Home Kierkegaard’s Secret Politics of Anguish and Love
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Kierkegaard’s Secret Politics of Anguish and Love

  • Tomer Raudanski
Published/Copyright: September 12, 2019
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Author Information
Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 24 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper explores Kierkegaard’s method of irony and his distinct conception of temporality through the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. It suggests that Kierkegaard makes an ironic use of the term ‘sacrifice.’ Rather than asking us to abandon all human preferential relationships in favor of an abstract (religious) love to an anonymous neighbor, it advances the view that Kierkegaard’s prime objective is therapeutic. Kierkegaard seeks to disabuse us of the idea that we can fully possess faith, or indeed, anything meaningful whatsoever, such as the love that pulsates in our hearts for a family member, romantic partner, friend, or even to ourselves.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the workshop “Kritiken des Leidens,” held at the Free University of Berlin, November 10th-12th 2017 (organized by Erika Benini and Anne Eusterschulte). The argument presented here is further developed in my dissertation, which is planned to be submitted to the Humboldt University of Berlin in 2020. I would like to thank a number of people who gave me valuable comments on early drafts of this paper: Ugo Perone, Daniel Weidner, René Rosfort, Heiko Schulz, Claudia Welz, and Niels Jørgen Cappelørn. Special thanks to Aaron James Goldman for his invaluable help in preparing the final version of this article.

Online erschienen: 2019-09-12

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Front matter
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  7. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. Kierkegaard’s Aesthete in Either/Or: Using Hegelian Mediation in Everyday Life
  9. Kierkegaard on the Dancers of Faith and of Infinity
  10. Climacus’ Miracle: Another Look at “the Wonder” in Philosophical Fragments through a Spinozist Lens
  11. Naked Before God: Kierkegaard’s Liturgical Self
  12. Das palimpsestische Selbst. Zur Genese, Struktur, Darstellung und Vermittlung von personaler Identität nach Sören Kierkegaard
  13. Das Verhältnis von Selbstwerdung und Gott bei Sören Kierkegaard. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme
  14. Kierkegaard’s Secret Politics of Anguish and Love
  15. Kierkegaard as a Thinker of Alienation
  16. To Be(come) Love Itself: Charity as Acquired Originality
  17. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  18. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  19. Pseudonyms? What Pseudonyms? There were no Pseudonyms…
  20. A Prompter’s Play? Kierkegaard’s Puzzling Portrait of Authorial Withdrawal in “An Occasional Discourse”
  21. Kierkegaard’s Authorship as Eucharistic Liturgy
  22. Section 3: Kierkegaardian Resources for Current Debates and Challenges
  23. Section 3: Kierkegaardian Resources for Current Debates and Challenges
  24. Defiance Before the Law: Kierkegaard, Kafka, Coetzee
  25. Existence Philosophy as a Humanism?
  26. Towards a Kierkegaardian Retreating of the Political
  27. Weird Allies? Kierkegaard and Object-Oriented Ontology
  28. Unplug Your Life: Digital Detox Through a Kierkegaardian Lens
  29. “Out into the Middle of Life”: The Age of Disintegration and Ecological Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Thought
  30. Back matter
  31. Abbreviations
  32. List of Contributors
https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2019-0007

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Front matter
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  7. Section 1: Problems and Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. Kierkegaard’s Aesthete in Either/Or: Using Hegelian Mediation in Everyday Life
  9. Kierkegaard on the Dancers of Faith and of Infinity
  10. Climacus’ Miracle: Another Look at “the Wonder” in Philosophical Fragments through a Spinozist Lens
  11. Naked Before God: Kierkegaard’s Liturgical Self
  12. Das palimpsestische Selbst. Zur Genese, Struktur, Darstellung und Vermittlung von personaler Identität nach Sören Kierkegaard
  13. Das Verhältnis von Selbstwerdung und Gott bei Sören Kierkegaard. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme
  14. Kierkegaard’s Secret Politics of Anguish and Love
  15. Kierkegaard as a Thinker of Alienation
  16. To Be(come) Love Itself: Charity as Acquired Originality
  17. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  18. Section 2: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  19. Pseudonyms? What Pseudonyms? There were no Pseudonyms…
  20. A Prompter’s Play? Kierkegaard’s Puzzling Portrait of Authorial Withdrawal in “An Occasional Discourse”
  21. Kierkegaard’s Authorship as Eucharistic Liturgy
  22. Section 3: Kierkegaardian Resources for Current Debates and Challenges
  23. Section 3: Kierkegaardian Resources for Current Debates and Challenges
  24. Defiance Before the Law: Kierkegaard, Kafka, Coetzee
  25. Existence Philosophy as a Humanism?
  26. Towards a Kierkegaardian Retreating of the Political
  27. Weird Allies? Kierkegaard and Object-Oriented Ontology
  28. Unplug Your Life: Digital Detox Through a Kierkegaardian Lens
  29. “Out into the Middle of Life”: The Age of Disintegration and Ecological Perspectives in Kierkegaard’s Thought
  30. Back matter
  31. Abbreviations
  32. List of Contributors
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 14.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/kierke-2019-0007/html
Scroll to top button