Starting With Kierkegaard

by Sheil, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9781847065803
• ISBN10: 1847065805
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-21
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Søren Kierkegaard was one of the most important European philosophers of the nineteenth-century, the founder of existentialism whose work had a profound influence on some of the greatest minds of the last two centuries. Clearly and thematically structured, covering all Kierkegaard's key ideas and major works, Starting with Kierkegaard leads the reader through a thorough overview of the development of his thought, resulting in a more complete understanding of the roots of his philosophical concerns. Offering coverage of the full range of Kierkegaard's philosophy, the book examines the historical and phliosophical context of his ideas and how these shaped the key themes of his work. Crucially the book introduces the major thinkers and events that proved influential in the development of Kierkegaard's work, including Schelling, Pascal and his early education in theology. This is the ideal introduction for anyone coming to the work of this hugely important thinker for the first time.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements \ List of Abbreviations \ 1. Introduction, Historical Context and Biographical Outline \ i. Short Introduction: A Starting Place for Kierkegaard \ ii. Biographical Outline \ iii. Influences and Historical Context \ 2. Central Themes and Key Motifs \ i. The Occasion and an Occasion for Starting \ ii. Sin \ iii. Self-accusation \ iv. Comparison \ v. Stillness \ vi. The Multiplicity \ 3. Immediacy \ i. The Varieties of Immediacy in Works from the Mid-1840s \ ii. Immediacy and the Religious Follower \ iii. Immediacy in The Sickness unto Death \ 4. Ethics and Love \ i. In Search of the Ethical \ ii. Starting with God \ iii. How Is It To Be Done? \ iv. Starting with My Wretchedness \ v. True Love is Wanting to Be in the Wrong! \ vi. Uneasy Participation \ 5. Despair and Hope \ i. Despair in The Sickness Unto Death \ ii. Despair Leading Into Hope \ iii. Kierkegaard and Paul: Romans and Corinthians in Works of Love \ 6. His Continuing Relevance: Community and the Individual \ i. The Impenitent Crowd \ ii. Individuals and ‘the Idea' \ iii. Kierkegaard Versus the Herd \ iv. Denmark's a Prison \ v. Kierkegaard: Conservative Revolutionary \ vi. Faith In Others As a Basis \ vii. Community and Individuality \ viii. Democracy and Equality \ ix. Adorno's Critique \ x. Kierkegaard On the Offensive \ xi. Alternative endings \ Bibliography \ i. Primary Sources: Kierkegaard in Translation \ ii. Secondary Literature on Kierkegaard \ Index.