Reddit reviews Fear and Trembling
We found 4 Reddit comments about Fear and Trembling. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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Reddit reviews Fear and TremblingWe found 4 Reddit comments about Fear and Trembling. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
yo dawg, i heard you liked Kierkegaard, so I figured i'd point you towards some dank bookskies.
Either/Or. is some good shit, too fucking long and meandering in total in my not so humble opinion, but some good shit to flip through, the individual essays are da baus, especially "the unhappiest man". Also, you may wanna check out Elliott Smith's album by the same name and blast it on your boom box while you're reading.
Fear and Trembling. Some other dank essays, I haven't personally gotten through all of it what with all the bitches that need my attention, but i've heard it's his best.
Hope I've helped a fellow brolosopher out.
Ninja edit: If I haven't, you can go fuck yourself.
There once existed this philosopher named Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (most people just call him Hegel for short). Hegel was an extremely influential philosopher during his time, and many people considered themselves Hegelian philosophers. The thing about Hegel is that he's very difficult to understand, and his works were interpreted in many different ways. Basically, you had three schools of thought regarding Hegel (we'll call them the Post-Hegelian philosophers): right-wing Hegelians, left-wing Hegelians, and another group that was a reaction towards left-wing Hegelians. The right-wing Hegelians believed that Hegel was saying Christianity is basically true, but that the Bible speaks in metaphors. The left-wing Hegelians believed Hegel was saying Christianity wasn't true at all, and thus he was advocating atheism (Marx fell into this category). The final group believed that the left-wingers were correct, that Hegel was saying Christianity was false, and therefore Hegelianism is an evil fraud (Kierkegaard). The final group did not align themselves with the right-wing group, because they felt that the Bible is literal (doesn't speak in metaphors), and that the right-wingers were misled.
Marx puts forward a theory of alienation, where our internal issues can be fixed via society. Kierkegaard believes you can fix your problems by establishing the right relationship with God. However, Kierkegaard also believes that one must fix themselves before anything else. (Marx believes on must fix society, and the fixing of self will follow from that). So, Kierkegaard focuses on self rather than society.
Now, the thing that's kind of interesting about Kierkegaard is that he's not really a philosopher -- in fact, he despises philosophers. He is a literary figure in Denmark who happens to find himself in a Denmark that becomes very Hegelian -- even the religious establishment goes Hegelian. Kierkegaard makes religion the topic on which he constructs his literature, thus his literature espouses much of his religious beliefs.
In Either/Or Kierkegaard puts forward two stages of human existence: the aesthetic stage, and the ethical stage. In order to better understand how Kierkegaard can reconcile his Christianity with his existentialism, it is important to understand these two stages. So, below I go into a very minor amount of detail on them, and in doing so I give you an incomplete picture. This is just scratching the surface, and if you find yourself interested in the subject I highly recommend reading the books I suggest at the end of this post.
The Aesthetic Stage
The aesthete is concerned not with the self, but rather with the world that they live in. They want the world to become a work of art. The aesthete lives for the immediate satisfaction of his senses, which conflicts with the aesthete's ability to reflect on his own life, and the way he in which he lives it. The aesthete moves from one pleasure to another, and enjoys himself, but he lacks introspection. The aesthete is not immoral, but rather pre-moral. Also, aestheticism does not equal hedonism. The aesthete abides by morals insofar as they are not boring or inartistic.
The Ethical Stage
To become an ethical human one first needs to take very seriously the norms of the community. The main thing that distinguishes Kierkegaard from Hegel here is choice. It's not a process of evolution that one becomes moral (Hegel), but rather you choose to be ethical. This means that you also have the choice not to be ethical (existentialism!). There can be no ethical life until you've chosen that there can be a difference between good and bad. In the ethical stage one can reflect on one's life, and thus is accountable for living a moral life (or not). The ethical person no longer sees the world as the most important part of living, but rather he now sees himself as the most important part of the world -- his inner existence is more important than anything else. The ethical person now has the choice to take control of his/her own life, or to not do so. The ethical person works towards being a moral and good person by shaping himself as a moral and good person, thus he is the most important aspect in his being, not society or any other external sources (existentialism!).
The Religious Stage
This is discussed in Fear and Trembling, not Either/Or. This stage is not reached by being ethical or anything else. In fact, it is my interpretation that Kierkegaard actually says the person in the ethical stage cannot reach the religious stage, but that's my spin and I could be wrong -- I didn't mention this, but Kierkegaard thinks that living in the Aesthetic stage leads one to despair, and suicide. However, it is my belief that in the state of despair in the Aesthetic stage, one makes the leap of faith to the religious stage, thus skipping the ethical stage entirely. Again, this could be wrong.
End Stages
So, we are still left with the question, if Kierkegaard looks to the external (i.e., God), then how can he be considered an existentialist? The point that Kierkegaard is making with these stages is that we have a choice in this stages, thus we are responsible for our own lives. We have the choice of being religious, or being an aesthete. We are in control of our own lives, therefore we are responsible for everything that happens to us. It's important to note that these stages are not like Freud's stages of development. An aesthete can choose to be an aesthete for his entire life, and never enter a different stage. An ethical person chooses the ethical stage. Kierkegaard believes deeply in personal reflection, and the fact that we are responsible for our own lives. This is existentialism.
TL;DR (and encapsulated for a 5 year old): It is true that Kierkegaard looks to God, but his work is still existential because he focuses on the fact that we are free to choose our lives, and thus are responsible for how our lives are going. As well, Kierkegaard places a lot of importance on reflecting on ourselves, and the importance of the self rather than the world.
Further Reading
Either/Or
Fear and Trembling
The Living Thoughts of Kierkegaard - This book gives you a clear picture of Kierkegaard's religious beliefs. Also, gives a decent understanding of his philosophy, but not great.
Kierkegaard: An Introduction - This book makes things amazingly clear about Kierkegaard's philosophy.
Good looks, bro. I ain't no nerd I can't get down with some 800 pages the second book Fear and Trembling sounds like it's right up my ally, that and I found this The Essential Kierkegaard
This emo dude and his existentialism is sounding right to me, thanks for the recommendations, bro.
I've been thinking about this. The works which first pop to mind are probably too technical for general interest as they are written to be read by other professional philosophers. I'm trying to think of what might be interest to the educated person who isn't a Philosophy major.
*****
Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft writes a lot of things for a general audience. He is a Catholic philosopher at Boston College. He often speaks at other universities, and has even been part of a debate with a former professor of mine, so he is at least pretty well-known in philosophical circles. He has a bunch of free readings on the "featured readings" and "more featured readings" pages of his site, which also has lectures and such. Here is his author page on Amazon. His books are also mostly intended for a general audience. I've read a handful of them, so if you're thinking of ordering one, or finding it at a library, let me know and I'll give you my two cents. The Sea Within: Waves and the Meaning of All Things is interesting. He is fairly old, and a lifelong surfer. In that book he draws analogies between the natural pull the ocean has on us and the pull God has on us. He also has many Socrates Meets... books which don't have so much to do with religion, but provide accessible introductions to various philosophers (e.g. Socrates Meets Sartre).
*****
Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Plantinga is a very prominent philosopher, and a Christian. Much of his writing is intended for the professional philosophical audience, but some if it might be accessible to a general audience. Here is his Amazon author page. Let me know if you're thinking about checking out any of his stuff. Like I said, a lot of it is more technical than Kreeft's. Also, he is in the analytic tradition, whereas Kreeft is more in the continental tradition. I think that further distances him from the casual reader.
Some of Plantinga's works which might be good:
>This book is a long-awaited major statement by a pre-eminent analytic philosopher, Alvin Plantinga, on one of our biggest debates -- the compatibility of science and religion. The last twenty years has seen a cottage industry of books on this divide, but with little consensus emerging. Plantinga, as a top philosopher but also a proponent of the rationality of religious belief, has a unique contribution to make. His theme in this short book is that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.
*****
Søren Kierkegaard
If you're thinking more historically, I think Kierkegaard can be very interesting. He is considered by many to be a proto-existentialist (a sort of existentialist before existentialism existed as a movement). Fear and Trembling is relatively easy to read, short, and probably his most read work. I recommend it. Also, here is his Amazon author page.
*****
Others
Those three were just a few of the many Christian philosophers I find interesting. There are a whole lot more, some more accessible than others to a general audience. This is still just a fraction of the historical Christian philosophical scene, but I think it will give you a good start. These are all of them off of the top of my head whom I have studied to some extent.
Contemporary:
Historical
****
Author's Note: I've been working on this entry for about 45 minutes now. I hope someone reads some of it. Time for a break. If you have any questions, or wanna talk philosophy, let me know, it's in my blood.*