Kierkegaard’s Pessimism

What is it about?

The essay treats Kierkegaard´s relation to the tradition of pessimism in the history of philosophy and the religious ideas as well as the question of the pessimism of his own so-called ”second authorship”, that is the religious writings from 1847 and onwards. After a discussion of Kierkegaard´s reading of Schopenhauer in 1854 and its possible importance for his own concept of Christianity, the article offers an interpretation of Kierkegaard´s critique of the danish State Church, that is essentially seen as a critique of protestantism and its transformation of the world-pessmism of original Christianity into an optimistic approval of the world. Finally, it is attempted shortly to situate the late Kierkegaard within the history of Christian ideas and especially to argue for his affinity to Pre Reformation Christianity.

Featured Image