Soren Kierkegaard - Introduction to the Father of Existentialism
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ค. 2024
- This is a deeper dive into the Father of Existentialism Soren Kierkegaard. Following on the 5-minute introduction to Kierkegaard, this episode looks in more depth at the philosophy and life of Soren Kierkegaard and why he is one of the greatest philosophers ever.
In this episode we look at the three phases of Kierkegaard's work: the First Authorship (and its masterpieces Either/Or and Fear and Trembling), the Second Authorship (including Kierkegaard's third masterpiece Sickness Unto Death) and the final year of his life where he took the gloves off and directly attacked the church. We also look at the "long foreground" to Kierkegaard's work - the curse on his family and his broken engagement to Regine Olsen.
Kierkegaard was one of the most prodigious philosophers. In 1843 he published three books in a single day (one of which Fear and Trembling is commonly placed in the canon of great philosophy). In the space of three years he published sixteen books. These books were written using various pseudonyms with many different stylistic devices. This was all part of Kierkegaard's style of "Indirect Communication". Like Socrates he didn't want to give answers he wanted to awaken the quest for individuality in his readers.
Kierkegaard was part of the select group of Christian Existentialism (his most famous peer being Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky). Like Nietzsche he hated the Church. His form of Christianity was about the self-making quest of Faith. This self is forged out of the dizzying Anxiety of choosing. This choice of faith can only be made by the individual and this is why Soren Kierkegaard spent his career trying to call people away from the "levelling" of Modernity which was turning everyone into "The Crowd" and away from the Church which kept its congregation like children. He was calling them to the "highest passion" of faith. He was calling them to forge their own selves and not give into the inauthenticity of Despair. In this introduction to Kierkegaard we take a brief look at the most compelling reasons why Kierkegaard is relevant today.
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This is the second episode in the Kierkegaard series. To watch the first click here: • Soren Kierkegaard in 5...
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📚 Further Reading:
- McDonald, William, "Søren Kierkegaard", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Available at: plato.stanford.edu/archives/w...
- McDonald, William, _Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)_, _Internet encyclopedia of philosophy_. Available at: iep.utm.edu/kierkega (more in-depth than the Stanford one. Highly recommend)
- Søren Kierkegaard: A Biography by Joakim Graff (amzn.to/3Sx1Tm5)
- Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard (amzn.to/3DrOVBC)
- Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard (amzn.to/3TxiNCv)
- Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard (amzn.to/3TxiY0D)
The above are Amazon affiliate links that let you get an awesome book AND support the channel (with no additional cost to you)
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:42 The Life of Kierkegaard
5:38 The First Authorship
6:08 First Authorship - Aesthetical Stage
7:36 First Authorship - Ethical Stage
9:55 First Authorship - Religious Stage
13:50 Second Authorship
18:21 Kierkegaard's Final Stage
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#kierkegaard #thelivingphilosophy #philosophy #existentialism #existential #sorenkierkegaard #sørenkierkegaard
"The motivation of the Aesthete is not a positive moving towards pleasure, it's a negative moving away from boredom." Holy cow this is insightful.
The dark night of my soul began while I was in the seminary, studying to be a priest. I left the church but said night continued for the next decade. Suicide was fought off only by thoughts of family. Reading Kierkegaard literally brought me back from the brink and opened up what has turned out to be a very fulfilled life.
Thank you for sharing.
I had a similar experience. I wanted to be a missionary, but I came to realize that I needed the people I was ministering to more than they needed me.
I always knew I wasn't a good person at heart. But after serving people for years I realized that helping hurt them. And it is a terrible thing to realize.
Thanks for responding and sharing but with due respect, what you describe is not a "similar experience". I hope you pulled out of whatever it was you were going through.@@TheChuckfuc
What do you currently do with your life? (Job?)@@urex1717
I am a Christian and I share many of Kierkegaard’s grievances with the modern Church. It is nothing but an institution wrapped up in its traditions who keep its followers infants in the faith. I will look more into Kierkegaard.
I feel the same way.
He is incredible read. Been reading Kierkegaard since college, even before I was a believer. God used him mightily in me. So enjoy!
God rest
Plus it has housed & covered for thousands of pedophiles
It seems to be a problem that is endemic to all organized religions, even the mystical traditions of the far east like Zen.
I just discovered Kierkegaard from a thrift store, his book 'Fear and Trembling' It is such beautiful and challenging prose. I've considered myself an atheist for many years, but his philosophy of religion is causing me to rethink my position. Thank you for the thoughtful and beautiful essay.
Which philosophy of religion? Religion has no answers. It never did, just utter bollocks.
