DOCSLIB.ORG

Degruyter Opth Opth-2020-0129 606..622 ++

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Degruyter Opth Opth-2020-0129 606..622 ++ Open Theology 2020; 6: 606–622 Phenomenology of Religious Experience IV: Religious Experience and Description Maria Gołębiewska* The Phenomenal Aspects of Irony according to Søren Kierkegaard https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2020-0129 received May 16, 2020; accepted August 05, 2020 Abstract: The aim of the text is to characterise some phenomenal aspects of irony (particularly, of the ironic speech acts), which may be found in the Kierkegaardian reflection concerning diverse ironic attitudes of individuals, mainly of Christians. The constant assumptions in Søren Kierkegaard’s various output – in pseudonymous works, those signed with his own name, in “edifying discourses” and other religious texts – include the teleological conception of the sense of human being and existence. According to the philoso- pher, this sense is determined by the individually chosen and subjectively accepted goal of existence, related to the indicated three stages of life. This is the goal of a person who lives their mortal existence between joke and despair, at an ironic and sceptical distance from rash judgements and generalisations, and at the same time in fear of mundane threats and in fear of God. With the ambiguity of the category of existence, researchers combine an ironic attitude which, according to Kierkegaard, would characterise our way of existence together with its cognition and which would be connected with the conception of sub- jective truth as based on paradox. Kierkegaard wrote about ironic engagement and at the same time distance, about a positive ironic attitude towards the world of the here and now – a mundane immanent reality. According to Kierkegaard, the ironic attitude is closely related to dialectics, which he understood in a specific way – the structures of repetition and doubling are dialectic, and this dialectics may be found, among other things, in communication and in irony as a specific relation between thought and language. One must highlight that Kierkegaard considered two general types of irony: verbal (logical, rhetorical and poetic) and situational (existential), ultimately pointing out their religious aspects. The final part of the article describes different interconnections between the logical plus rhetorical aspects of irony and the issue of religious engagement of individuals (Christians) – their ironic entanglement in the relations between faith and knowledge, faith and doubt, mundane immanent world and transcendent universe. Keywords: irony, existence, phenomenon, repetition, immanence, transcendence 1 Introduction The aim of the article is to characterise some phenomenal aspects of irony (particularly, of the ironic speech acts), which may be found in the Kierkegaardian reflection concerning diverse ironic attitudes of individuals, mainly of Christians. In other words, the investigative aim is to present a contribution of Søren Kierkegaard into studies concerning the subject matter of irony, primarily an irony characterised and able to be charac- terised in the religious texts, considerations, declarations. This contribution pertains to some possible ways of joining and intertwining different kinds of irony which would be more or less typical of the attitudes and intentions of Christians. According to Kierkegaard, this topic cannot be conceived without considering diverse philosophical matters which would be interconnected with the question of irony: dialectics, repeti- tion, redoubling and reduplication, and humour. I gradually explain these notions in the text, and they * Corresponding author: Maria Gołębiewska, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Warsaw, Poland, e-mail: mgolebiewska@ifispan.edu.pl The Phenomenal Aspects of Irony according to Søren Kierkegaard 607 constitute a certain arrangement, a set in the centre of which we may find the notion of irony. I gradually define these concepts, one after another, mostly referring to the voluminous study Kierkegaard’s Concepts.