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A study of the works of Copenhagen's most radical author, the ‘father of existentialism,' Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Kierkegaard's entire authorship is centered around the existential project that every human being is confronted with: to become oneself and none other than oneself. And as he sees it, becoming oneself does not happen passively and is never achieved once and for all, but rather requires constant effort. He thus often describes this project as one of taking responsibility for "choosing," "gaining," or "finding oneself."
This course examines his witty, humorous, but also deeply earnest exploration of the psychology of self identity. And Kierkegaard's thoughts about the struggle for personhood take us through perhaps unexpected territories: beginning with the breakdown of culture-specific ethnic and religious that have traditionally defined the self, he explores the culturally destructive power of Socrates' irony, the art of seduction, theories of beauty and boredom, a scathing critique of religious culture and politics, religious demands that conflict with ethical duty, the chronic sicknesses of the soul, the look of the Other as a defining factor in self-identity, the struggle to see with the eye of faith, the joy of being embodied here and now, and finally, love.
We will remain especially attentive to the ways in which Kierkegaard's thought is critical of inherited ethnic and cultural definitions of self, and why he nonetheless considers human relationships to be absolutely essential to understanding oneself and one's obligations to other human beings.
The course will be reading intensive as we explore some of Kierkegaard's central works including The Concept of Irony, Either/Or, The Concept of Anxiety, Fear and Trembling, The Sickness unto Death, Works of Love, and a handful of his edifying discourses.
Forelæsninger og diskussioner foregår på engelsk, men man må gerne læse Kierkegaards tekster på originalsproget og aflevere opgaver på dansk.
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