1st Edition

Volume 6, Tome I: Kierkegaard and His German Contemporaries - Philosophy

Edited By Jon Stewart Copyright 2007
    400 Pages
    by Routledge

    398 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume explores in detail Kierkegaard's various relations to his German contemporaries. Kierkegaard read German fluently and made extensive use of the writings of German-speaking authors. Apart from his contemporary Danish sources, the German sources were probably the most important in the development of his thought generally. This volume represents source-work research dedicated to tracing Kierkegaard's readings and use of the various German-speaking authors in the different fields in a way that is as clearly documented as possible. The volume has been divided into three tomes reflecting Kierkegaard's main areas of interest with regard to the German-speaking sources, namely, philosophy, theology and a more loosely conceived category, which has here been designated "literature and aesthetics." This first tome treats the German philosophical influences on Kierkegaard. The dependence of Danish philosophy on German philosophy is beyond question. In a book review in his Hegelian journal Perseus, the poet, playwright and critic, Johan Ludvig Heiberg laments the sad state of philosophy in Denmark, while lauding German speculative philosophy. Moreover, Kierkegaard's lifelong enemy, the theologian Hans Lassen Martensen claims without exaggeration that the Danish systems of philosophy can be regarded as the "disjecta membra" of earlier German systems. All of the major German idealist philosophers made an impact in Denmark: Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and most significantly, Hegel. Kierkegaard was widely read in the German philosophical literature, which he made use of in countless ways throughout his authorship.

    Contents; Preface; Baader: the centrality of original sin and the difference of immediacy and innocence, Peter Koslowski; Karl Bayer: Kierkgaards's attempt at social philosophy, J. Michael Tilley; Feuerbach: a malicious demon in the service of Christianity, István Czakó; I.H. Fichte: philosophy as the most cheerful form of service to God, Harmut Rosenau; J.G. Fichte: from transcendental ego to existence, David J. Kangas; Hegel: Kierkegaard's reading and use of Hegel's primary texts, Jon Stewart; Herder: a silent background and reservoir, Johannes Adamsen; Kant: a debt both obscure and enormous, Ronald M. Green; Lichtenberg: Lichtenberg's aphoristic thought and Kierkegaard's concept of the 'subjective existing thinker', Smail Rapic; Schelling: a historical introduction to Kierkegaard's Schelling; Tonny Aagaard Olesen; Schopenhauer: Kierkegaard's later encounter with his opposite, Simonella Davini; Schubert: Kierkegaard's reading of Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert's philosophy of nature, Stefan Eganberger; Trendelenberg: an ally against speculation, Darío González; Werder: the influence of Werder's lectures and logik on Kierkegaard's thought, Jon Stewart; Index of persons; Subject index.

    Biography

    Jon Stewart is Associate Research Professor in the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.