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The Self as a Center of Ethical Gravity: A Constructive Dialogue Between Søren Kierkegaard and George Herbert Mead

  • Christian Hjortkjær and Søren Willert
Published/Copyright: October 24, 2013
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Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 2013 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper examines the striking similarity between Kierkegaard’s and Mead’s theories of the self as relation, reflection and process as well as the normativity behind these theories. It is claimed that the theologian and the social psychologist share the view that the human being is an ethical being because its self is a dual relation; it relates to itself and in this relating it relates to an Other. Thus, regardless of their diverging views on the nature of this Other, they both define that of becoming a self as an unavoidable task: the task of standing in an ethical relation to oneself and to the Other. It is argued that differences in professions can be overcome: while reading Kierkegaard in the light of Mead helps to underline the relational character of Kierkegaard’s ethical notions, reading Mead in the light of Kierkegaard underlines the normative aspect of Mead’s social psychology.

Published Online: 2013-10-24
Published in Print: 2013-10

© 2013 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Preface
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Section 1: Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Motifs and Figures
  5. Kierkegaard on the Atonement: The Complementarity of Salvation as a Gift and Salvation as a Task
  6. Recognition and Its Discontents: Johannes de Silentio and the Preacher
  7. In Defense of a Straightforward Reading of Fear and Trembling
  8. Verführung nach Kierkegaard. Ein soziologischer Versuch
  9. Johannes Climacus on Coming into Existence: The Problem of Modality in Kierkegaard’s Fragments and Postscript
  10. Kierkegaard’s Passion for Equality
  11. The Abyss of Demonic Boredom: An Analysis of the Dialectic of Freedom and Facticity in Kierkegaard’s Early Works
  12. Section 2: Love and Passion
  13. Selfless Passion: Kierkegaard on True Love
  14. Kierkegaard, Metaphysics, and Love
  15. Self-Love and Neighbor-Love in Kierkegaard’s Ethics
  16. Love as a Relation to Truth: Envisioning the Person in Works of Love
  17. “Love” Among the Post-Socratics
  18. Love, Death, and the Limits of Singularity
  19. Kierkegaard and the Sheer Phenomenon of Love
  20. Love’s Hidden Laugh: On Jest, Earnestness, and Socratic Indirection in Kierkegaard’s “Praising Love”
  21. Passion as a Will to Existence in Kierkegaard
  22. Section 3: Kierkegaard in Dialogue
  23. Die philosophische Verflüchtigung des Glaubensbegriffs. Kierkegaards Auseinandersetzung mit Immanuel Hermann Fichte
  24. Kierkegaard and the Traditions of the Comic in Philosophy
  25. Why a Danish Golden Age? Structural Holes in 19th Century Copenhagen
  26. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche on Living by a Guiding Passion
  27. The Self as a Center of Ethical Gravity: A Constructive Dialogue Between Søren Kierkegaard and George Herbert Mead
  28. Section 4: Current Debates and Controversies
  29. The Soul of a Philosopher: Reply to Turnbull
  30. Abbreviations
  31. List of Contributors
https://doi.org/10.1515/kier.2013.2013.1.451

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Preface
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Section 1: Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Motifs and Figures
  5. Kierkegaard on the Atonement: The Complementarity of Salvation as a Gift and Salvation as a Task
  6. Recognition and Its Discontents: Johannes de Silentio and the Preacher
  7. In Defense of a Straightforward Reading of Fear and Trembling
  8. Verführung nach Kierkegaard. Ein soziologischer Versuch
  9. Johannes Climacus on Coming into Existence: The Problem of Modality in Kierkegaard’s Fragments and Postscript
  10. Kierkegaard’s Passion for Equality
  11. The Abyss of Demonic Boredom: An Analysis of the Dialectic of Freedom and Facticity in Kierkegaard’s Early Works
  12. Section 2: Love and Passion
  13. Selfless Passion: Kierkegaard on True Love
  14. Kierkegaard, Metaphysics, and Love
  15. Self-Love and Neighbor-Love in Kierkegaard’s Ethics
  16. Love as a Relation to Truth: Envisioning the Person in Works of Love
  17. “Love” Among the Post-Socratics
  18. Love, Death, and the Limits of Singularity
  19. Kierkegaard and the Sheer Phenomenon of Love
  20. Love’s Hidden Laugh: On Jest, Earnestness, and Socratic Indirection in Kierkegaard’s “Praising Love”
  21. Passion as a Will to Existence in Kierkegaard
  22. Section 3: Kierkegaard in Dialogue
  23. Die philosophische Verflüchtigung des Glaubensbegriffs. Kierkegaards Auseinandersetzung mit Immanuel Hermann Fichte
  24. Kierkegaard and the Traditions of the Comic in Philosophy
  25. Why a Danish Golden Age? Structural Holes in 19th Century Copenhagen
  26. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche on Living by a Guiding Passion
  27. The Self as a Center of Ethical Gravity: A Constructive Dialogue Between Søren Kierkegaard and George Herbert Mead
  28. Section 4: Current Debates and Controversies
  29. The Soul of a Philosopher: Reply to Turnbull
  30. Abbreviations
  31. List of Contributors
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