Will and Narrative: Kierkegaard's Notion of the Person
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Matias Møl Dalsgaard
Abstract
Within philosophy and psychology the view is today being advanced that the well-being of a person is essentially related to the person's capacity to construct and live out meaningful life narratives. Most notably, thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor represent this narrative view of the person within philosophy. Through a reading of Søren Kierkegaard's notion of the person this paper argues that the narrative view is ultimately untenable. The well-being of the person, it is argued, is not a matter of establishing meaningful narratives, but a matter of wholeheartedly willing to be oneself. In discussing the notion of willing wholeheartedly the paper links Kierkegaard to Harry G. Frankfurt's philosophy of personhood.
© Walter de Gruyter 2010
Articles in the same Issue
- Causal Exclusion and the Preservation of Causal Sufficiency
- Will and Narrative: Kierkegaard's Notion of the Person
- Explanation Arguments for Scientific Realism and Theism – Faulty or Restricted in Scope?
- The Right vs. the Good: John Dewey on Ethics
- This Entrance Was Only Meant For You – Towards a Metaphysics of the Culture of Complaint
- Musical Representation and the Evaluation of Musical Performances
- Rehabilitating Ernst Cassirer and his Philosophy – Four Recent Contributions
Articles in the same Issue
- Causal Exclusion and the Preservation of Causal Sufficiency
- Will and Narrative: Kierkegaard's Notion of the Person
- Explanation Arguments for Scientific Realism and Theism – Faulty or Restricted in Scope?
- The Right vs. the Good: John Dewey on Ethics
- This Entrance Was Only Meant For You – Towards a Metaphysics of the Culture of Complaint
- Musical Representation and the Evaluation of Musical Performances
- Rehabilitating Ernst Cassirer and his Philosophy – Four Recent Contributions
