Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard

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Søren Kierkegaard. Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard

Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION I

DIAPSALMATA[1]

IN VINO VERITAS (THE BANQUET)

(The Young Person's Speech)

(Constantin's Speech)

(Victor Eremita's Speech)

(The Dressmaker's Speech)

(The Speech of John the Seducer)

FEAR AND TREMBLING. INTRODUCTION II

PREPARATION

I

II

III

IV

A PANEGYRIC ON ABRAHAM

PRELIMINARY EXPECTORATION

PREPARATION FOR A CHRISTIAN LIFE. I[1]

THE INVITATION

II

III

THE PAUSE

A. Who spoke these words of invitation?

B. Can one from history[7] learn to know anything about Christ?

C. Can one prove from history that Christ was God?

D. Are the consequences of Christ's life more important than his life?

E. A comparison between Christ and a man who in his life endured the same treatment by his times as Christ endured

F. The Misfortune of Christendom

II

THE FIRST PHASE OF HIS LIFE

THE SECOND PHASE OF HIS LIFE

III. THE INVITATION AND THE INVITER

CHRISTIANITY AS THE ABSOLUTE; CONTEMPORANEOUSNESS WITH CHRIST

THE MORAL

THE PRESENT MOMENT[1] BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION (No. I, 1)

A PANEGYRIC ON THE HUMAN RACE OR PROOF THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT IS NO LONGER TRUE (No. II, 5)

IF WE ARE REALLY CHRISTIANS—THEN WHAT IS GOD? (No. II, 8)

DIAGNOSIS (No. IV, 1) I

II

III

THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT; THE CHRISITANITY OF "CHRISTENDOM." (No. V, 4)

MODERN RELIGIOUS GUARANTEES (No. V, 8)

WHAT SAYS THE FIRE-MARSHAL (No. VI, 5)

CONFIRMATION AND WEDDING CEREMONY; CHRISTIAN—COMEDY—OR WORSE STILL (No. VII, 6)

THE WEDDING CEREMONY

AN ETERNITY TO REPENT IN! (No. VIII, 3)

A DOSE OF DISGUST WITH LIFE (No. IX, 3)

Отрывок из книги

Søren Kierkegaard

Published by Good Press, 2022

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The æsthetic sphere is represented existentially by the incomparable In Vino Veritas, generally called "The Banquet," from a purely literary point of view the most perfect of Kierkegaard's works, which, if written in one of the great languages of Europe, would have procured him world fame. Composed in direct emulation of Plato's immortal Symposion, it bears comparison with it as well as any modern composition can.[6] Indeed, it excels Plato's work in subtlety, richness, and refined humor. To be sure, Kierkegaard has charged his creation with such romantic super-abundance of delicate observations and rococo ornament that the whole comes dangerously near being improbable; whereas the older work stands solidly in reality.

It is with definite purpose that the theme of the speeches of the five participants in the banquet is love, i.e., the relation of the two sexes in love; for it is there the main battle between the æsthetic and the ethical view of life must be fought out. Accordingly, Judge William, to whom the last idyllic pages of "The Banquet" again introduce us, in the second part breaks another shaft in defense of marriage, which in the ethical view of life is the typical realization of the "general law." Love exists also for the ethical individual. In fact, love and no other consideration whatsoever can justify marriage. But whereas to the æsthetic individual love is merely eroticism, viz., a passing self-indulgence without any obligation, the ethical individual attaches to himself the woman of his choice by an act of volition, for better or for worse, and by his marriage vow incurs an obligation to society. Marriage is thus a synthesis of love and duty. A pity only that Kierkegaard's astonishingly low evaluation of woman utterly mars what would otherwise be a classic defense of marriage.

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