Kierkegaard and death

333 Pages·2011·1.7 MB·English

by  Kierkegaard

PhilosoPhy • Religion
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“Starting from living death and the thought of death, and e
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then moving through dying, recollecting the death of /

another, and finally future life, this volume brings together b
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in a coherent way Kierkegaard’s view on death and dying.”
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—Andrew J. Burgess, University of New Mexico ierkegaard
Few philosophers have devoted such sustained, almost obsessive attention K
to the topic of death as Søren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard and Death brings i
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together new work on Kierkegaard’s multifaceted discussions of death and r
and
provides a thorough guide to the development, in various texts and contexts,
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of Kierkegaard’s ideas concerning death. essays by an international group of
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scholars take up essential topics such as dying to the world, living death, im-
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mortality, suicide, mortality and subjectivity, death and the meaning of life, Death
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remembrance of the dead, and the question of the afterlife. While bringing
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Kierkegaard’s philosophy of death into focus, this volume connects Kierkegaard
with important debates in contemporary philosophy. r
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PatRicK stoKes is a Marie curie Fellow in Philosophy at the University

of hertfordshire and an honorary Fellow in the school of historical and a
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Philosophical studies, University of Melbourne. he is author of Kierkegaard’s
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Mirrors: Interest, Self, and Moral Vision.