@@ryand141that's why kierkegaard said take the leap of faith
@@xiaoxid2745I believe the leap of faith doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted in traditional religious ways. A leap of faith can also be deciding to believe in an ideology that gives you complete explanation on how the world works and that gives you solution to all of humanity's (and therefore yours') problems, like marxism. So you take a leap of faith and you wield that ideology like a banner of your identity and of your life's meaning, which is to dedicate yourself to implementing that utopian ideology.
The same can be said for many other ideologies, but also just ideas and world visions, that you choose to believe in, consciously or not, because it fills your need for existential meaning.
Man, as a philosophical inclined Christian, I love Kierkegaard. His ideas are just so brilliant. He understands the experience, the personalness, and the irrationality of faith. Simply amazing
When I consider Kierkegaard as you have described him and his understanding, I feel unsettled, even a bit frightened. Not that as a Christian I have gone the wrong way, but that maybe in being a Christian I have not gone nearly far enough. Not entirely pleasant, but still much appreciated. Thank you for this.
Haha an effect I suspect Kierkegaard would be delighted about sean!
We really shouldnt stay in our comfort zone but rather venture intorno the unknown
If you believe the house you live in will burn down with everyone in it 5 minutes , won't you do EVERYTHING in your power to get everyone out? Everything- including drag them out, act crazy, ANYTHING. If we, christians, believe the same about hell, shouldn't we be more "on fire" for Jesus? I question whether I and those who call themselves Cristian, are truly Christian. " many will come to me and say Lord did I not cast out demons in your name And I will say depart from me sinner, I never knew you. " I am so happy to have found the works of Kierkegaard!
This might be the best video there will ever be about Kierkegaard. It's more like a movie but with art depicting the ideas and thoughts in the background with music. This is the reason I Love philosophy and more specifically "living philosophy"
Wow wow that's high praise! Thanks a million and thanks for tuning in for the premiere!
Amen 🙏
🤣
@@TheLivingPhilosophy Why do you classify #Nietzsche as an #existentialist?
I agree this page is the best for philosophy. See speaks slow and not rushing. Very great guy
If you believe the house you live in will burn down with everyone in it 5 minutes , won't you do EVERYTHING in your power to get everyone out? Everything- including drag them out, act crazy, ANYTHING. If we, christians, believe the same about hell, shouldn't we be more "on fire" for Jesus? I question whether I and those who call themselves Cristian, are truly Christian. " many will come to me and say Lord did I not cast out demons in your name And I will say depart from me sinner, I never knew you. " I am so happy to have found the works of Kierkegaard! thank you for making this video❤
So glad you made this video. I find Kierkegaard incredibly fascinating, and I think you did him justice here 👍
Thanks Ethan!
This is an amazing video summary about Søren Kierkegaard. Personally speaking, don't agree much with the idea that Jordan Peterson is the 21st Century Søren Kierkegaard, nothing against him, in fact he was the first person that has driven me into Psychology and Philosophy but he is no more than as you said the bridge from the esthetical life to the ethical life.
In another hand Søren Kierkegaard is inviting you to take the last step and that is the religious one. I agree so hardly that it is a very hard step because it needs commitment without waiting anything in return, but the driver that leads you to do that is your faith.
Kierkegaard is the one we never think instantly about but always remains the most deepest and the most important in the end, excellent work!!
I am an old student of S.K., whom I discovered in 1973. It began when I took a course on Existentialism in college....my Southern Baptist mother said, "Exi...what-ism???"... and our main readings came from S.K. and Nietzsche. I loved it then, still do and in that vein will say that this was a very fine teaching video. Very insightful information. I subscribed because I think that you have more insights I need to hear about.
Thank you and I'll be "seeing ya!" next time.
I watched it 3 times already and I'm still enjoying it. Amazing work, thank you so much for this!
Thank you deeply for your time making this and for being an extension of Kierkegaard's job. I feel super grateful.
I have a degree in philosophy. Kierkegaard influenced me more than any other philosopher. But I had to stop watching this video as soon as I heard “Jordan Peterson is the modern day Kierkegaard.” It’s something I want to laugh at but all I feel is repulsion.
The point that he was making was not that Peterson and Kierkegaard are the same but that Peterson's philosophy crosses over into the cultural in the same way that Kierkegaard's philosophy did. Pretty basic. I guess that degree was C+.
Disagreeing with someone is fine. I don't even like Kierkegaards philosophy.
Insulting someone's grades based on their dislike of a person is pretty rude.
@@Bri-zt3ls its not an insult if it is true.
