Kierkegaard as humanist : discovering my self

506 Pages·1995·26 MB·English

by  Kierkegaard

KIERKEGAARD AS HUMANISTa
Discovering My Self
The self is the central and unifying theme of S0ren Kierkegaard's writ-
ings. In Kierkegaard as Humanist, Arnold Come provides a comprehen-
sive exposition of Kierkegaard's understanding of what it means to be a
self and the problems and possibilities that every human being faces in
the task of becoming a self.
Come limits his discussion to the humanist dimensions of Kierke-
gaard's writings—to what is open to the experience of every human being
without reference to or assistance from any particular religious insight
or revelation. He concludes that Kierkegaard's ontology is independent
of his Christian theology but includes an openness to and a relation with
the eternal as inherent natural possibility in the experience of every hu-
man being.
Come lets Kierkegaard speak for himself rather than exploring how
his thought is derived, or differs, from his predecessors and contempo-
raries or related to major philosophical and psychological positions and
schools. The basic outline of the self, drawn from the opening pages of
The Sickness unto Death, is explored in all of Kierkegaard's works, both
pseudonymous and acknowledged, and the importance of the self thus
revealed for understanding determinism/indeterminism and the phi-
losophy of action is discussed.
Kierkegaard as Humanist is an exciting exploration of the humanist di-
mensions of the self.
Arnold B. Come is Professor Emeritus of systematic theology, San Fran-
cisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union.
McGILL-QUEEN'S STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF IDEAS
i Problems of Cartesianism
Edited by Thomas M. Lennon, John M. Nicholas, and
John W. Davis
2 The Development of the Idea of History in Antiquity
Gerald A. Press
3 Claude Buffier and Thomas Reid:
Two Common-Sense Philosophers
Louise Marcil-Lacoste
4 Schiller, Hegel, and Marx:
State, society, and the Aesthetic Ideal of Ancient Greece
Philip J. Kain
5 John Case and Aristotelianism in Renaissance England
Charles B.Schmitt
6 Beyond Liberty and Property:
The Process of Self-Recognition in Eighteenth-Century
Political Thought
J.A.W. Gunn
7 John Toland: His Methods, Manners, and Mind
Stephen H. Daniel
8 Coleridge and the Inspired Word
Anthony John Harding
9 The Jena System, 1804-5: Logic and Metaphysics
G.W.F. Hegel
Translation edited by John W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni
Introduction and notes by H.S. Harris
io Consent, Coercion, and Limit:
The Medieval Origins of Parliamentary Democracy
Arthur P. Monahan
11 Scottish Common Sense in Germany, 1768-1800:
A Contribution to the History of Critical Philosophy
Manfred Kuehn
12 Paine and Cobbett:
The Transatlantic Connection
David A. Wilson
13 Descartes and the Enlightenment
Peter A. Schouls
14 Greek Scepticism
Anti-Realist Trends in Ancient Thought
Leo Groarke
15 The Irony of Theology and the Nature of Religious Thought
Donald Wiebe
16 Form and Transformation
A Study in the Philosophy of Plotinus
Frederic M. Schroeder
17 From Personal Duties towards Personal Rights
Late Medieval and Early Modern Political Thought, 1300-1600
Arthur P. Monahan
18 The Main Philosophical Writings and the Novel Allwill
Friedrich Heinrichjacobi
Translated and Edited by George di Giovanni
19 Kierkegaard as Humanist
Discovering My Self
Arnold B. Come
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KIERKEGAARD AS HUMANIST
Discovering My Self
Arnold B. Come
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo
© Arnold B. Come 1995
ISBN 0-7735-1019-2
Legal deposit 3rd quarter 1995
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
The author wishes to express his personal gratitude, and the indebted-
ness of the world of Kierkegaard scholarship, to Princeton University
Press for its long tradition in Kierkegaard publication and especially for
its new edition of Kierkegaard's Writings. The present book would be
much the poorer without the remarkable research that informs the new
series and without its fresh and faithful translations.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Come, Arnold B. (Arnold Bruce), 1918-
Kierkegaard as humanist: discovering my self
(McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas: 19)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7735-1019-2
i. Kierkegaard, S0ren, 1813-1855. 2. Self (Philosophy).
I. Tide. II. Series.
B4378.S4C65 1995 igS'.g 095-900250-2
This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition Inc.
in 10/12 Baskerville
Dedicated to
Alastair McKinnon
A Friend in Deed!
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Contents
Preface xvii
1 MY SELF: AN OVERVIEW 3
General Definition 3
The Five Qualifications
1. A Relation 5
2. A Relation Which Relates to Itself 8
3. Established by an Other 11
4. A Failure 13
5. Transparent Rest in the Power 14
2 MY SELF: A SYNTHESIS OF TWO 18
The Essential Duality: Inward, Outward 19
The Procedure of Abstraction for Procuring an Anthropological Ontology 2 3
Body /Soul 25
Finitude/Infinitude 31
Necessity/Possibility 40
Summary 44
3 MY SELF: A TASK 46
Part i: Coming to Consciousness 46
Angst: The Birth-Pangs of Self-Consciousness 47
1. The General Character of Angst 49
2. The Object of Angst 50