Conclusion

Summary

The conclusion of the book summarizes its main findings and points to remaining issues that need more work. It argues that a coherent or unified self cannot remove (motivational and normative) tension between morality and prudence, or even tension between Christian revelation and natural standards. Clearly, Kierkegaard is not a monist concerning value or normativity, who thinks that only one thing matters. Full moral commitment, notably, does not rule out other concerns, norms, or reasons. For morality not only allows self-interest but it even seems to presuppose it, since we could not chose morality only for its own sake unless it differed from prudence. And Christian revelation, on the other hand, builds on and reinterprets pre-Christian, natural standards. Therefore, the tension between different standards remains. But this does not mean that Kierkegaard is a pluralist (or relativist) who denies unity or coherence concerning selfhood. Rather, he is a pluramonist who combines plurality with unity and coherence.