Just heard of Soren Kierkegaard tonight. Mind blown! This is the 3 rd video I’ve found. Great job! Thanks
Beautiful and thought provoking video James, as per usual xx 💗
Thanks Lindy-Beth!
I have only just started to discover philosophy, I have just finished the Myth of Sisyphus and Meno and now I find myself hooked on philosophy. Your channel has been great for building my amazon wishlist full of names and books to delve into, as well as loosing myself for an hour or two on some of your awesome and insightful videos. Thank you.
Had been looking forward to watching this.....and it DIDN'T disappoint. Fantastic and precise summary of my favourite philosopher! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Patrick glad you enjoyed it!
Dear Soren, as a fellow brother in Christ, and even though you have passed, you and your family are always in my thoughts and prayers. Your works have had a profound influence on me. Thankyou.
Sinceramente não sei o que pensar ou o que sinto lendo seu comentário.
Você simplesmente ora por Kierkegaard e sua família?!
Isso me toca mas não no sentido de crente religioso que certamente é o seu.
Pessoalmente, Kierkegaard me tocou quando ouvi falar dele pela primeira vez aos 18 anos. Foi numa aula de filosofia em que a professora expunha que para ele o que importava era a existência do indivíduo. Aquilo imediatamente me despertou para algo que eu conhecia e que era eu mesmo... Tímido, deixei porém escapar um comentario: "Mas ele não é um filósofo..."
Filósofo para mim era quem dizia o que era a verdadeira realidade mas não o que era a existência pessoal de cada um... Pois bem!
Dos 18 até hoje muitas décadas se passaram, nunca me esqueci de Kierkegaard mas... o salto da fe associado ao cristianismo é onde a resistência da filosofia retorna a questionar...
Rapidly becoming my favourite philosophy channel on YT.
Fantastic work as always, sir.
Bravo.
Delighted to hear it thank you!
Fantastic Video - as is custom. Thank you! Still infinitely indebted to this channel.
For about 15 years K fascinated me because of his description of the aesthetical and ethical stages and to be honest, it was him who inspired me to take the necessary steps.
For the transition to the next stage I found him useless because he clinged to the god-watches-everything picture which it took later philosophers to overcome.
This is why you are the best Amigo! Love this one. I'm on the edge of my seat over here!
Fast N Furious!
Thanks Nate! Delighted to hear it!
Thank you for this amazing episode!
Lovely paintings augmented your wonderful analysis and coverage.
Very good piece. I look forward to re-watching it.
Glad you enjoyed!
Interesting to see how production values have evolved since the inception of TLP. Although I do miss the tiny cubby hole you originally filmed in, a background full of art works, too, along with the clever zooms and fades, etc. Really nice selections. More importantly, K is a thinker I've never paid much attention to, and will now correct. That's a great value of these videos--not simply to learn (which I do) but to be jump-started into doing my own reading (and reflecting). I'm most interested in the ethical stage, as you presented it. Good job.
What a complicated Man. Excellent production. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for enlightening us on many thinkers.
Thanks for the kind words Venkata
Thank you for wonderful explanation very enlightening. 🌹🖤
Hey everyone, currently taking a certificate course on existencialism via Alison platform,
I just love the fact everyone is keenly aware of their existence now depends on how we tend to go about it..
9:34 why you gotta do my boy Kierkegaard like that
@@byrneSteve Couldn't have said it better myself. With every reference he makes to serious philosophers he also constantly indicates that he either hasn't read them (sufficiently) or completely misunderstood them.
fr i just dont trust that man T_T
seriously! wtf. sorta ruins this whole thing
I'm sure you'll get it but his philosophy encompasses the knight while being all three at once with a muse and actually positing this extensively in his writings as a leap of faith with various pseudonyms?
What a helpful and useful review of Kierkegaard
This analysis is fantastic
Solid video thank you
I love this guy.
great job!
Thanks Christian!
i would really love to see what amount of knowledge i would obtain from this video
BRILLIANT! FANTASTIC!💎⚡🥊
Thanks Mark!
Thanks!
Nonononononono.... Don't compare Soren to Petersen.
videoyu sakince izlerken o kısımda bir şok oldum karşılaştırmasına. Yani ttabii modern dünyadaki figürlerle benzerlik kurulması yanlış değil ama DUDE jordan ve soren miğğ??
great video wonderful visuals
Thanks vashposh!
De knight of faith is a dancer with high elevation; he is easily recognized for his gait is always dancing and bold 🎉
Невероятный философ. Действительно,самый что ни на есть отец экзистенциализма.
Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all of it twice 20:26
Respect
do i clean my room before or after killing my son?
Preferably after; think of the smell. You haven't thought of the SMELL you bitch
Laughing not to cry.
