Either/Or

soren kierkegaard.

either or.

a fragment of life.

the name soren kierkegaard may conjure images of gloomy, bearded existentialists pontificating on the agony of being.

but behind the melancholy dane facade lay a passionate, witty mind who urged us to confront life's absurdity with imagination and even laughter.

kierkegaard's writings explore the paradoxes of existence with literary flair.

works like either or use fictional letters to illuminate the human tension between pleasure and duty, faith and doubt.

while profoundly thoughtful, kierkegaard lightens his philosophy with irony and humour.

he dares us to think deeply about how we choose to live, but with a wink and a smile.

so leave your existential dread behind and join this enlightening, engaging journey through kierkegaard's playful wisdom on life's greatest mysteries.

thinking intensely need not mean thinking bleakly.

let kierkegaard open your mind while brightening your spirit.

shaped by loss.

born into a wealthy family in copenhagen in 1813, by the age of just 25 kierkegaard had lost six of his seven siblings, as well as both parents, leaving him nearly alone in the world.

this early and intense confrontation with death shaped his outlook profoundly.

he was drawn to deep introspection, theology and philosophy from the start, but his experience of loss came to dominate his point of view.

in his grief, he came to view the comfortable bourgeois, christian middle-class life around him as an illusion, one that distracted people from the deeper meaning of existence.

he saw clearly that death awaited everyone, that it could come at any time.

perhaps it was this looming sense of mortality that drove him to work constantly.

obsessed with mortality, kierkegaard devoted himself to writing.

between 1843 and 1855 he published over 20 books articulating his philosophy and critique of modern life.

alongside this outsized philosophical production, he was an avid journal writer and they provide considerable insight into his philosophical investigations.

his first major work is either or, which appeared in 1843.

here kierkegaard explored the idea of aesthetic and ethical ways of life in a creative way through a fictional collection of letters.

this was followed just a year later by his seminal philosophical fragments.

in 1846 came the influential concluding unscientific postscript, which expanded on existentialist notions of truth and subjectivity.

works like these argued that superficial religious faith allows people to live inauthentic lives conforming to societal norms.

true fulfillment requires facing life's hard truths, the chaos, suffering and absurdity of the human condition, and making radical choices to live with passion and purpose.

kierkegaard rejected abstract theologizing and philosophy.

he used literary techniques to emphasize subjective viewpoints and to make readers confront the uncertainty of real life.

his focus on individual choice and responsibility in finding meaning laid the groundwork for existentialism.

but kierkegaard took existential angst far beyond his successors.

he saw the absurdity of an indifferent universe in the face of human desires for order and purpose.

for him, only embracing this absurdity allowed authentic religious faith, a paradoxical belief at first glance.

but it was the simple gospel teachings of his father, when he was a child, from which søren found comfort, not the organized church.

the next sections will explore some key themes of either-or more deeply.

by doing so, we'll unwrap the aesthetic and ethical lifestyles kierkegaard contrasts, his views on choice and anxiety, the philosophical legacy of his ideas, and their continuing resonance today.

aesthetics vs. ethics one is better, but neither are complete.

either-or explores two radically opposing lifestyles, the aesthetic and the ethical.

kierkegaard saw these as representing core human tendencies in constant tension, but both incomplete on their own.

for him, the aesthetic sphere values individual passion, creativity and subjective experience.

by contrast, the ethical sphere focuses on social obligations, moral codes and universal duties.

for kierkegaard, these realms could not be reconciled into a single philosophy.

they posed a constant either-or choice about how to live.

kierkegaard illustrates these dueling worldviews through fictional letters written from the perspectives of two characters.

representing the aesthetic life is a character called simply a, an anonymous young man living solely for pleasure, seduction and amusement without concern for the consequences.

the ethical life is embodied in the character of judge wilhelm, who believes in temperance, hard work and self-sacrifice to fulfil his civic and familial duties.