¹ The constant assumptions in Kierkegaard’s various output – in pseudonymous works, those signed with his own name, in “edifying discourses” and other religious texts – include the teleological conception of the sense of human being and existence. According to the philosopher, this sense is determined by the individually chosen and subjectively accepted goal of existence, related to the indicated three stages of life. This is the goal of a person who lives their mortal existence between joke and despair, at an ironic and sceptical distance from rash judgements and generalisations, and at the same time in fear of mundane threats and in fear of God. With the ambiguity of the category of existence, researchers combine an ironic attitude which, according to Kierkegaard, would characterise our way of existence together with its cogni- tion and which would be connected with the conception of subjective truth as based on paradox. Kierkegaard wrote about ironic engagement and at the same time distance, about a positive ironic attitude towards the world of the here and now – a mundane immanent reality. According to Kierkegaard, the ironic attitude is closely related to dialectics, which he understood in a specific way – the structures of repetition and doubling are dialectic, and this dialectics may be found, among other things, in communication and in irony as a specific relation between thought and language. The existence of the individual in Kierkegaard’s conception, also framed in an ironic way, equalled the awareness of one’s own subjectivity and existence, trying to grasp their ironic, dialectic approach. One must highlight that Kierkegaard considered two general types of irony: verbal and situational, finally pointing out their religious aspects. An additional investigative contribution of the Dane deals with the semantic processes and phenome- nalisation which happens due to irony. His analyses were implicitly rooted in the theses of Locke and Kant concerning the processes of inward, mental phenomenalisation, and this stance was explicitly against Hegel’s position on phenomenalisation comprehended as a certain historical manifestation of the absolute Spirit and the Spirit of universal Geschichte. The theses of The Concept of Irony were inspired by Hegelian thought; however, Kierkegaard implicitly presented there his polemics against Hegel’s concept of dialec- tics, explicitly developing them in later works. One should point out that in The Concept of Irony Kierkegaard explicitly wrote about “phenomenon” and “phenomenal” processes referring to Hegel’s con- ception of “historical-actual phenomenon” in the context of which he considered Socrates’ philosophical stance and activities.² At the same time, he distinctively defined the subjective, inward, mental phenomena in the context of cognitive processes. One may say that Kierkegaard followed Hegel’s theory of phenomenon grasped as a historical “manifestation,” although first and foremost, he proposed his own view on the theory of phenomenon. For he developed the problems of inward, mental phenomenalisation (as “mental appearance”), well-known from the works of Locke and Hume – and Kant as well, who referred to the phenomenalist³ stance of the British philosophers in his Critique of Pure Reason.⁴ 2 The concept of irony Researchers indicate that the English noun “irony” derives from the Ancient Greek term “eirōneía,” used in Ancient Greek comedy, considered i.a. by Aristotle, and after known by means of the Latin word “ironia.” 1 Cf. Emmanuel, McDonald, Stewart (ed.), Kierkegaard’s Concepts (Kierkegaard’s Research: Sources, Reception and Resources, volume 15, tomes I to VI), 2014 (2016). 2 Kierkegaard, The Concept of Irony,9:“Before I proceed to an exposition of the concept of irony, it is necessary to make sure that I have a reliable and authentic view of Socrates’ historical-actual, phenomenological existence with respect to the question of its possible relation to the transformed view that was his fate through enthusiastic or envious contemporaries. This becomes inescapably necessary, because the concept of irony makes its entry into the world through Socrates.” 3 Cf. Stokes, “Uniting the Perspectival Subject: Two Approaches,” 23–44. 4 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, 225 (Division one. Transcendental analytic). 608 Maria Gołębiewska The Ancient Greek meaning of this term: “dissimulation, ignorance purposely affected,” as well as different types of irony (verbal, dramatic, situational, religious) may be found in their later and present use.