1 - The “Socratic secret”: the postscript to the Philosophical Crumbs

Summary

About two years after the publication of Philosophical Crumbs, also known as the Fragments, a second book authored by Johannes Climacus appeared. The title of the new book reflected both its great length and his delight in being provocative – Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Crumbs. A Mimic–Pathetic–Dialectic Compilation. An Existential Contribution. What does it mean that the Postscript, published in 1846, is explicitly presented (in its title) as a “postscript” (Efterskrift) to the Philosophical Crumbs of 1844? What is a postscript and what does it do? As a hypothesis to be tested, consider that when I add a postscript to a letter I have just written, it means that I think I left out something important – something I remember after I have finished signing (or even sending) the letter that I think still needs to be conveyed. The postscript is an after-thought, in a sense, but it still serves to append something that I think cannot be left unsaid. It may serve to emphasize something that was implicit in the letter, like “PS, I love you.” Or it may provide some critical information that was not implicit in the letter – e.g., “PS, did you know that the party has been changed to Tuesday?” This latter PS imparts crucial information that I did not mention in my letter. The PS might also serve to qualify in a crucial way something that I did say in the letter – e.g. “PS, don't take what I said above as a criticism of your brother.”