wilhelm sees the aesthetic attitude of immediate enjoyment as morally bankrupt, leading to despair.

composing the work using letters written in the voices of these opposing figures, kierkegaard brings their conflict to life in a vivid, dialogic form.

the characters speak in their own words, letting readers directly experience the competing philosophies rather than just reading descriptions or analysis.

the letters allow kierkegaard to paint vivid and nuanced psychological portraits from within the aesthetic and ethical worldviews.

the result is a window into how each character thinks, feels and construes meaning in life according to their respective values and priorities.

in constructing this dialectic, kierkegaard's goal was not to advocate for either morality or hedonism.

instead, he sought to make readers dive into the tension between these spheres and think deeply about the type of life they want to lead.

his literary approach engaged the imagination in service of his core philosophical questions.

so, the hedonistic aesthetic lives for pleasure and avoids reflecting on life's bigger questions.

but kierkegaard believed that merely distracting ourselves is no escape from existential anxiety.

instead, he saw anxiety as intrinsic to the human condition.

as free beings, we have the ability to make choices that shape our futures in profound ways.

but this freedom also means shouldering immense responsibility for our lives.

when confronting difficult forks in the road or existential questions about who we are and how we should live, most of us feel deep anxiety.

according to kierkegaard, the weight of uncertainty and potential regret that comes with human freedom inevitably produces anxiety.

the complexity of life's choices, the inability to ever know for certain if we have chosen correctly and the possibility of making decisions that lead to despair.

these realities provoke anxiety within us all.

but kierkegaard didn't see this anxiety as something to be avoided through distraction or pleasure-seeking, but as what he calls the dizziness of freedom.

in this respect, anxiety is a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human.

the presence of anxiety is actually an expression of our freedom and self-awareness.

once we embrace it, we can use anxiety productively to live passionately and authentically, fully aware of life's unpredictability and fragility.

the aesthete flees anxiety by chasing impulses and entertainment, drowning their angst in pleasure and indulgence.

pleasures of the flesh are, well, pleasurable.

but this avoidance only leads to emptiness and a life half-lived.

by contrast, the ethical judge faces up to life's anxieties through responsible choice and commitment.

in doing so, they find deeper meaning.

however, the ethical sphere also has significant pitfalls if not approached carefully.

submitting blindly to duty or social obligations without deeper questioning and examination can lead to an inauthentic, hollow existence.

simply conforming to rules and conventions handed down by society or authority figures also prevents one from achieving true selfhood.

so kierkegaard believed that a life lived purely according to inflexible ethical demands rooted in tradition becomes devoid of passion and joy.

it traps individuals in external shoulds and oughts rather than authenticity.

kierkegaard felt an unreflective ethical existence deprives people of the creativity and spontaneity that make life meaningful.

true selfhood, then, requires finding the right balance between freedom and responsibility, one that embraces the moral principles and duties that give life structure and purpose, but also retains the autonomy to question or deviate from social norms when our individual passions demand it.

kierkegaard saw this process of actively shaping the ethical sphere as central to living an engaged and honest life, and anxiety is the experience of forging our own way.

up until now, we've explored kierkegaard's critiques of aesthetic and ethical lifestyles as well as his conception of anxiety as a symptom of human freedom to choose.

but his impact extends far beyond all of this.

in fact, many consider kierkegaard the founder of modern existentialist philosophy.

it turns out that the themes he explored deeply influenced later thinkers.

for example, kierkegaard's emphasis on subjectivity and inward reflection is opposed to the systemic philosophy of georg hegel.

just decades earlier, hegel had developed an objective, rational philosophy in which reality unfolds according to fixed laws of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

kierkegaard found this systemic thinking too abstract and dehumanising.

instead, he asserted that truth is subjective, it depends on the individual's experience and perspective.

that means that our personal choices and responsibilities in shaping our lives matter more than universal laws in kierkegaard's work.

this radical rejection of rational objectivity in favour of subjective points of view directly inspired later philosophers like nietzsche, heidegger and sartre to instead focus their thinking on concrete human experience and existence.