⁵ Nassim Bravo Jordán characterises the scope of Kierkegaard’s application of the Danish term “Ironi:” From the Greek εἰρωνεία, “dissimulation.” According to its lexical meaning in Danish, it is the expression of something that the speaker does not mean or that is the opposite of what he means. Sometimes it can refer, especially in the aesthetics of the Romantics, to the freedom or arbitrariness of fantasy over its object, or, in a philosophical sense, to the state of mind that puts the finite in contrast with the infinite, thus stripping the former of all its value. Finally, it also makes reference to the method used by Socrates. The word “irony” appears most frequently in The Concept of Irony, followed by the Concluding Unscientific Postscript to ‘Philosophical Fragments’ and Either-Or. Kierkegaard discusses in depth the concept in his doctoral dissertation of 1841, The Concept of Irony, while in the Postscript, published in 1846 under the pseudonym “Johannes Climacus,” Kierkegaard compares irony with the concept of “humour.” It should
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Making a Difference: Academic Pathologies and the Anxieties of Knowing
    MAKING A DIFFERENCE: ACADEMIC PATHOLOGIES AND THE ANXIETIES OF KNOWING Professor Michael A. Peters An inaugural professorial lecture MAKING A DIFFERENCE: ACADEMIC PATHOLOGIES AnD THE Anxieties Of knOwInG Michael A. Peters first published in 2013 wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research faculty of Education The University of waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton, 3240 new Zealand http://www.waikato.ac.nz/wmier/ ISBn 978-0-9922497-1-7 © wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by waikato Print, Hamilton, new Zealand Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, Faculty of Education, The University of Waikato MAKING A DIFFERENCE: ACADEMIC PATHOLOGIES AnD THE Anxieties Of knOwInG Michael A. Peters Professor of Education Based on an Inaugural Professorial Lecture delivered at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand on 26 March 2013. Michael A. Peters Michael A. Peters, Professor of Education, has written dozens of books and hundreds of papers and chapters on education, philosophy and politics but one paper has evaded him for the past decade. In his inaugural lecture, Professor Peters pursues this illusive paper, theorising the concept of “academic pathologies” and examining what he calls the “anxiety of knowing”. During the lecture, he draws upon the work of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, widely considered one of the foundational thinkers of existentialism, the American film-maker Woody Allen and Jacques Derrida, among other thinkers, to talk about the culture of the academic self.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Anxiety
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2013 The Philosophy of Anxiety Julie B. Daniels Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Other Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Daniels, Julie B., "The Philosophy of Anxiety". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2013. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/333 THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANXIETY By Julie Daniels A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Philosophy of Trinity College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree May 3, 2013 1 Table of Contents Intentions 4 Part One: The Fundamental Project I. What is Dasein? 10 II. What is Dasein’s Project? 12 III. The Private Sphere 14 IV. The Other 21 Part Two: Anxiety as Attunement I. Primacy and Repetition 25 II. Anxiety as Dizziness 35 Part Three: The Philosopher and the Psychiatrist I. Medard Boss on Liberation 42 II. Leslie H. Farber on WilL 44 III. The Opposite of Anxiety 48 2 “That anxiety makes its appearance is the pivot upon which everything turns.” -Søren Kierkegaard 3 Intentions Anxiety has been a constituent of my being since I was a LittLe girL. Before I began the study of phiLosophy, my moments of panic were exacerbated by my inabiLity to articuLate the overwheLming sensations and emotions brought about by anxiety. I feLt compLeteLy aLone; as my anxiety increased, so too did the space between myseLf and others. No one talks about anxiety, and in the instances I attempted to describe to those around me what was happening ‘inside me’, it seemed no one couLd reLate.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concept of Anxiety
