What Kierkegaard should I read first?

In general, if you just want to get a basic “What is considered ‘Kierkegaard’ by most people?” sense of his works, always begin with Fear and Trembling. It is his most popular work by far and with good reason–Sartre learned Danish seemingly just to read it despite him claiming it was to read Kierkegaard.

What did Kierkegaard believe was most important?

Kierkegaard considers the religious life to be the highest plane of existence. He also believes that almost no one lives a truly religious life. He is concerned with how to be “a Christian in Christendom”—in other words, how to lead an authentically religious life while surrounded by people who are falsely religious.

What was Kierkegaard’s point about understanding life backwards but living it forward?

How we got to where we are today depends entirely on the past, that which has been lived. However, life cannot go on if we are constantly dwelling over things not in our power, so Kierkegaard urges us to keep living for the future; after all, if we do not live forwards, we will have nothing to understand backwards.

What is Existentialism Kierkegaard?

Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher. He proposed that each individual—not society or religion—is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely, or “authentically”.

What do you understand by Kierkegaard’s religious stage?

For Kierkegaard, the highest stage of life that humans can hope to be is what he calls the “Religious” Stage. For Kierkegaard, this meant taking the leap of faith in a deity. But the characteristics of the leap can be (and I think should be) generalized to other things.

Do I need to read Hegel before Kierkegaard?

You probably don’t need to read anything before you read Kierkegaard though I’d add two comments. The first is that Kierkegaard was intimately familiar with the Western tradition of philosophy from Plato to Hegel, so he is writing against a background and this isn’t always apparent.

How did we describe Kierkegaard’s understanding of religious experience?

Kierkegaard believed that Christianity was not a doctrine to be taught, but rather a life to be lived. He considered that many Christians who were relying totally on external proofs of God were missing out a true Christian experience, which is precisely the relationship one individual can have with God.

What is the meaning of life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward?

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” ~ Soren Kierkegaard. Today a simple thought around living life. Learn from the past, analyse it, study it all you will so you can learn more about yourself, others, your business, your leadership. When it comes to the future, however, trust yourself …

What is either/or by Søren Kierkegaard about?

Either/Or is his first major work and remains one of his most widely read. Kierkegaard wrote the book under a series of false names, or pseudonyms. The book has two parts: the first deals with the aesthetic, a word that Kierkegaard uses to denote personal, sensory experiences. The second part of Either/Or deals with ethics.

What is Søren Kierkegaard’s relationship with Regine Olsen like?

Kierkegaard’s (broken) engagement to Regine Olsen has also been the focus of much scholarly attention. The theme of a young woman being the occasion for a young man to become “poeticized” recurs in Kierkegaard’s writings, as does the theme of the sacrifice of worldly happiness for a higher (religious) purpose.

What did Kierkegaard have to do to get permission to write?

With respect to the former, Kierkegaard had to petition the king to be allowed to write his philosophy dissertation On the Concept of Irony with constant reference to Socrates in Danish. Even though permission was granted he was still required to defend his dissertation publicly in Latin.

What is the relationship between Søren Kierkegaard and Socrates?

In particular Kierkegaard’s relations to his father and his fiancée Regine Olsen pervade his work. Kierkegaard’s pseudonym Johannes Climacus says of Socrates that “his whole life was personal preoccupation with himself, and then Governance comes and adds world-historical significance to it.”