Kierkegaard and Existentialism

J. Heywood Thomas

doi:10.1017/S0036930600005548

Kierkegaard and Existentialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009

J. Heywood Thomas

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It is usual to regard Kierkegaard as the father of the con-temporary existentialist movement and to say that he is the first of a long line of existentialists. Thus Ruggiero says of existentialism:

Its origins are very distant and very near, very distant in the solitary torment of one religious soul, the Danish writer, Søren Kierkegaard, in whom the passionate reaction against Hegelianism assumed, round about a century ago, contorted and passionate forms which were yet not without greatness and authentic power.

Type: Research Article
Information: Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 1953 , pp. 379 - 395

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0036930600005548 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1953

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References

^{page 379 note 1} Guido de Ruggiero, Existentialism, Seeker and Warburg, 1947, p. 20.Google Scholar

^{page 379 note 2} Wahl, Jean, Petite Histoire de l' Existentialisme, Paris, 1947, p. 11.Google Scholar

^{page 379 note 3} He did not use the term ‘existential’ before 1845 in the Postscript where, it is true, it is used frequently.

^{page 380 note 1} Vide, Postscript, p. 61.Google Scholar

^{page 380 note 2} Wahl, op. cit., p. 12.

^{page 380 note 3} It must be noted, however, that the history of this sort of thinking can be traced to Schelling, if not to Kant and Leibniz.

^{page 380 note 4} Cf. Phaedo and Republic.

^{page 380 note 5} The Platonic conception of salvation which resulted from this was very similar to that of the early Christian ascetics and monks.

^{page 381 note 1} Haecker, Theodor, Søren Kierkegaard, Oxford University Press, 1937, p. 23.Google Scholar

^{page 381 note 2} ibid.

^{page 381 note 3} Vide, Postscript, p. 24.Google Scholar

^{page 381 note 4} Vide Journals, 610.

^{page 382 note 1} Vide Journals, 552.

^{page 382 note 2} Vide Journals, 583.

^{page 382 note 3} Cf. Burnet, Greek Philosophy, Part I, Macmillan, 1920, pp. 170 ff.

^{page 382 note 4} ibid., p. 176.

^{page 382 note 5} Himmelstrup, Jens, Sø Kierkegaard's Opfattelse of Sokrates, 1924.Google Scholar

^{page 382 note 6} Cf. Journals, 392.

^{page 382 note 7} Letter to Peter, 27th February, 1842.

^{page 383 note 1} Journals, 583. Gf. ibid., 582, Training in Christianity, p. 178.

^{page 383 note 2} Wahl, op. tit., pp. 165–6. Cf. Either–Or, Vol. n, p. 179.

^{page 383 note 3} Wahl, op. cit., p. 16.

^{page 384 note 1} Geismar, , Søren Kierkegaard, Vol. III, p. 31.Google Scholar

^{page 384 note 2} Unfortunately Professor Swenson uses ‘existence’ and ‘being’ indiscriminately as translations of ‘existens’ and ‘voeren’. Similarly with their verbal forms.

^{page 384 note 3} Postscript, p. 376. Cf. pp. 74, 79n, 368, 377, 387.

^{page 384 note 4} Cf. Postscript, pp. 313, 350.

^{page 384 note 5} Cf. Postscript, p. 350 et passim.

^{page 385 note 1} Postscript, p. 347.

^{page 385 note 2} Cf. Postscript, p. 201, pp. 239–43, pp. 516–18.

^{page 385 note 3} Wahl, op. cit., pp. 18–19.

^{page 385 note 4} Either–Or, Vol. 11, p. 145.

^{page 386 note 1} Either–Or, Vol. 11, p. 145.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 386 note 2} ibid., p. 177.

^{page 386 note 3} ibid.

^{page 386 note 4} Fear and Trembling, p. 59.

^{page 387 note 1} Sickness unto Death, pp. 128–9.

^{page 387 note 2} Postscript, p. 376. Cf. p. 384 above.

^{page 387 note 3} ibid.

^{page 387 note 4} Ryle, , Concept of Mind, pp. 11–18.Google Scholar

^{page 387 note 5} Cf. Postscript, pp. 84, 313, 413.

^{page 389 note 1} Postscript, p. 267.

^{page 389 note 2} loc. cit.

^{page 389 note 3} ibid., pp. 152–8, 180.

^{page 389 note 4} ibid., p. 268.

^{page 389 note 5} ibid., pp. 270–1.

^{page 390 note 1} Postscript, p. 268.

^{page 390 note 2} ibid., p. 267.

^{page 390 note 3} ibid., p. 111.

^{page 390 note 4} ibid., p. 107.

^{page 390 note 5} Cf. Journls, 605.

^{page 391 note 1} Vide, Philosophical Fragments, pp. 31 ff,Postscript, p. 295.Google Scholar

^{page 391 note 2} Journals, 1054.

^{page 393 note 1} Marcel, Gabriel, Journal meiaphysique, Paris, 1935, p. 309.Google Scholar

^{page 393 note 2} loc. cit.

^{page 394 note 1} Guido de Ruggiero, op. tit., p. 22.

^{page 394 note 2} Marcel, Gabriel, Philosophy of Existence, p. 61.Google Scholar

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