    THE eONCEPI' OF ANXIETY KIERKEGAARO'S WRITINGS, VIII THE CONCEPT OF ANXIETY A SIMPLE PSYCHOLOGICALLY ORIENTING DELIBERATION ON THE DOGMATIC ISSUE OF HEREDITARY SIN by S0ren Kierkegaard Edited and Translated with Introduction and Notes by Reidar Thomte in collaboration with Albert B. Anderson PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyriglll 0 19'0., Pti.rcrt<ltl UNill'mi1l Pms P,,6lislld 6y P,I_""I Unillmity Pms, Ptii_1, twwJmq I" ~ Uoild Kh~; Pti"CttQfl Uni"tlSity Prm, Oridttlln, Wm s.us<'X AI1R,jp~4 "'"6Nq sfConpu C'''''CfI''I-iQ·N/bMII o"w KH'*'t-d, S#frq A.6~, fIIJ.IIH. ~tI1M«pI sf·n:My· T III1IIl.IIion rf &J1ric1 AlIFf. Bib~y;,. IndJtJn Inia. 1. $1'11, OftgiMl. 2.~, Rdft/oIu. J. AMiny. I. 'lktmlr, RdtL.,. It. AnMrHtI, AIMf, 192'. 1tI. Trtlt. 81720.KS2 19'0 2JJ'.14 19·J217 ISBN ()'691·07244-2 ISBN ()'69t.fJ20tt.6 (pWt.) E4i~1 ,""",WI sf /his ""'" IIIIf MIl MJisId 6y • gNlltfrom ""'IIm.. ~, 'fiwIr,,141 btllffo J«ifty.... 111 ~/9""1U" III ,\1iIUlNp"b'/, Mi'/ltnOf4 P'II,,«1OIl tMvmity Pms ....,., 'If prilirH Dol «i4:fm p4ptr ""I _I tht ,1IlU611tffor ptmW_ ..rJ 41U11W1i'1 sf ~ Commiu« OIl I'tH1'lIi<IH CwiMlilltJ for &.lit Lorlftlllty sf iht COIIIItll "" "''''Nq RntHIIW 18 19 20 ISlIN·IJ: 978·0·69]·0201 1·2 jpbk. ) CONTENTS HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Vll The Concept of Anxiety 1 PREFACE 7 INTRODUCTION 9 Anxiety as the Presupposition of Hereditary Sin and as Explaining Hereditary Sin Retrogressively in Terms of Its Origin 25 1. HISTORICAL INTIMATIONS REGARDING THE CONCEPT OF HEREDITARY SIN 25 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Yasemin AKIS YAMAN, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae
    Yasemin AKIŞ YAMAN, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae Villanova University Phone: 215-512-7826 Department of Theology and Religious Studies e-mail:[email protected] Villanova, PA, 19085 Areas of Specialization Søren Kierkegaard, Existentialism, Philosophy and Religion. Areas of Competence Philosophy and Literature, Philosophy and Cinema, Rumi, Albert Camus. Education Ph.D. Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University 2007-2014 Philosophy Dissertation: The Concept of Anxiety in Søren Kierkegaard M.A. Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University 2005-2007 Philosophy Thesis: The Concept of ‘Absurd’ in Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. B.A. Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University 2001-2005 Philosophy Academic Appointments Faculty Villanova University 2016-…. Head of Philosophy Mehmet Akif Ersoy University 2015- 2017 Department Assistant Professor Mehmet Akif Ersoy University 2014- 2017 Research Assistant Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University 2009- 2014 Guest Editor Özne Philosophy Journal, Fall/ 2016 Kierkegaard Special Issue Co- Editor Özne Philosophy Journal, Spring/ 2013 Philosophy and Feminism Special Issue Summer Scholar Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library, 2015 St. Olaf College (USA) Summer Scholar Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library, 2014 St. Olaf College (USA) Visiting Scholar Southern Illinois University (USA) 2010- 2011 Publications -Book 1. Søren Kierkegard’da Kaygı Kavramı (The Concept of Anxiety in Søren Kierkegaard), Ayrıntı Yayınları, Istanbul: 2015, ISBN 978-975-539-972-0 -Book Sections 1. Suicide; The Existential Crisis of the Man, ACTA KIERKEGARDIANA supplement 6 (2016), KIERKEGAARD CIRCLE, TRINITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO., ISBN: 978-0-9878168-4-9. 2. Freedom, Anxiety and Sin: Kierkegaard and the Temporal Progression of Experience, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-84888-233-1. 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Preprint
    The Rabbit and the Mountain Lion: Anxiety and its Opposite Stuart T. Doyle [email protected] Is it not intrinsic to the nature of the male, beasts as well as men, to fight and to contend? It’s what we were born to do, it’s in our blood. −Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire The Question What is the opposite of anxiety? The facile answer would be that calmness or tranquility is the opposite of anxiety. That answer is true in a sense, but calmness is mostly just the absence of anxiety. Some opposites are vacuous, merely absences; cold is technically just an absence of its opposite, heat. There is however another kind of opposite; a substantive opposite. For example the opposite of a friend is a foe. A foe is its own sort of entity, not just the absence of a friend. So what is the substantive opposite of anxiety, and what does it do? What does it’s existence imply for the practice of psychiatry and the study of psychology? A starting point for finding the answer is to look more closely at what anxiety is. There are multiple ways to conceptualize anxiety, but for now consider the ethological paradigm in the study of fear and anxiety. This perspective contextualizes fear and anxiety as systems that humans and animals use to defend against threats (Mobbs et al, 2015, p. 1). In short, the answer to ‘what is anxiety’ is answered by shifting the question to ‘why is anxiety.’ Ethologically 1 speaking, anxiety is the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral state which in the past, has made humans and animals ready to deal with potential dangers in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Missed Appropriations: Uncovering Heidegger's Debt to Kierkegaard in Being and Time
    University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2016 Missed Appropriations: Uncovering Heidegger's Debt to Kierkegaard in Being and Time Kenneth David Geter University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, and the Metaphysics Commons Recommended Citation Geter, Kenneth David, "Missed Appropriations: Uncovering Heidegger's Debt to Kierkegaard in Being and Time" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1195. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1195 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. MISSED APPROPRIATIONS: UNCOVERING HEIDEGGER’S DEBT TO KIERKEGAARD IN BEING AND TIME A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology Joint PhD Program University of Denver In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Kenneth D. Geter August 2016 Advisor: Jere O’Neill Surber ©Copyright by Kenneth D. Geter 2016 All Rights Reserved Author: Kenneth D. Geter Title: MISSED APPROPRIATIONS: UNCOVERING HEIDEGGER’S DEBT TO KIERKEGAARD IN BEING AND TIME Advisor: Jere O’Neill Surber Degree Date: August 2016 Abstract It is widely held that Martin Heidegger appropriated several existential concepts from Søren Kierkegaard in his 1927 work, Being and Time. Most scholars agree that Heidegger did not sufficiently credit Kierkegaard. What was the extent of the appropriation, and why did Heidegger not duly cite Kierkegaard? This work will focus on the concept of anxiety which appears throughout Being and Time and which was influenced by the concept of the same name presented in Kierkegaard’s 1844 work The Concept of Anxiety.
    [Show full text]
  • “How Do We Understand Anxiety? a Heideggerian Approach to Modern
    “How do we understand anxiety? A Heideggerian approach to modern psychiatry”. Examination number: 9876603 MSc in Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2009 1 Exam no: 9876603 I have read and understood the University of Edinburgh’s guidelines on plagiarism and declare that this dissertation is all my own work except where I indicate otherwise by proper use of quotes and references. Name: Siobhan M. Mowat Exam Number: 9876603 Signed: Date: 2 Exam no: 9876603 Abstract. The aim of this dissertation is to critically engage with anxiety on a psychiatric level, to develop an understanding of its role as a symptom of mental ill-health as it compares with the Heideggerian concept of intrinsic meaning within anxiety, and to then proceed to a discussion of the potential for an amalgamated view that ultimately best serves the interests of the individual. Psychiatry often dismisses anxiety as a potentially dangerous and undesirable interruption of one’s everyday life; I shall demonstrate, through the philosophy of Heidegger, that this is precisely why it holds higher meaning and significance for Dasein , as an opening up of man’s inherent potentiality for authentic human existence. The final stage will be a direct comparison of the two approaches, examining the implications that they have for the future position of psychiatry in society, particularly in terms of individual self-awareness. What is the role of psychiatry now and is this the role that it should take? How does psychiatry’s neglect of the higher meaning in anxiety affect the doctor-patient relationship? Is there any aspect of anxiety that Heidegger’s theory in fact neglects? And most importantly, is there scope for a Heideggerian approach to mental health that incorporates both the ontological and the ontic experiences of Dasein in anxiety? 3 Exam no: 9876603 Contents.
