A Confusion of the Spheres

A Confusion of the Spheres
Author: Genia Sch?nbaumsfeld
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 700
Release: 2010-03-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191614831

Cursory allusions to the relation between Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein are common in philosophical literature, but there has been little in the way of serious and comprehensive commentary on the relationship of their ideas. Genia Sch?nbaumsfeld closes this gap and offers new readings of Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's conceptions of philosophy and religious belief. Chapter one documents Kierkegaard's influence on Wittgenstein, while chapters two and three provide trenchant criticisms of two prominent attempts to compare the two thinkers, those by D. Z. Phillips and James Conant. In chapter four, Sch?nbaumsfeld develops Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's concerted criticisms of certain standard conceptions of religious belief, and defends their own positive conception against the common charges of 'irrationalism' and 'fideism'. As well as contributing to contemporary debate about how to read Kierkegaard's and Wittgenstein's work, A Confusion of the Spheres addresses issues which not only concern scholars of Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard, but anyone interested in the philosophy of religion, or the ethical aspects of philosophical practice as such.

Kierkegaard's Influence on Social-political Thought

Kierkegaard's Influence on Social-political Thought
Author: Jon Bartley Stewart
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2011
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781409434917

Kierkegaard has been traditionally characterized as a Christian writer who placed supreme importance on the inward religious life of each individual believer. His radical view seemed to many to undermine any meaningful conception of the community, society or the state. In recent years, however, scholars have begun to correct this image of Kierkegaard as an apolitical thinker. The present volume attempts to document the use of Kierkegaard by later thinkers in the context of social-political thought. It shows how his ideas have been employed by very different kinds of writers and activists with very different political goals and agendas. Many of the articles show that, although Kierkegaard has been criticized for his reactionary views on some social and political questions, he has been appropriated as a source of insight and inspiration by a number of later thinkers with very progressive, indeed, visionary political views.

Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought

Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought
Author: Paul Cruysberghs
Publisher: Leuven University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2003
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9789058673114

"We live in a reflective age." That is Soren Kierkegaard's overall conclusion when evaluating the time he lives in. But his appraisal contains both approval and criticism. On the one hand reflection is a necessary category to deal with the dynamics and the qualities of the modern age, on the other hand it bears a great danger. It is Kierkegaard's firm conviction that reflection should always relate to a kind of immediacy that safeguards it from becoming hollow and detached from our existential reality. Throughout the voluminous and complex work of Kierkegaard, the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' play a crucial role. They appear in such an early work as From the Papers of One Still Living as well as in the late Anti-Climacus writings, and indeed their significance or influence can be felt in all philosophical texts published in between. That is not to say that the meaning of the notions is unequivocal. After all, Kierkegaard not only uses the terms in very divergent contexts, but his own understanding of them appears to evolve quite strongly in the course of his oeuvre. Moreover, in spite of their clearly philosophical character, the two notions play an unmistakable role in Kierkegaard's understanding of religion. They appear frequently in the religious discourses indeed. In short, Kierkegaard's use of the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' covers a broad array of meanings and interpretations. The dialectics of immediacy and reflection, of reflection killing immediacy and raising the question of the possibility of a new immediacy is the main theme of Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought. The book contains contributions authored by a number of well known Kierkegaard scholars. Kierkegaard's theory of the 'existence spheres of life' provides a first viewpoint on the interplay of immediacy and reflection. Here the philosophical and pseudonymous writings are the main subject of research. If on the other hand one pays a closer look at the significance of a 'second immediacy' for a religious attitude to life, The religious discourses come into play when the possibility of a 'second immediacy' is taken into consideration. In conclusion the theme of immediacy and reflection is connected to some important trends in the modern and contemporary era. On the one hand it is linked to the philosophical influences Kierkegaard underwent (e.g. from Hegel); on the other hand Kierkegaard is confronted with later thinkers (Heidegger in particular).