Thank goodness I am as convinced a materialist as I can be.
Read Either/Or at 17.
Gamechanger!
I would’ve liked more from his later works and you did a really great job in beginning. I thought he died from a spine disease?
Yes
i love existentialism but absurdism ultimately makes more sense. i do like when both schools of thought meet.
anxiety was once presented to me as a knowing that you’re doing wrong. but it isn’t always that simple. choice isn’t always that simple, either. you choose for eternity and once chosen you can not go back. if you are unethical by society or popular standard, this is something you
will live with forever or until the times change, and if what is good and bad is dictated outside of the self you can become very robotic in nature and find yourself in a box of mob ruled thinking. this is not thinking for yourself. you can’t follow every rule all of the time and think you are authentic. you can say, clearly wrong is wrong and right is right but if absurdism says this is all a construct, what do we actually know about ethics? god is also a construct if you are outside of christianity. having faith in yourself and doing what is right for you on an individual level
makes more sense. i like where the belief of the absurd is mentioned. to me the focus on the individual matters the most as it can be best understood where the others are near impossible to understand deeply. the focus should not be the collective, and not be god imo. this sounds selfish, but it is the most authentic is it not? i can’t connect to those things, although i can see the merit and why one would. either way i am stuck at the individual level by choice. i believe each person has their own ethics and like camus says, we are living chaos. we try to sort it but to what avail? to the best of our ability sure but people often just make shit up and follow it or hear someone else make shit up and decide they like that best. i’m self aware of also doing so. it’s a cycle. craft a false self and lies and follow whatever the people who came before have said. i want to figure things for myself but also not fall for hedonism and destruction.
Outstanding exposition of Kierkegaard! 'Faith as the highest passion... something you live.' True. And this is how JPeterson would understand faith/belief in God, i.e., less in the realm of a proposition and more on the life you actually live out (orthopraxy and less orthodoxy). However, Kierkegaard wore the mantle of a biblical prophet and less of the didaskalos. Hence, he tends to rage and overstate his case (as most prophets often do). An example is his mutually exclusive juxtaposing of faith and reason. It is one thing to rage against the shallow intellectualism (or pretentious rationalism) of the Christendom of his day, but it is also quite another to damn the intellect and reason altogether. In Christian thought, the Logos still stands as True Wisdom personified (imperfectly articulated in the sapiential literature). It is not reason per se that is condemned, but the emphasis on an idolatrous autonomous and arrogant reason. The Abraham-Isaac incident is one pericope (a very important one!) in an entire narrative. To make that as THE model of faith is an extreme overreach. Here Kierkegaard overstates his case. This is not to deny the tension; indeed, there are and will be points of tension between faith and reason in life. Rather, it is to acknowledge that both play roles in the totality of life with God.
A person you may be interested in exploring (perhaps do a video on) is the literary genius CS Lewis (an anti-Kierkegaard of sorts re faith and reason). The opposite of Kierkegaard as he started his academic life a fully persuaded atheist. He tutored in philosophy but eventually veered away from becoming a professional philosopher when Cambridge ‘stole’ him from Oxford and created for him his own Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature (the ‘conspiracy’ was made possible by his good friend JRR Tolkien), he then turned his energies to literature and became a novelist. He did engage in the philosophical debates of his era. I would recommend reading his autobiography Surprised by Joy, and his more philosophical works e.g., The Abolition of Man (along with this is his sci-fi novel That Hideous Strength), Miracles: A Preliminary Study (it’s not really about miracles as commonly understood), also his Till We Have Faces, Pilgrim's Regress, and of course his Mere Christianity). An excellent biography is Alan Jabob's The Narnian. Here’s a sample of how he engaged the spirit of his age - a reading of his essay, The Funeral of a Great Myth th-cam.com/video/matu1qCHTDk/w-d-xo.html
Kierk’s work is one mega cope with the obvious realization that no benevolent god exists, and this is a conclusion any person with a smidgen of rationality and an education can arrive at. Nice vid
the jordan peterson bit did not age well
yeah i just don't get t. he's such an obvious vane grifter. actually fits the definition of aesthetic more than anything else.
@@metrodonkey8093How exactly
Was Kierkegaard’s pace of authorship down to his belief of dying at 34? Similarly to Schopenhauer’s belief of suddenly unexpectedly dying?
As far as I can tell it was M V
What is the name of the painting of people passing a torch to one another?
Walter_Crane_-_Race_of_Hero_Spirits_Pass google that and it'll take you to the wikimedia page Ben
Soren is my saint. He's been my go to theologian and psychologist for decades.
Some of his works are beyond my comprehension but I don't know anyone like him.
