Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Becoming: Movements And Positions

An accessible and original exploration of the theological and philosophical significance of Kierkegaard’s religious thought.

Søren Kierkegaard’s proposal of “repetition” as the new category of truth signaled the beginning of existentialist thought, turning philosophical attention from the pursuit of objective knowledge to the movement of becoming that characterizes each individual’s life. Focusing on the theme of movement in his 1843 pseudonymous texts Either/Or, Repetition, and Fear and Trembling, Clare Carlisle presents an original and illuminating interpretation of Kierkegaard’s religious thought, including newly translated material, that emphasizes equally its philosophical and theological significance. Kierkegaard complained of a lack of movement not only in Hegelian philosophy but also in his own “dreadful still life,” and his heroes are those who leap, dance, and make journeys—but what do these movements signify, and how are they accomplished? How can we be true to ourselves, let alone to others if we are continually becoming? Carlisle explores these questions to uncover both the philosophical and the literary coherence of Kierkegaard’s notoriously enigmatic authorship.

“Clare Carlisle has written an expert study which examines the roles of movement and stasis in three of Kierkegaard’s most prominent works … This volume will interest Kierkegaard specialists, yet it is written with a clarity and style which also make it suitable as an introduction or a supplement to close study of the early pseudonymous works.” — Religious Studies

“This brilliant book represents the very finest contribution to the growing body of contemporary writings on the unusual and elusive corpus of Kierkegaard’s early pseudonymous writings. The author brings an extraordinary level of philosophical sophistication and rhetorical flair to this work, and the result is a fascinating book that will appeal to scholars of philosophy and religion in a variety of fields ranging from ethics and literature, to theology and postmodernism. That said, the book is written so clearly, and with such evident passion, that it will appeal to a more popular audience as well—much as Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous writings themselves were designed to do.” — Louis A. Ruprecht Jr., author of Afterwords: Hellenism, Modernism, and the Myth of Decadence