theologian, whose ideas underpin existential psychology as practised today. He was also a literary critic and author of devotional literature. He is regarded as the father of the existential movement because of his emphasis on the freedom of the individual and we see his ideas permeate agnostic philosophers who see great merit in his ideas once you substitute the word cause in lieu of GOD in his synthesis. The unconditional commitment in a balanced way to a cause or GOD is central to his ideas of how we can avoid falling into existential despair. There were many pseudonymous works as he preferred the indirect method of communications.
Early Life
Kierkegaard mostly stayed in Copenhagen, with only
occasional visits to Germany and Sweden.
By courtesy of wealthy parents he was educated at a
prestigious boys’ school, then to Copenhagen University. He was the last of 7
children of a deeply religious family, but only one of his siblings was to
reach adulthood which had a profound negative affect on his outlook on life.
Introduction to his thinking
Initially Kierkegaard
was influenced by the ideas of Hegel contained in the works entitled ‘The
Philosophy of Religion’.
Little, Daniel, "Philosophy of History", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/history/>.
Hegel's philosophy
of history is perhaps the most fully developed philosophical theory of history
that attempts to discover meaning or direction in history (1824a, 1824b, 1857).
Hegel regards history as an intelligible process moving towards a specific condition—the
realization of human freedom. “The question at issue is therefore the ultimate
end of mankind, the end which the spirit sets itself in the world” (1857: 63).
Hegel incorporates a deeper historicism into his philosophical theories than
his predecessors or successors. He regards the relationship between “objective”
history and the subjective development of the individual consciousness
(“spirit”) as an intimate one; this is a central thesis in his Phenomenology of Spirit (1807). And he views it to be a
central task for philosophy to comprehend its place in the unfolding of
history. “History is the process whereby the spirit discovers itself and its
own concept” (1857: 62).
But Kierkegaard later found reasons to abandon Hegel’s thinking in favour of a more basic Christianity into the Christendom of his era. He did not agree with the idea of Hegel that placed undue emphasis on Hegel spirit of thinking and it’s over reliance on rationality.
In that respect, he believes each moment involves a
judgment to go forward from a prior period of repetition and recurrence in a
reference to the platonic soul. But that moment always entails a judgment and
Kierkegaard poses an interesting idea in relation to freedom. He talks about
the risk as many desist or are uncomfortable with accepting that freedom to
make that judgment. Hence immoral practices are given breathing space so
that over time they gather momentum and acceptability.
Ethics
Kierkegaard concluded ethics can only be
demonstrated in your action and are a nullity if confined to just desired
courses of action. He felt uncomfortable telling people what they should do and
favored a process of drawing out of them desired ethical outcomes. An example
might be a returned soldier whose aggression and war torn character traits need
to be drawn out of him in order he is able to adjust to civilian life.
Synthesis
Possibly his most impressive accomplishment from
Sickness unto Death was his synthesis that found a solution to Christendom's
merger of Greek rationalism with the Jewish mysticism.
In Part I.A., Kierkegaard talks about human
beings as a synthesis of the "infinite and finite," "temporal
and eternal," and "freedom and necessity."
Each
one of these requires an explanation that I will elaborate on in the future but
suffice to say Kierkegaard is arguing human beings (self) are both physical and
spiritual. Being in the world means we relate to material things and physical
forces- a world of causes and effects. But the self, according to Kierkegaard
is both is a spiritual identity that feels as though it is free and is free to
make choices and a physical body involving this complex relationship with
itself-the self. Kierkegaard uses very difficult phrasing as he talks about a
relation (the relation of spirit and body) that relates itself (spirit/body) to
itself (spirit/body).
Kierkegaard's
idea of despair is based on this account of what is a human being- to argue
despair arises when this relationship gets out of balance. In a similar vein to
Nietzsche he argues despair can be a defiance of what a human being either
doesn't want to be what it is, or wants to be something it is not. Nietzsche
simply says be who you are, but the inference if not the same, is very similar.
