A Companion To Kierkegaard

Accessible guide to Kierkegaard available serving as a reference to students and non-specialists.

A COMPANION TO KIERKEGAARD “‘Companions’ to important thinkers help readers focus on the main drift of their texts with the help of a dig into their origin and some account of their reception. This one digs deeper, and over a wider terrain, than most. But it does more. Besides guiding us to the staples of theology and philosophy in Kierkegaard’s background, it also looks forward to a future, as if Kierkegaard, too, might be taken by the arm and told that here was something that should interest him (about politics, social life, psychology, education, literary theory, deconstruction, theatre). It is as much a sign of the extraordinary richness of Kierkegaard’s literary palette as of the now wide currency of his thought that its elements can become topics in their own right, with Kierkegaard their inspiration. Jon Stewart and his authors are to be congratulated for bringing this unique thinker into our living presence on such a scale and with so many things to talk about.” Alastair Hannay, Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo Born in Copenhagen in 1813, Søren Kierkegaard produced a remarkable amount of work during his fairly short life. When he died in 1855 he left behind a complex and interdisciplinary legacy that continues to spark academic debate. Edited by one of the world’s leading Kierkegaard scholars, A Companion to Kierkegaard provides the most comprehensive single-volume overview of Kierkegaard studies currently available. Featuring contributions from an international array of scholars, the collection covers all the major topics within the broad field of Kierkegaard research, including philosophy, theology, aesthetics, art, literary theory, social sciences, and politics. Kierkegaard’s contribution to each of these disciplines is illustrated through examination of the sources he drew upon, the reception of his ideas, and the unique conceptual insights he brought to each topic. A Companion to Kierkegaard demystifies the complex field of Kierkegaard studies providing the ideal entry-point into his writing for readers at all levels. This collection will be an essential tool for students and scholars from across the disciplines who are interested in learning more about this important and influential thinker.

This book challenges the widespread view of Kierkegaard’s idiosyncratic and predominantly religious position on mimesis. Taking mimesis as a crucial conceptual point of reference in reading Kierkegaard, this book offers a nuanced understanding of the relation between aesthetics and religion in his thought. Kaftanski shows how Kierkegaard's dialectical-existential reading of mimesis interlaces aesthetic and religious themes, including the familiar core concepts of imitation, repetition, and admiration as well as the newly arisen notions of affectivity, contagion, and crowd behavior. Kierkegaard’s enduring relevance to the malaises of our own day is firmly established by his classic concern for the meaning of human life informed by reflective meditation on the mimeticorigins of the contemporary age. Kierkegaard, Mimesis, and Modernity will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on Kierkegaard, Continental philosophy, the history of aesthetics, and critical and religious studies. Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

A COMPANION TO KIERKEGAARD “‘Companions’ to important thinkers help readers focus on the main drift of their texts with the help of a dig into their origin and some account of their reception. This one digs deeper, and over a wider terrain, than most. But it does more. Besides guiding us to the staples of theology and philosophy in Kierkegaard’s background, it also looks forward to a future, as if Kierkegaard, too, might be taken by the arm and told that here was something that should interest him (about politics, social life, psychology, education, literary theory, deconstruction, theatre). It is as much a sign of the extraordinary richness of Kierkegaard’s literary palette as of the now wide currency of his thought that its elements can become topics in their own right, with Kierkegaard their inspiration. Jon Stewart and his authors are to be congratulated for bringing this unique thinker into our living presence on such a scale and with so many things to talk about.” Alastair Hannay, Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo Born in Copenhagen in 1813, Søren Kierkegaard produced a remarkable amount of work during his fairly short life. When he died in 1855 he left behind a complex and interdisciplinary legacy that continues to spark academic debate. Edited by one of the world’s leading Kierkegaard scholars, A Companion to Kierkegaard provides the most comprehensive single-volume overview of Kierkegaard studies currently available. Featuring contributions from an international array of scholars, the collection covers all the major topics within the broad field of Kierkegaard research, including philosophy, theology, aesthetics, art, literary theory, social sciences, and politics. Kierkegaard’s contribution to each of these disciplines is illustrated through examination of the sources he drew upon, the reception of his ideas, and the unique conceptual insights he brought to each topic. A Companion to Kierkegaard demystifies the complex field of Kierkegaard studies providing the ideal entry-point into his writing for readers at all levels. This collection will be an essential tool for students and scholars from across the disciplines who are interested in learning more about this important and influential thinker.

A 2001 biography of Kierkegaard's life and thoughts written by one of the world's preeminent authorities.

The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard brings together an outstanding selection of contemporary specialists and uniquely combines work on the background and context of Kierkegaard's writings, exposition of his key ideas, and a survey of his influence and heritage.

“A thorough, considered, and provocative treatment of what justifiably remains Kierkegaard’s most famous book.” —Marginalia Review of Books Soren Kierkegaard’s masterful work Fear and Trembling interrogates the story of Abraham and Isaac, finding there one of the most profound and critical dilemmas in all of religious philosophy. While several commentaries and critical editions exist, Jeffrey Hanson offers a distinctive approach to this crucial text. Hanson gives equal weight to all three of Kierkegaard’s “problems,” dealing with Fear and Trembling as part of the entire corpus of Kierkegaard’s thought and putting all parts into relation with each other. Additionally, he offers a distinctive analysis of the Abraham story and other biblical texts, giving particular attention to questions of poetics, language, and philosophy, especially as each relates to the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. Presented in a thoughtful and fresh manner, Hanson’s claims are original and edifying. This new reading of Kierkegaard will stimulate fruitful dialogue on well-traveled philosophical ground.

Covering the complete development of post-Kantian Continental philosophy, this volume serves as an essential reference work for philosophers and those engaged in the many disciplines that are integrally related to Continental and European Philosophy.