Kierkegaard in Post/Modernity

Kierkegaard in Post/Modernity
Author: Martin Beck Matuštík
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1995-10-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780253209672

Covering a diversity of themes, this collection still reflects consensus--Kierkegaard is to be taken seriously as a philosopher at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Kierkegaard and Critical Theory

Kierkegaard and Critical Theory
Author: Marcia Morgan
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 125
Release: 2012-12-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0739167790

Kierkegaard's impact on the development of critical theory has received scant study; it is the aim of the book to fill this scholarly lacuna. Kierkegaard and Critical Theory seeks to expose the complexity not only of Kierkegaard but of the Frankfurt School and their cohort, highlighting the ways in which the Danish religious thinker has been redeemed for a multiculture activist ethics in spirit with the fundamental aims of the Frankfurt School.

Kierkegaard and Religion

Kierkegaard and Religion
Author: Sylvia Walsh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2018-03-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107180589

Focusing on the concepts of personality, character, and virtue, this work examines what it means to exist religiously for Kierkegaard.

Kierkegaard and Levinas

Kierkegaard and Levinas
Author: J. Aaron Simmons
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2008-10-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0253003598

Recent discussions in the philosophy of religion, ethics, and personal political philosophy have been deeply marked by the influence of two philosophers who are often thought to be in opposition to each other, SÃ ̧ren Kierkegaard and Emmanuel Levinas. Devoted expressly to the relationship between Levinas and Kierkegaard, this volume sets forth a more rigorous comparison and sustained engagement between them. Established and newer scholars representing varied philosophical traditions bring these two thinkers into dialogue in 12 sparkling essays. They consider similarities and differences in how each elaborated a unique philosophy of religion, and they present themes such as time, obligation, love, politics, God, transcendence, and subjectivity. This conversation between neighbors is certain to inspire further inquiry and ignite philosophical debate.

The Prayers of Kierkegaard

The Prayers of Kierkegaard
Author: Soren Kierkegaard
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1956
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780226470573

Soren Kierkegaard's influence has been felt in many areas of human thought from theology to psychology. Nearly 100 of his prayers are gathered here, illuminating his own life of prayer and speaking to the concerns of Christians today.

Kierkegaard, Literature, and the Arts

Kierkegaard, Literature, and the Arts
Author: Eric Ziolkowski
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2018-01-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0810135981

In this volume fifteen eminent scholars illuminate the broad and often underappreciated variety of the nineteenth‐century Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard’s engagements with literature and the arts. The essays in Kierkegaard, Literature, and the Arts, contextualized with an insightful introduction by Eric Ziolkowski, explore Kierkegaard’s relationship to literature (poetry, prose, and storytelling), the performing arts (theater, music, opera, and dance), and the visual arts, including film. The collection is rounded out with a comparative section that considers Kierkegaard in juxtaposition with a romantic poet (William Blake), a modern composer (Arnold Schoenberg), and a contemporary singer‐songwriter (Bob Dylan). Kierkegaard was as much an aesthetic thinker as a philosopher, and his philosophical writings are complemented by his literary and music criticism. Kierkegaard, Literature, and the Arts will offer much of interest to scholars concerned with Kierkegaard as well as teachers, performers, and readers in the various aesthetic fields discussed. CONTRIBUTORS: Christopher B. Barnett, Martijn Boven, Anne Margrete Fiskvik, Joakim Garff, Ronald M. Green, Peder Jothen, Ragni Linnet, Jamie A. Lorentzen, Edward F. Mooney, George Pattison, Nils Holger Petersen, Howard Pickett, Marcia C. Robinson, James Rovira

Kierkegaard on Ethics and Religion

Kierkegaard on Ethics and Religion
Author: W. Glenn Kirkconnell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2008-06-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1441146733

Søren Kierkegaard is simultaneously one of the most obscure philosophers of the Western world and one of the most influential. His writings have influenced atheists and faithful alike. Yet there is still widespread disagreement on many of the most important aspects of his thought. Kierkegaard was deliberately obscure in his writings, forcing the reader to interpret and reflect as Socrates did with incessant questioning. But at the same time that Kierkegaard was producing his esoteric, pseudonymous philosophical writings, he was also producing simpler, direct religious writings. Kierkegaard always claimed that he was, despite appearances, a religious writer. This important book accepts that claim and tests it. By using Kierkegaard's direct writings as he suggests, as the key to understanding the more obscure, indirect works, W. Glenn Kirkconnell aims to develop a coherent understanding of Kierkegaard's authorship and his theories.