Thus,
not wanting to be what it is (self) in the relationship must be as a
consequence of some imbalances - to neglect some aspect of its spirit/body
relationship.
Kierkegaard's
understanding of despair is his assertion, once it takes hold, it is very
difficult to overcome. But he concludes human beings are responsible and that
appearances of frustration in existence are in fact an indication of
frustration within oneself. Individuals can overcome despair, but it requires
tremendous effort and commitment.
But when it came to moral matters Kierkegaard concluded there was
nothing specific to communicate, so that mostly his writing is under
pseudonyms. He developed an indirect communication’, aimed at drawing people
into a more vibrant and authentic relationship with themselves as in the
self.
Gordon Marino is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Hong
Kierkegaard Library at St Olaf College and his article in Philosophy Now provides
plenty of food for thought for us to all talk about.
He outlines the defining characteristics of existentialism with its enormous
accent placed on action and the perils of procrastination.
Kierkegaard, the original existentialist,
emphasized that when we don’t act on our convictions, we don’t understand them.
He writes, “Precisely this is the profound untruth in all modern teaching, that
there is no notion at all of how thought is influenced by the fact that the one
presenting it does not dare to express it in action” (Journals and Papers, Vol.
1). By not expressing ideas through action, “the power of the thought
disappears.” So his project involves prodding people into moral action, not
just thought. Here I want to look at how this relates to procrastination.
Procrastination
& Self-Deception
The perils of procrastination are inherent in
going with the flow so to speak until such time as the original thought that something
is immoral is numbed into acceptance. From there the downslope into a kind of spiritual
sickness he equates to a condition of despair. This becomes a form of self-deception
Marino puts it this way “If a person
does not do what is right at the very second he knows it – then knowing simmers
down. Next comes the question of how willing appraises what is known. Willing
is dialectical and has under it the entire lower nature of man. If willing does
not agree with what is known, then it does not necessarily follow that willing
goes ahead and does the opposite of what willing understood… rather willing allows
some time to elapse, an interim called: ‘We shall look at it tomorrow’. During
all this, knowing becomes more and more obscure, and the lower nature gains the
upper hand more and more; alas, for the good must be done immediately, as soon
as it is known… the lower nature’s power lies in stretching things out… And
when knowing has become duly obscured, knowing and willing can better
understand each other; eventually they agree completely, for now knowing has
come over to the side of willing and admits that what [willing] wants is
absolutely right.”
Death & Time
In his powerful discourse ‘At a Graveside’
(1845), Kierkegaard emphasizes the existential importance of coming to a
first-person understanding of our mortality. It might seem anachronistic but,
to listen to Kierkegaard, earnestness (alvorlige) as opposed to happiness ought
to be the ultimate aim in life. He writes, “Earnestness is that you think of
death, and that you are thinking it as your lot.” He then explains a number of
ways in which people go wrong in trying to walk over their own grave, for
example, by thinking of death as a ‘rest’, or as a ‘great equalizer’, or by
putting yourself outside of death with rote memorized phrases such as, “Where I
am death is not, and where death is I am not”. However, when we achieve the
bone-deep understanding that it is certain that at some uncertain time it will
be over for us that understanding will give a force to life and help us avoid
the temptation to procrastinate. The individual for whom the day receives high
worth as being limited is not going to be inclined to procrastinate, to put off
decisions with palliatives such as “I’ll sleep on it.” As Kierkegaard writes:
“Indeed, time also is good. If a person were
able to produce a scarcity in the external world, yes, then he would be busy.
The merchant is correct in saying that the commodity certainly has its price,
but the price still depends very much on the advantageous circumstances at the
time – and when there is a scarcity, the merchant profits … With the thought of
death the earnest person is able to create a scarcity [of time] so that the
year and the day receive infinite worth.”
Conclusion
Both Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky
have very similar views to embrace a non- rational type of faith that involves an
unconditional commitment, which is term underpins meaning to existence. The existentialist
views of Kierkegaard are more easily translated into existerntional psychology
which remains highly relevant today.
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