SØren KierkegaardRyan Harris

Biographical Information

• Born May 5th 1813• Copenhagen, Denmark• Enrolled in the University of Denmark• Danish philosopher, theologian, and cultural

critic who was a major influence on existentialism and protestant theology in the 20th century.

Historical Context

• Kierkegaard was born into a very wealthy family. • When he was born, Denmark itself was bankrupt • The government restructured to a free

constitution which resulted in a explosion of wealth

• Thus not having to worry about anything, and Kierkegaard took that advantage to go into more depth of Theology.

Historical Context

• In Denmark all you had to be was born in Denmark to be a member of the church thus making you a Christian

• There was no personal religious experience necessary to be a Christian in Denmark.

• That became Kierkegaard’s target to expose the “Chirstdom” in Denmark.

Major Contributions

• Kierkegaard didn’t think that God could be understood or reached through logic. God was greater than logic. The only way to reach God, it requires one to embrace the absurd and the unexplainable. Kierkegaard spent his life trying prove to people that God was beyond intelligence.

• In addition to his attacks on Hegelianism, Kierkegaard is often noted as being the “father of existentialism,” though his work long predates the term itself.

Major Contributions

• Existentialism is the belief that the world has no intrinsic meaning or purpose and that individuals alone bear the responsibility for their actions and decisions.

• Kierkegaard rejected Hegel’s historical dialectic, which Kierkegaard felt was overly systematic and deterministic.

• Kierkegaard like the existentialists who followed him stressed that each individual must negotiate his or her own relationship with God without any mediation from the church, the government, or other thinkers.

Questions

• The thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die… what is truth but to live for an idea?

• Do you believe in existentialism?