nietzsche built on kierkegaard's individualism in texts like thus spoke zarathustra or beyond good and evil.

heidegger's monumental work being and time explored human existence through concepts of authenticity and angst partly inspired by kierkegaard.

and sartre's famous declaration that existence precedes essence echoes kierkegaard's view of radical freedom in shaping one's own life and values.

kierkegaard also believed the only appropriate response to life's absurdity and suffering was to embrace it humorously and absurdly.

as he famously said, this perspective proved seminal for absurdist writers like camus.

in the myth of sisyphus, camus praises kierkegaard's ironic challenge in the face of meaninglessness.

as a work of philosophy, either or contributed to the philosophical foundations for major existential themes.

focus on the individual's experience, the primacy of choice and responsibility in shaping our lives, recognition of life's uncertainty and absurdity paired with passionate commitment to meaning.

his life-affirming embrace of these ideas saw him dubbed the melancholy dane who launched existentialism into the world.

while kierkegaard could not have foreseen his eventual impact, his writings continue to resonate due to their insights into the human condition.

nearly two centuries later, we still struggle with the existential questions and contradictory impulses so powerfully examined in either or and kierkegaard's other works.

how we choose to live remains an open question calling for constant re-examination.

the end is absurd.

we've explored how kierkegaard critiqued aesthetic and ethical lifestyles, conceived of anxiety as the cost of freedom and influenced later existentialism.

now, what about the work's odd title, either or?

this obscure title succinctly captures the absurdity of human existence.

in life, we face endless forks in the road and have to make choices that shape our futures all the time.

but there are no easy answers.

no matter what we choose, sacrifice and angst inevitably follow.

so if you decide to marry, you'll experience angst.

decide not to marry, and you will still feel angst.

same with your career choices.

strive for a successful career?

angst.

don't strive.

you guessed it.

you still get angst.

so the either and or ultimately reference the idea that no matter what you choose, anxiety is unavoidable and a part of being human.

that's why for him, the only rational choice in the face of all this absurdity is to laugh at it.

that's right.

laugh in the face of life's absurdity.

and don't take yourself too seriously, either.

find humour in the pointlessness of existence.

as he wrote, the whole of existence makes me laugh.

with this embrace of absurdity, kierkegaard laid the groundwork for 20th-century absurdist writers like franz kafka and albert camus.

in the myth of sisyphus, camus meditates deeply on the meaning of suffering and the joy it is possible to find within it.

for this, he uses the ancient greek myth of a man doomed by the gods to roll a rock uphill for eternity, only to watch it roll back down again every time.

in this metaphor, blind faith is absurd.

instead, camus says we must imagine sisyphus happy as he pushes his boulder for eternity.

happiness comes from within when laughing at the meaninglessness of it all.

neither aesthetic hedonism nor ethical duty is fully satisfying.

neither-or is sufficient.

but we still have to choose, and keep on choosing over and over as life unfolds.

there is no ultimate meaning, so we might as well lighten up and take a leap of faith into the absurdity of existence.

kierkegaard dared us to live passionately and authentically in full recognition of life's fragility and uncertainty, but with a wink and a smile and a good-natured laugh.

in the end, there are no real answers except the ones we create.

so make your choice and choose absurdly, freely and wonderfully.

in this chapter to either-or by søren kierkegaard, you've learned that søren kierkegaard's writings explore the deepest paradoxes of human existence with passion and literary flair.

works like either-or explore life's absurdity by contrasting aesthetic and ethical worldviews while introducing core existentialist concepts like anxiety, choice and subjectivity.

kierkegaard's focus on inwardness and individual responsibility laid the groundwork for the major existential philosophers who followed him.

and nearly two centuries later, we still wrestle with the same tensions between pleasure, duty, faith and meaning so prolifically examined by this melancholy yet life-affirming danish philosopher.

okay, that's it for this chapter.

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