This book provides a thematic introduction to Kierkegaard's body of work based on The Concept of Anxiety, one of his major works and one often seen as unreasonably difficult to comprehend.
Modern philosophy begins with Descartes' discovery of an apparently indubitable realm of subjectivity. The Cartesian approach confronts philosophy with the problem of transcendence: At the same time as we appear to have secured an immanent realm of subjectivity, it becomes a problem how we can establish the existence of something outside this realm. What could possibly force - or even motivate - a subject, in possession of itself, to recognize a God, a world, or a peer outside itself? Thus, Descartes' philosophical legacy is a problem rather than a solution: the problem of subjectivity and transcendence. How is it possible to combine a post-Cartesian emphasis on subjectivity with a strong conception of transcendence? What notions of subjectivity and transcendence will we have to commit ourselves to? Despite the fact that the problem is central to modern philosophy and theology, no single volume has so far been dedicated to the problem of subjectivity and transcendence. This volume thus fills an important gap. The 12 chapters address the problem of subjectivity and transcendence from a variety of different perspectives: historical, philosophical, theological, and psychopathological. Contents: Arne Grøn and Søren Overgaard: Introduction - Arne Grøn: Subjectivity and Transcendence: Problems and Perspectives - Ingolf U. Dalferth: Beyond Understanding? Transcending Our Limits and the Limits of Our Transcending - Josef Parnas: Subjectivity in Schizophrenia: The Minimal Self is too Small - Merold Westphal: Intentionality and Transcendence - Søren Overgaard: In Defense of Subjectivity: Husserl, Levinas, and the Problem of Solipsism - Henrik Vase Frandsen: Transcendence of the Appeal - Sovereignty of the Subject - Dan Zahavi: Subjectivity and Immanence in Michel Henry - Claudia Welz: The Presence of the Transcendent - Transcending the Present? Kierkegaard and Levinas on Subjectivity and the Ambiguity of God's Transcendence - Iben Damgaard: Passion for the Possible: A Kierkegaardian Approach to Subjectivity and Transcendence - George Pattison: Desire, Decreation and Unknowing in the God-Relationship: Mystical Theology and its Transformation in Kierkegaard, Simone Weil and Dostoevsky - Caspar Wenzel Tornøe: God and the Demiurge: Subjectivity and Transcendence from a Theological Perspective - Saskia Wendel: The Emergence of Transcendence in Self-Consciousness: Towards a Rehabilitation of a Transcendental Position of Philosophy of Religion
Recently there has been a growing interest not only in existentialism, but also in existential questions, as well as key figures in existential thinking. Yet despite this renewed interest, a systematic reconsideration of Kierkegaard’s existential approach is missing. This anthology is the first in a series of three that will attempt to fill this lacuna. The 13 chapters of the first anthology deal with various aspects of Kierkegaard's existential approach. Its reception will be examined in the works of influential philsophers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, and Habermas, as well as in lesser known philosophers from the interwar period, such as Jean Wahl, Lev Shestov, and Benjamin Fondane. Other chapters reconsider central notions, such as „anxiety“, „existence“, „imagination“, and „despair“. Finally, some chapters deal with Kierkegaard's relevance for central issues in contemporary philosophy, including „naturalism“, „self-constitution“, and „bioethics“. This book is of relevance not only to researchers working in Kierkegaard Studies, but to anyone with an interest in existentialism and existential thinking.
In what sense is trust basic for human (co-)existence, and in what sense can trust also show the limits of the social character of the self? How should the loss of trust figure in an account of trust? And how are freedom and transcendence implied in trust as relation, response, and openness? In addressing such questions, this book discusses how to understand trust, arguing for a multifaceted approach, which brings together perspectives from various philosophical traditions, from developmental psychology, sociology, ethics, and from theology. The authors of the essays collected here deal with the question of why and in what sense trust is basic for becoming oneself and for living together with others, with trust as a personal attitude, the connection between one's trust and the other's trustworthiness, and the relation between trust in the world and trust in persons. The authors investigate the distinction between trust and dis- or mistrust by describing the judgment inherent in these modes of orientation, and by comparing trust in humans with trust in God. Finally, the transformative potential inherent in trust is explored against the background of violations of trust. With contributions by: Gry Ardal, Ingolf U. Dalferth, Günter Figal, Arne Grøn, Lars Hertzberg, Karen Jones, Burkhard Liebsch, Anne Marie Pahuus, Philippe Rochat, Anthony J. Steinbock, Philipp Stoellger, Claudia Welz
Angst ist im Denken Kierkegaards einer der zentralen Begriffe, an dem sich nicht zuletzt zeigt, was es bedeutet, ein Mensch zu sein. Die Angst, von der hier die Rede ist, ist mehr als nur Angst, sie führt direkt zu dem Begriff der Freiheit. An beiden Begriffen - Angst und Freiheit - wird deutlich, daß ein Mensch nicht ohne weiteres er selbst ist, sondern es in entscheidender Weise erst noch werden muß. Søren Kierkegaards Schrift »Der Begriff Angst«, 1844 erstmals veröffentlicht, hat in der Folgezeit Philosophie und Theologie maßgeblich beeinflußt. Arne Grøn gibt hier eine Einleitung in dieses Hauptwerk des großen dänischen Denkers. Von hier aus verfolgt er die zentralen Themen und Motive, die Kierkegaard in anderen Schriften bearbeitet. Ausgehend von der Erschließung des Angstphänomens werden Kierkegaards Begriffe der Existenz, Freiheit und Verzweiflung, aber auch seine Interpretation der Geschichte, der Ethik und der Sozialität zusammenfassend dargestellt. Diese Einführung versucht eine Interpretation, die ohne großen wissenschaftlichen Apparat, aber auf dem Niveau gegenwärtiger Forschung, dem inneren Zusammenhang des Kierkegaardschen Werks nachgeht.