    [Show full text]
  • Despair As Eternal Damnation of the Self: a Biblical Anthropology in Outline
    European Journal of Science and Theology, June 2017, Vol.13, No.3, 163-173 _______________________________________________________________________ DESPAIR AS ETERNAL DAMNATION OF THE SELF A BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN OUTLINE Igor Tavilla* University of Parma, Dipartimento A.L.E.F., Via M. D’Azeglio 85, Parma, Italy (Received 10 February 2017, revised 6 March 2017) Abstract The Bible had deeply influenced Kierkegaard‟s anthropological view. In „The Concept of Anxiety‟ (1844) and in „The Sickness unto Death‟ (1849), he developed an original „psychology of faith‟, focusing on anxiety and despair, as strictly related to the dogmatic concepts of sin and atonement. The aim of this paper is to investigate the biblical framework of Kierkegaard‟s anthropology, in order to enhance the grasp of the concept of despair. From its definition as „sickness unto death‟, despair comes to indicate the eternal damnation, as the perpetual dying of the self, caused by sin. According to anti-Climacus despair consists in fact in the missrelation between the self and the Power that established it. Also Vigilius Haufninesis incidentally refers to despair as he talks about „the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord‟ (2 Thessalonians 1.9). Lexical evidences and biblical quotations clarify the close connection both between despair (Fortvivlelse) and doubt (Tvivl) and between doubt and offense (Forargelse). Finally, it is possible to recognize in „despair as weakness‟ and in „despair as defiance‟ two different types of „pertinax dubitatio‟. Keywords: despair, damnation, doubt, offense, Bible 1. Introduction Biblical references play a fundamental role in Kierkegaard‟s anthropological view. As a good example of psychological reflection attaching itself to the Bible, Vigilius Haufniensis refers to Usteri‟s explanation of the fall.
    [Show full text]
  • Leap of Faith in Leap Beyond
    2020 THESIS Leap of Faith in Leap Beyond An artistic-pedagogical enquiry: How do I as an art pedagogue implement ideas of ‘Leap of Faith’ in a rehearsal process for a performance? V ERN A L A I N E MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN THEATRE PEDAGOGY ABSTRACT DATE: AUTHOR MASTER’S OR OTHER DEGREE PROGRAMME Verna Laine Master’s Degree Programme in Theatre Pedagogy NUMBER OF PAGES + APPENDICES IN THE WRITTEN TITLE OF THE WRITTEN SECTION/THESIS SECTION Leap of Faith in Leap Beyond 45 pages + 3 pages of appendices TITLE OF THE ARTISTIC/ ARTISTIC AND PEDAGOGICAL SECTION Leap Beyond (by Humppila, Laine, Lehtonen). Premiere 04/03/2020 at 7pm in Teatterisali, Theatre Academy The artistic section is produced by the Theatre Academy. The artistic section is not produced by the Theatre Academy (copyright issues have been resolved). No record exists of the artistic section. The final project can be published The abstract of the final project can be Yes Yes online. This permission is granted for published online. This permission is an unlimited duration. No granted for an unlimited duration. No In this thesis the author introduces a concept (leap of faith) and traces back its practical application as an artistic-pedagogical premise and method in the making of a performance (Leap Beyond). The central concept and the concepts surrounding it have been explored by the author previously in another artistic research context (wherein the author theorised a possible approach to actor movement training based on the concept of a leap of faith) and have been expanded and explored further in this thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Anxiety's Ambiguity
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Essex Research Repository ANXIETY’S AMBIGUITY VIA KIERKEGAARD & HEIDEGGER Jeffrey Haynes1 PhD Dissertation Department of Philosophy University of Essex October 2015 1 Thank you to Béatrice Han-Pile and Daniel Watts for their helpful conversations and helpful comments on drafts of this dissertation. 2 ABSTRACT This dissertation produces a systematic account of anxiety, and does so by way of interpreting the account of anxiety given to us by Kierkegaard and Heidegger. The methodology of this dissertation is such that it interprets the anxiety in Kierkegaard through Heidegger’s lens, and also interprets the anxiety in Heidegger through Kierkegaard’s lens. By this method this dissertation harmonizes the accounts of anxiety in Kierkegaard and Heidegger, and in this way produces a systematic account of anxiety by way of these two authors. In particular, this dissertation argues that anxiety in both Kierkegaard and Heidegger has a particular structure: that it is ambiguous, which means that it is structurally constituted by an antipathy (a repulsion) and a sympathy (an attraction). In harmonizing Kierkegaard’s and Heidegger’s accounts of anxiety in this way, this dissertation produces a systematic account of ambiguous anxiety. 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. 5 I. Kierkegaard: Anxiety Interpreted Retrogressively . 20 A. Anxiety Rightly Used: The Absurd Telos . 25 APPENDIX. The Psychotic Telos . 45 B. The Dialectic of Sin . 64 C. Anxiety Misused: The Dialectic of Strict Sin . 79 D. Disguised Anxiety . 107 II. Heidegger: Anxiety Interpreted Progressively . 121 A. The Dialectic of Inauthenticity .
