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The Tale of Two Seducers: Existential Entrapment in the Works of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky

  • Petr Vaškovic EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 11, 2021
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Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 26 Issue 1

Abstract

The present study poses a simple question, namely, what are the specific forces that might at times hinder rather than advance individual moral development? To answer this inquiry, I will investigate the writings of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, examining the two aesthetic protagonists found in their works—Johannes the Seducer and Dmitri Karamazov. I will utilise the Kierkegaardian framework of the three existential stages to illustrate that it is an over-reliance on gratification, coupled with an instrumental approach towards beings that not only prevents these two aesthetes from behaving morally, but also from even recognising the ethical perspective as a viable existential position.

This paper was written as a part of the “Continuity and Discontinuity in Philosophy, Literature and Art” project, carried out at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague, with the financial support for specific university research in 2020.

Published Online: 2021-08-11
Published in Print: 2021-08-11

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelseiten
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Abbreviations
  7. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. Section 1:   Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  9. In Search of “That Archimedean Point”: The Development of Selfhood in Kierkegaard’s Journal of Gilleleje
  10. Philosophy Lost and Found: Irony and Renewal in Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments
  11. Between Deception and Authority: Kierkegaard’s Use of Scripture in the Discourses, “Thoughts That Wound from Behind—for Upbuilding”
  12. “Your Existence is a Delight to Us.” An Investigation into the Identity of the Neighbour in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love
  13. The Concept of State in Kierkegaard’s Papers
  14. Section 2: Selected Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  15. Section 2:   Selected Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  16. Human Striving and Absolute Reliance upon God: A Kierkegaardian Paradox
  17. The Hidden Divine Experimenter: Kierkegaard on Providence
  18. Towards the Socratic Mission: Imitatio Socratis
  19. Between Singularity and Plurality: Kierkegaard and the Paradox of Absolute Difference
  20. The Liberating Cacophony of Feelings: Kierkegaard on Emotions
  21. The (Im)proper Community: On the Concept of Eiendommelighed in Kierkegaard
  22. Without Authority: Kierkegaard’s Resistance to Patriarchy
  23. Ecophilosophy and the Ambivalence of Nature: Kierkegaard and Knausgård on Lilies, Birds and Being
  24. Section 3: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  25. Section 3:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  26. Sibbern’s Anticipations of Kierkegaard’s Polemic against the Hegelians: The Critique of Abstraction
  27. Hans L. Martensen on Self-Consciousness, Mysticism, and Freedom
  28. “The Greatest Sculptor”: Bertel Thorvaldsen According to Kierkegaard
  29. Section 4: Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  30. Section 4:   Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  31. The Tale of Two Seducers: Existential Entrapment in the Works of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky
  32. What is Worldly Logic and Why Might it Lead to Suicide? Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and the Critique of Logic
  33. Lukács and Kierkegaard: Decadence or Despair
  34. Is Hell the Other? Kierkegaard and Sartre on the Dialectic of Recognition
  35. On the Limitations of Lao Sze Kwang’s “Trichotomy of the Self” in His Interpretation of Kierkegaard
  36. Section 5: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  37. Section 5:   Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  38. Kierkegaard and the Publisher’s Peritext
https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2021-0018

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelseiten
  2. Title pages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Articles
  6. Abbreviations
  7. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  8. Section 1:   Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  9. In Search of “That Archimedean Point”: The Development of Selfhood in Kierkegaard’s Journal of Gilleleje
  10. Philosophy Lost and Found: Irony and Renewal in Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments
  11. Between Deception and Authority: Kierkegaard’s Use of Scripture in the Discourses, “Thoughts That Wound from Behind—for Upbuilding”
  12. “Your Existence is a Delight to Us.” An Investigation into the Identity of the Neighbour in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love
  13. The Concept of State in Kierkegaard’s Papers
  14. Section 2: Selected Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  15. Section 2:   Selected Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  16. Human Striving and Absolute Reliance upon God: A Kierkegaardian Paradox
  17. The Hidden Divine Experimenter: Kierkegaard on Providence
  18. Towards the Socratic Mission: Imitatio Socratis
  19. Between Singularity and Plurality: Kierkegaard and the Paradox of Absolute Difference
  20. The Liberating Cacophony of Feelings: Kierkegaard on Emotions
  21. The (Im)proper Community: On the Concept of Eiendommelighed in Kierkegaard
  22. Without Authority: Kierkegaard’s Resistance to Patriarchy
  23. Ecophilosophy and the Ambivalence of Nature: Kierkegaard and Knausgård on Lilies, Birds and Being
  24. Section 3: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  25. Section 3:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  26. Sibbern’s Anticipations of Kierkegaard’s Polemic against the Hegelians: The Critique of Abstraction
  27. Hans L. Martensen on Self-Consciousness, Mysticism, and Freedom
  28. “The Greatest Sculptor”: Bertel Thorvaldsen According to Kierkegaard
  29. Section 4: Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  30. Section 4:   Receptions and Reflections of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  31. The Tale of Two Seducers: Existential Entrapment in the Works of Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky
  32. What is Worldly Logic and Why Might it Lead to Suicide? Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and the Critique of Logic
  33. Lukács and Kierkegaard: Decadence or Despair
  34. Is Hell the Other? Kierkegaard and Sartre on the Dialectic of Recognition
  35. On the Limitations of Lao Sze Kwang’s “Trichotomy of the Self” in His Interpretation of Kierkegaard
  36. Section 5: Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  37. Section 5:   Kierkegaard’s Authorial Strategies
  38. Kierkegaard and the Publisher’s Peritext
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