Faith and Knowledge: Remarks Inspired by Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments
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Jørgen Huggler
Abstract
In this article, I present some reflections on the relationship between faith and knowledge in some of Kierkegaard’s works, primarily the Philosophical Fragments from 1844. I ask, what the project of Climacus consists in, and proceed to show that his opposition between faith and knowledge includes a number of decisions that are neither trivial nor particularly stable. By doing so, I want to present my own doubts as to whether the opposition between faith (by Climacus connected to history, becoming and paradox) and knowledge (connected to intellectual understanding, logic, timelessness and necessity) itself is reasonable. Based on the analysis, I argue that the texts authored by Climacus presuppose a substantial acquaintance with Christian thought and doctrine. This is only indirectly acknowledged by Climacus, and perhaps incompatible with his “thought-project.” Further, I discuss whether his denial of intellectual understanding of traditional Christian thought as a path to faith gives license to irrationalistic views.
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Front matter
- Title pages
- Preface
- Contents
- Articles
- Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Problems and Perspectives
- There is No Teleological Suspension of the Ethical: Kierkegaard’s Logic Against Religious Justification and Moral Exceptionalism
- Kierkegaard on Variation and Thought Experiment
- Subjectivity and Ambiguity: Anxiety and Love in Kierkegaard
- Faith and Knowledge: Remarks Inspired by Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments
- Anti-Climacus’ Inverted Dialectic of Divine Grace and Human Activity
- Recognition, Self-Recognition, and God: An Interpretation of The Sickness unto Death as an Existential Theory of Self-Recognition
- A Portrait of Spiritlessness in the Age of Leveling
- The Reality of Love: An Affirmative Vision of Christianity Based on Kierkegaard’s Interpretation of the Maxim: Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
- Section 2: Source–work Studies
- Kierkegaard and the Danish Golden Age: The Strengths and Limits of Source-Work Research
- From Enthusiasm to Irony: Kierkegaard’s Reception of Norse Mythology and Literature
- Die Ausnahme bei Christian Garve und Søren Kierkegaard
- Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception
- Erkenntnis und Liebe. Zur Nähe und Ferne zwischen Heinrich Barths und Søren Kierkegaards Verständnis von Gemeinschaft
- Communication of Existence: Søren Kierkegaard and Gabriel Marcel
- Pseudonymous Voices Talking Back: Kierkegaard’s Plural Perspectives and a Wittgensteinian Point of View
- Section 4: Primary Texts in Translation
- Andreas Frederik Beck’s Review of Kierkegaard’s On the Concept of Irony
- Back matter
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Front matter
- Title pages
- Preface
- Contents
- Articles
- Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Problems and Perspectives
- There is No Teleological Suspension of the Ethical: Kierkegaard’s Logic Against Religious Justification and Moral Exceptionalism
- Kierkegaard on Variation and Thought Experiment
- Subjectivity and Ambiguity: Anxiety and Love in Kierkegaard
- Faith and Knowledge: Remarks Inspired by Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments
- Anti-Climacus’ Inverted Dialectic of Divine Grace and Human Activity
- Recognition, Self-Recognition, and God: An Interpretation of The Sickness unto Death as an Existential Theory of Self-Recognition
- A Portrait of Spiritlessness in the Age of Leveling
- The Reality of Love: An Affirmative Vision of Christianity Based on Kierkegaard’s Interpretation of the Maxim: Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
- Section 2: Source–work Studies
- Kierkegaard and the Danish Golden Age: The Strengths and Limits of Source-Work Research
- From Enthusiasm to Irony: Kierkegaard’s Reception of Norse Mythology and Literature
- Die Ausnahme bei Christian Garve und Søren Kierkegaard
- Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception
- Erkenntnis und Liebe. Zur Nähe und Ferne zwischen Heinrich Barths und Søren Kierkegaards Verständnis von Gemeinschaft
- Communication of Existence: Søren Kierkegaard and Gabriel Marcel
- Pseudonymous Voices Talking Back: Kierkegaard’s Plural Perspectives and a Wittgensteinian Point of View
- Section 4: Primary Texts in Translation
- Andreas Frederik Beck’s Review of Kierkegaard’s On the Concept of Irony
- Back matter
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
