Transcript Soren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard
Key Themes
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Living deeply
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Living as an individual
Key Emphases
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Being an individual
Direct relationship, confrontation, with God
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making ourselves totally present
Uses Socratic method
Making a choice in your life
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two ways of life
Either/Or
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EITHER:
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pleasure – taste everything that you can;
life of pleasure is most important;
self-enclosed, self-centered;
always going from pleasure to pleasure (does it ever satisfy?)
OR:
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ethical life based on moral codes and the infinite;
love is not seduction but life-long commitment, relationship;
self-absorption is not the way to live, limit selfishness or lust;
live responsibility to others, make a difference;
True Knowledge
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Compared to God, we are nothing;
We must go beyond being ethical;
We must make “leap of faith”
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infinite resignation;
Abraham story;
resigning self completely to will of God
True Knowledge
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Radical relationship with God;
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not intellectual reflection or experiencing life, but living life of
Christ;
we can’t transcend human existence ourselves, but rely on
God’s grace; OR doesn’t go far enough
Individual makes choice to confront divine
Christianity – question your faith;
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not to deny it, but to understand why you are what you are
Absolute Truth
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Hegel – ascend to absolute truth using logic, reason.
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Being + Non-being = Becoming
Dialectic is development of us not of me
All is orderly
Kierkegaard
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Christ is the teacher; Jesus is God bursting into our realm
Jesus’ life offends reason, logic (Hegel)
Exist inwardly – know thyself
Most important – relationship of individual to God; make a
choice