Well, Kierkegaard is sometimes referred to as the Father of Existentialism. However, he never used that word to describe his own philosophy. I believe it was Sartre, or possibly Heidegger, who first started calling it Existentialism.
Kierkegaard's notion of a leap of faith seems to be the most relevant topic when it comes to Existentialism. The leap of faith requires one to proceed forward without knowing what lies ahead. He compares faith to something like love. Its not based in any sort of conclusion one comes to based on facts, or experience. Its a commitment one makes. In fact, Kierkegaard finds certainty to be the antithesis of faith. He questions the notion of certainty all together, but even if it were possible, it wouldn't be something that a seeker of faith would want to pursue. In one of my favorite books of his I read he said, for the one seeking certainty, the verdict will always be out. He talks about people who look for physical proof that corroborate certain religious texts. He says that this sort of endeavor is antithetical to the pursuit of faith. Such a person will never find faith. Its somewhat hard to wrap up everything Kierkegaard has to say that is relevant to Existentialism. He wrote so much, and he always wrote in pseudonyms, and his pseudonyms constantly contradict one another, and in some books he'll have characters that contradict one another. So its hard to say what "Kierkegaard" would say. You could only say what "Johanas Climacus" would say, for example. Kierkegaard may be the Father of Existentialism, but he is very unique as set apart from the other Existentialists. He is one of very very few Existentialists who was a Theist. Most Existentialists are Atheists. Kierkegaard in his personal life was obsessed with finding meaning in every event of his life. This was quite consistent with his philosophy. Existentialism is basically the idea that there may not be "meaning" out there, but that "meaning" lies within us. Kierkegaard believed in something higher. Whether it actually existed or not was irrelevant. It provided meaning in his life, and thats all that mattered. I don't know if this helps or not. Its been quite sometime since I've read Kierkegaard. 3 or 4 years now. I'm planning on picking up some of his books and reading them again after I take the bar. On Feb 8, 1:45 pm, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > The discussion we were wanting to flesh out was on > Extentialism...so...phil. > > On Feb 8, 8:50 am, Kierkecraig <[email protected]> wrote: > > > An overview of Soren? Like, biographical overview, philosophical > > overview, what are you wanting? > > > On Feb 8, 9:47 am, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Good luck Craig! I come from a long line of lawyers so hope you get > > > what you truely want. > > > Oh, by the way, before you take a rest from the net, would you like to > > > give an overview of Soren? I'm not joking here either. It is for > > > another group. > > > > On Feb 8, 8:16 am, Kierkecraig <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Today will be the last day I will be responding to anyone's post or > > > > participating at all in the group for a couple weeks. My bar exam is > > > > coming up in a couple weeks and I'm going to have to discipline myself > > > > and quit wasting time on the internet. Just wanted everyone to know > > > > so that you didn't think I was ignoring you.- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
