In this study John W. Elrod demonstrates that Kierkegaard's pseudonymous writings have an ontological foundation that unites the disparate elements of these books. The descriptions of the different stages of human development are not fully understandable, the author argues, without an awareness of the role played by this ontology in Kierkegaard's analysis of human existence. Kierkegaard contends that the self is a synthesis of finitude and infinitude, body and soul, reality and ideality, necessity and possibility, and time and eternity. Each (...) of these syntheses reveals a particular and unique aspect of individual being not disclosed in the others. Part One shows that ontology is central to the discussion of the self in the pseudonyms. The author notes that spirit, as a synthesis of the expressions of the self, develops as consciousness and freedom. In Part Two he indicates the relationship between notions of being and existence. He notes that existence, in Kierkegaard's thought, grows out of the life of the spirit; the different stages of existence are concrete modes that develop in the spirit's striving to unify the self as a synthesis. These existential expressions of spirit are dialectically related, in that each step requires the preceding stages of spiritual development. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. (shrink)

This is essentially what I take to be Kierkegaard's ontological foundation of human existence. It is the structure which both makes possible and unifies the different modes of existing which he so fully describes in his pseudonyms. The further task is one of demonstrating concretely the relation of these modes (stages) of existing to his ontology.

Evans has written a different sort of book on Kierkegaard. It is, first of all, one that is intended for, in his words, the "ordinary reader." This undoubtedly does not mean that Evans is not interested in Kierkegaard's philosophical/theological readers; I suspect that he is. It is just that he has not aimed his book at this audience. This book should also be distinguished from most other books on Kierkegaard's thought since it is exclusively on the religious philosophy of Johannes (...) Climacus, Kierkegaard's pseudonym for two major works in his first literature. (shrink)

Thulstrup gives us a radically anti-Hegelian Kierkegaard in a period from 1835 through publication of Concluding Unscientific Postscript in 1845. Whereas other writers on Kierkegaard’s relation to Hegel have seen positive Hegelian influences in one aspect or another of the pseudonymous authorship, Thulstrup insists that there are absolutely no positive points of contact between Hegel and the anthropology and theology of the pseudohyms. At every point and turn of any theological or philosophical significance in the unfolding of the pseudonymous writings, (...) Thulstrup finds only a polemical Kierkegaard in relation to the thought of Hegel. This guiding principle in Thulstrup’s interpretation of the Hegel connection is carefully developed in four major theses whose development constitute the full weight of the book. (shrink)

Thulstrup gives us a radically anti-Hegelian Kierkegaard in a period from 1835 through publication of Concluding Unscientific Postscript in 1845. Whereas other writers on Kierkegaard’s relation to Hegel have seen positive Hegelian influences in one aspect or another of the pseudonymous authorship, Thulstrup insists that there are absolutely no positive points of contact between Hegel and the anthropology and theology of the pseudohyms. At every point and turn of any theological or philosophical significance in the unfolding of the pseudonymous writings, (...) Thulstrup finds only a polemical Kierkegaard in relation to the thought of Hegel. This guiding principle in Thulstrup’s interpretation of the Hegel connection is carefully developed in four major theses whose development constitute the full weight of the book. (shrink)