    [Show full text]
  • Existential Scrooge: a Kierkegaardian Reading of a Christmas Carol Shale Preston* Macquarie University
    Literature Compass 9/11 (2012): 743–751, 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2012.00909.x Existential Scrooge: A Kierkegaardian Reading of A Christmas Carol Shale Preston* Macquarie University Abstract This article examines Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843) through the lens of Søren Kier- kegaard’s philosophical concept of anxiety. Owing to its enduring popularity, A Christmas Carol rarely elicits rigorous explication, much less philosophical exegesis. This critical blind spot, how- ever, should not prevent those interested in establishing a nexus between literature and philosophy from examining it as a serious and important artefact within the history of ideas. A Christmas Carol is indeed historically important, so much so that it may have influenced or even inspired Søren Kierkegaard’s The Concept of Anxiety (1844). This work, published on 17 June 1844, put forward the nature of anxiety and explored the ways in which it became manifest. For Kierkegaard, anxi- ety must precede the qualitative leap of faith which is freedom. Indeed, it is only through anxiety that the self can come to understand its relation between the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal. A seminal existential text, it influenced a range of thinkers including Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers and Tillich. It is timely, however, to propose that one of the key concepts of anxi- ety that Kierkegaard expounds in this extraordinary work, that of ‘the demonic’ or neurotic indi- vidual, was actually anticipated 6 months earlier, in the fictional form of Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’s widely published and translated popular masterpiece, A Christmas Carol.
    [Show full text]
  • The Actual Author of This Dissertation
    Henrik Jøker Bjerre The Actual Author of This Dissertation Groucho Marx once told an audience that before he would begin to speak, he had something important to say. On the face of it, this decla- ration describes rather precisely what it means to write a preface: You state some introductory or clarifying remarks before moving on to the actual subject at hand. Groucho’s expression has a certain comical efect, however, because it also postulates a rather paradoxical ability: being able to “say” something before, and thus without, “speaking”, as if there is a saying that is somehow qualitatively diferent from speak- ing. But how can you say anything without speaking? By miming it? And what does it mean for that which follows? Is speaking somehow less than saying something, or, on the contrary, the only case where anything really gets across at all? A preface contains a similarly asymmetric relation to the text it intro- duces. It states something that is not really part of the text itself, but has to be stated before the actual writing begins. Sometimes, a pref- ace can solemnly summarize a work’s world-historical signifcance, like when Wittgenstein in the preface of the Tractatus claimed to have “solved the problems of philosophy and shown how little was thereby 131 accomplished”1. At other times, it is the preface which is profane or immaterial, giving only dull information about the bureaucratic con- ditions of the appearance of the text. In any case, the expression “before I speak, I have something import- ant to say” shows something about an urgency of getting the opening right, of approaching the text in the right manner.
    [Show full text]