Transcript PowerPoint

Søren Kierkegaard
Themes
Lawrence M. Hinman
Professor of Philosophy
University of San Diego
Last updated: 8/4/2016
Introduction
• Danish, 1813-1855
• Very influential advocate
of Christianity, but critic of
institutionalized
Christendom.
• Very difficult to read
• Represents the dissolution
of Hegel’s synthesis of faith
and reason..
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
2
Key Themes
• The dissolution of previous syntheses ( esp. Kant,
Hegel)
• Critique of institutionalized Christianity
(Christendom) and generalized institutional
consciousness
• Hightening the gap between faith and reason
• “The leap of faith”
• The irrationality of faith
• The teleological suspension of the ethical
• Anxiety
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Kantian dichotomy
The German philosopher Immanuel
Kant sought to preserve morality by
restricting the scope of scienc.
• Distinguished between two
standpoints:
• The scientific (no freedom, causality,
applies only to appearances)
• The moral (freedom, not a possible
object of knowleddge, necessary for
action.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Kant’s two worlds
Science
Morality
Determinism
Appearances
Phenomenal
Spectator
Freedom
Things-in-themselves
Noumenal
Actor/agent
Cause-and-effect
Choice
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Hegelian Synthesis
The German philosopher, G. W. F.
Hegel (1770-1831), developed a
rational system that attempted to
unify faith and reason.
• Hegel saw the content of faith as
rational truth that is expressed in
the form of stories.
• Led to interpreting Christianity in
a metaphorical way and reducing
Christianity to its rational
components.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
6
Hegelian dialectic
Hegel sees the world as dialectical:
• Each moment leads to its opposite, which in turn
leads to a higher level.
• This is often referred to as
thesis -> antithesis -> synthesis
Hegel did not use these terms, but they describe the
process he was trying to capture.
Two important examples:
• Master-slave dialectic
• Reason and religion dialectic
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Kierkegaard’s Position
Kierkegaard lives at a time when the syntheses of
the preceding century were beginning to crumble.
• SK tries to exacerbate those tensions, to make
them more extreme, rather than trying to
mediate them.
• As a result, we must choose one side or the
other, and that choice can never be a necessary
one. Chocie, by definition, goes byond what is
required.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Critique of the Present Age
• SK sees people as increasingly living generic lives,
doing what people expect of them, thinking what
they believe the majority believes.
• He sees this in many areas of life, but is especially
critical of this tendency in religion, which he sees
as essentially a relationship between the
individual and God.
• When criticizing this tendency in Christianity, he
often uses the term Christendom to denote
inauthentic Christian belief.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Indirect Communication
SK was acutely conscious that some things could not be
communicated directly—to do so is to miss the point.
• A teacher (my example) who tell the class. “There are
several things I want you to learn today. First, you must
think for yourselves. Second, …” Of course, if the students
dutifully write all this down in their notes, they are missing
the very point of what the teacher is attempting to
communicate.
• Similarly, to say that faith is an irrational commitment to
God, a leap that goes beyond reason, is to fail to
communicate if it is said directly.
• Or, truth is subjectivity. Howto communicate this without
just saying it objectively?
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Irrationality of Belief: Abraham
What do we make of Abraham, asked to sacrifice his only
son to God?
• Is he crazy? Should he be medicated?
• Abraham’s position requires a “leap of faith” beyond
the rational.
• It derives in SK’s eyes from an individual relationship to
God.
• From the outside, it appears not only irrational, but
morally wrong.
In contrast to many other thinkers, SK tries to heighten
the tension between reason and religion, rather than try
to mitigate that tension.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Teleological Suspension of the
Ethical
In certain circumstances, the ethical point of
view (here SK has Kant in mind) falls short.
• For example, in the case of Abraham, he must
suspend the ethical for a particular purpose
(telos), namely, his relationship to God.
• Thus, while SK admits that the ethical is generally
valid, he wants to maintain that there are
instances in which religion (or God) comes
crashing through the walls of rationality and calls
upon us to suspend our usual ethical principles.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Stages of Existences
SK sketches out his analysis of the three stages
of existence:
• The aesthetic—the pursuit of pleasure
• The good—the Kantian pursuit of the good
• The religion—the high stage, our relationship
to God
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Aesthetic Mode
• The aesthetic mode of existence is the life of
pleasure, the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake.
• SK, in the first volume of Either/Or, notes that
there are a number of contradictions in the life of
the pleasure seeker.
• Too much of a pleasurable thing diminishes the
pleasure—hence the need for rotation.
• Often the anticipation of pleasure is more important
than the pleasure itself.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Ethical Mode
In SK’s eyes, the ethical mode of existence
involves following universal laws (à la Kant). But
it too has its shortcomings:
• Sometime we can do the right thing with
terrible consequences;
• All too often we fall short of our own ideals,
doing bad things that can’t be undone;
• It’s inadequate to say, “You do the best you
can.”
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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The Religious Mode
For SK, the religious mode of existence is the
highest form, but its superiority comes at a price: it
is a singular and unconditional relationship with
God.
• If SK were a Hegelian, he would see the religious
as the synthesis of the aesthetic and the ethical.
• Instead, he sees it as distinct and irreducible and
as containing a rejection of the supremacy of
reason.
8/4/2016
Lawrence M. Hinman
http://EthicsMatters.net
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Truth and Subjectivity
There are two ways in which we can understand
truth:
• Objective: the kind of truth we find in the natural
sciences, everyday matters of facts, etc. No
special interior state is necessary.
• Subjective: the truth of intense commitment and
passionate belief.
• The difference between saying objectively that
God exists and believing subjectively and
passionately in his existence.
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http://EthicsMatters.net
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