(Certainly not Peterson).
Incredibly mind stretching stuff, good video. What is the name of the painting at 5:57
Delighted to hear it! The image is Edvard Munch's The Woman in Three Stages
@@TheLivingPhilosophy thanks
Ok, third time I watched this and I am struck (reasons stated previously). Do you have a reading suggestion? (Hope I am not being a pest here.) I have not gone beyond Kierkegaard's ethical stage and though I don't want to, it may be that I must, I don't know but I must know.
Haha not at all Sean. I think Fear and Trembling is exactly what you are looking for
Works of Love is life changing. Highly recommend!
Yo! I think you were trending on Reddit philosophy!
I know right!
great video but I find my self unable to concentrate due to deep disturbance from some of the paintings
The Asthete! Thats the life fer me. 😊
❤❤
Kierkegaard both saved my faith and ultimately destroyed it.
Wow that's an insane combo it sounds like there's a big story behind that comment
here to see what the story is
Soren really the guy who came back to the cave ;)
6:44
Did the quality of his books suffer due to his extreme work output? How could someone have so many words to say.
I don't think so. And it's a mystery really. Bob Dylan comes to mind and the idea that inspiration can just flow through you seemingly fully formed. Other philosophers are like Leonard Cohen polishing the rough stones they find until they are precious gemstones. I think Kierkegaard found a flow (I suspect the pseudonymous perspective taking was a major element) that enabled him to tap a perspective and just have it flow
This video is fantastic, alas around ten minutes into this serious Kierkegaard bio we have old Jordan popping up out of the blue. Peterson is the last person I would have expected to show up on ANY channel about philosophy that wants to be taken seriously. Jordan Peterson - oh, dear: I would not even dream of uttering his name in the same breath as Søren Kierkegaard! What a ghastly comparison! Here we have a supremely elegant thinker such as Kierkegaard, and then we have the pretender and pseudo-intellectual Jordan Peterson. That pretentious fool who decided to ditch the Canadian hinterland, to lose the Pepsi Cola cans and the sweaty polyester suits and to have a celebrity makeover. He rather fancied the idea of the Oxford Don. 😂
Enter the new Peterson, clad head-to-toe in herringbone tweed, all folded limbs and haughty demeanour, and gesticulating just enough so that we may see his gold rings and cufflinks. Here we have a guy who has rebranded himself in a bid to infiltrate British academe. However, academics sussed him out from the word go. He is persona non grata in the hallowed halls of serious people. Alas, JP doesn't realise it. His obstruse argumentation and empty rhetoric which are part of his general word salad delivery can only impress young rudderless and decidely non-academic men in their 20s. JP has become a mentor to the gullible, those who do not unpack his weird speeches, let alone examine them critically. If they did they would find very little substance in Peterson's fluffy ramblings.
Jordan Peterson is a narcissistic self-promoter who thrives on the adulation of his naive followers. He is not a philosopher. He is not even a thinker. He is a TH-cam influencer for the low-brow!
What on earth would inspire anyone to include Peterson in a video about Kierkegaard? It is baffling and irritating, and quite frankly it cheapens your channel!
Go hide under a rock man, seriously
Go solo!
I kinda disagree with the "ethical" in Abraham's story. Child- and human sacrifice was normal, and considered ethical, in the ancient world.
"Much love for Jesus." How can you love sth which has no proof of ever existing. What, because the New Testament said so?
No, Pascal is the Father of Existentialism.
They are so similar... I love the Pascal - Kierkegaard connection. Perhaps you are right.
@@allysongretz3988 Wow, I don't hear that very often.
The jordan peterson admiration in the middle of the video is extremely cringe and very disrespectful to kierkegaard
Faith goes beyond the ethical into the absurd and inhumane, as an atheist, I agree. God the illogical and unkind dictator... this is why there were concentration camps.
Weakest moment is bringing in JP, he's an entry point but a cringe one.
Did you miss the part where he made the differentiation between "psychologist Peterson" and "cultural warrior" Peterson?
Which of the two is more absurd? Champion of the oppressed whiteboy incel😂😂😭
Not about Kierkegaard but can't we reasonably just skip over all the anti-semitic German Philosophers? or will i be ill informed?
What anti-semitic philosophers? If you want to learn philosophy you certainly have to read the germans.
the blashpemy of calling that right wing grifter peterson a moder era kirkegaard. damn
Sorry, had to stop when you paid homage to Jordan Peterson. Really? Soren K. would be appalled that you twisted his words and intent to bolster that poseur's rants.
I do see a lot of similarities to Peterson and Kierkegaard.
Thanks!
Thank you Sandra!