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adaM J. BUBen is a Kierkegaard House Foundation Fellow at the Hong
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Kierkegaard library, st. olaf college, Minnesota.
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Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion
Merold Westphal, editor h
cover: gilbjerg hoved, gilleleje, denmark. Photograph by Patrick stokes.
edited by
Bloomington & Indianapolis
iupress.indiana.edu patrick stokes adam j. buben
1-800-842-6796 INDIANA and
Kierkegaard & Death MECH.indd 1 9/12/11 9:30 AM
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Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion
Merold Westphal, editor
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Indiana University Press
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bloomington and indianapolis
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4 verso runninghead
This book is a publication of Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Kierkegaard and death / edited by Patrick
Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
Stokes and Adam Buben.
www.iupress.indiana.edu
p. cm. — (Indiana series in the phi-
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 losophy of religion)
Fax orders 812-855-7931 Proceedings of a conference held in Dec.
2007 at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
© 2011 by Indiana University Press
Includes bibliographical references and
All rights reserved index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35685-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
No part of this book may be reproduced
ISBN 978-0-253-22352-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
or utilized in any form or by any means,
ISBN 978-0-253-00534-2 (ebook) 1.
electronic or mechanical, including
Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855—Congresses.
photocopying and recording, or by any
2. Death—Congresses. I. Stokes, Patrick,
information storage and retrieval system,
[date] II. Buben, Adam, [date] III. Title.
without permission in writing from the
IV. Series.
publisher. The Association of American
University Presses’ Resolution on Permis- B4378.D43K54 2011
sions constitutes the only exception to this 128'.5092—dc22 2011015256
prohibition.
∞ The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of the
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Manufactured in the United States of
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Contents
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Acknowledgments vii
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Abbreviations ix
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Introduction
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Patrick Stokes and Adam Buben 1
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21 1.
22 Knights and Knaves of the Living Dead:
23 Kierkegaard’s Use of Living Death as a Metaphor for Despair 21
24 George Connell
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2.
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To Die and Yet Not Die: Kierkegaard’s Theophany of Death 44
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Simon D. Podmore
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29 3.
30 Christian Hate: Death, Dying, and Reason
31 in Pascal and Kierkegaard 65
32 Adam Buben
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4.
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Suicide and Despair 81
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Marius Timmann Mjaaland
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38 Thinking Death into Every Moment:
39 The Existence-Problem of Dying in Kierkegaard’s Postscript 101
40 Paul Muench
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Death and Ethics in Kierkegaard’s Postscript 122
David D. Possen
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The Intimate Agency of Death 133
Edward F. Mooney
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A Critical Perspective on Kierkegaard’s “At a Graveside” 150
Gordon D. Marino
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Life-Narrative and Death as the End of Freedom:
Kierkegaard on Anticipatory Resoluteness 160
John J. Davenport
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Heidegger and Kierkegaard on Death:
The Existentiell and the Existential 184
Charles Guignon
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Kierkegaard, Levinas, Derrida: The Death of the Other 204
Laura Llevadot
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Derrida, Judge William, and Death 219
Ian Duckles
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The Soft Weeping of Desire’s Loss: Recognition, Phenomenality, and the
One Who Is Dead in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love 233
Jeremy J. Allen
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Duties to the Dead? Earnest Imagination and Remembrance 253
Patrick Stokes
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Kierkegaard’s Understanding of the Afterlife 274
Tamara Monet Marks
Contributors 299
Index 303
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5 Acknowledgments
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The idea for this book emerged over a plate of Chinese pork dumplings in
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December 2005, just after the Kierkegaard and Asia conference held at the
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University of Melbourne. Since then the project has been well traveled,
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with editorial work taking place in Australia, Minnesota, New Mexico,
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Florida, Guam, Denmark, and England. And along with the frequent flyer
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miles, we’ve also accumulated a great many debts of gratitude, which it is
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our pleasure to acknowledge here.
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Work on this project has been made possible by funding from various
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sources: a Kierkegaard House Foundation Fellowship, a Danish Research
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Council for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship and a European
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Commission Marie Curie Fellowship (Stokes), and a University of South
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Florida Presidential Doctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship
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(Buben). Our thanks to our hosts at St. Olaf College, the Søren Kierkeg-
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aard Research Centre, the University of South Florida, the University of
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Hertfordshire, and the University of Guam.
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We owe a particular debt to Gordon Marino and Cynthia Lund and to
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all the staff and scholars at the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf Col-
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lege, Northfield, Minnesota. The library generously hosted a two-day con-
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ference on Kierkegaard and Death in early December 2007, which was the
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source of several papers presented in this volume. We would like to thank
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the more than forty attendees and presenters at this conference, especially
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Anthony Rudd, Myron B. Penner, and the late Howard V. Hong, for their
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comments.
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The International Kierkegaard Commentary list of abbreviations is used
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with kind permission of Series Editor Robert L. Perkins and Mercer Uni-
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versity Press.
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We’d like to offer our thanks to the following people who have pro-
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vided help and encouragement at various stages of the project: Andrew
8 vi ii vearcskon rouwnlneidnggmheenatds
Burgess and Janice Schuetz, Niels Jørgen Cappelørn, Jon Stewart, James
Giles, Sinead Ladegaard Knox, Robert L. Perkins, Søren Landkildehus,
John Lippitt, Rick Anthony Furtak, Dario Gonzalez, Jonathan Weiden-
baum, Jack Mulder, Eric Berg, Daniel Leichty, Antony Aumann, and J.
Michael Tilley.
Finally, we thank our respective friends and families for their support
and encouragement, and especially Jessica Doyle for her help throughout
the entire project, and Megan Altman for her invaluable assistance.
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1
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5 Abbreviations
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16 English Translations
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BA The Book on Adler, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
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(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995)
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20CA The Concept of Anxiety, trans. Reidar Thomte in collaboration
21 with Albert B. Anderson (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
22 Press, 1980)
23CD Christian Discourses and The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an
24 Actress, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton,
25 N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1997)
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CI The Concept of Irony together with “Notes on Schelling’s Berlin
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Lectures,” trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princ-
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eton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989)
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CUP Concluding Unscientific Postscript to “Philosophical Fragments,”
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2 vols., trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton,
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N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992)
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33EO Either/Or, 2 vols., trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
34 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987)
35EUD Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, trans. Howard V. Hong and
36 Edna H. Hong (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
37 1990)
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FSE For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself!, trans. Howard V.
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Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
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Press, 1990)
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