I. Who is Kierkegaard?

>Born: May 5 1983, Died: November 11 1855 (42 years old)

>From Copenhagen, Denmark-Norway
>Father of Existentialism; Influenced Camus, Sartre, and Heidegger
>broke off his engagement to Regine Olsen;
>Major Works : Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, The Sickness Unto Death, The Seducer’s
Diary, Philosophical Fragments
>Wrote under Pseudonyms (Victor Eremita. for Either/Or, Johannes Climacus for
Philosophical Fragments)
II.Truth
A.Subjective Truth vs Objective Truth
1.Attack on Hegel
i.against Hegel’s systematic philosophy
2.Christianity as a Subjective Truth
i.”Christianity is a way to be, something to be lived, not a theory to be
debated by the philosophers”
ii.What Christianity is Not (going to Church, being baptized, etc)
III.Stages of Living (Either/Or)
A.Aesthetic
i.exemplified by “A”
ii.Diary of the Seducer
-”boredom is the root of all evil”
-life revolved around pleasure/hedonism
-avoids the principle of contradiction (Rotation Method)
“If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will als
regret it…”
B.Ethical
i.exemplified by Judge Wilhelm
ii.against A’s lack of self because of his refusal to commit
iii.marriage
C. Religious
1. Abraham and Isaac
2. Knight of Faith; Leap of Faith
3.