This volume contains a new translation, with a historical introduction
by the translators, of two works written under the pseudonym Johannes
Climacus. Through Climacus, Kierkegaard contrasts the paradoxes of
Christianity with Greek and modern philosophical thinking. In
Philosophical Fragments he begins with Greek Platonic philosophy,
exploring the implications of venturing beyond the Socratic
understanding of truth acquired through recollection to the Christian
experience of acquiring truth through grace. Published in 1844 and not
originally planned to appear under the pseudonym Climacus, the book
varies in tone and substance from the other works so attributed, but
it is dialectically related to them, as well as to the other
pseudonymous writings. The central issue of Johannes Climacus is
doubt. Probably written between November 1842 and April 1843 but
unfinished and published only posthumously, this book was described by
Kierkegaard as an attack on modern speculative philosophy by "means of
the melancholy irony, which did not consist in any single utterance on
the part of Johannes Climacus but in his whole life. . . . Johannes
does what we are told to do--he actually doubts everything--he suffers
through all the pain of doing that, becomes cunning, almost acquires a
bad conscience. When he has gone as far in that direction as he can go
and wants to come back, he cannot do so. . . . Now he despairs, his
life is wasted, his youth is spent in these deliberations. Life does
not acquire any meaning for him, and all this is the fault of
philosophy." A note by Kierkegaard suggests how he might have finished
the work: "Doubt is conquered not by the system but by faith, just as
it is faith that has brought doubt into the world!."
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781400846962
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter