UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOSCEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES

Soren Kierkegaard: Stages on Life’s Way

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A Term PaperPresented to

Ms. Maria Majorie R. Purino, Ph. D.

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In Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirement for the course

PHILOSOPHY 25: PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

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By

Peter Macabinguil

October 2011

Introduction

Soren Kierkegaard writings basically speak about how human live and how human

choose to live. Kierkegaard philosophize what its mean to be alive. His subject was the

individual and his or her existence, the existing being. In Kierkegaard’s view, this purely

subjective entity is lay beyond the reach of reason, logic, philosophical systems, theology or

even psychology.1 Nonetheless, it was the source of all subjects. The branch of philosophy in

which Kierkegaard gives birth what has come to be known as existentialism. Existentialism can

best be described as a mood within philosophy that emphasizes the concrete and particular

existence of man in the world. Later Existentialists described man as having no essence but only

existence.2 Existentialism’s core philosophy is the problem of existence. Kierkegaard reexamine

the most first philosophical questions ever to be asked, “What is existence?” Kierkegaard

insisted that every individual should not only ask this question but should make his very life his

own subjected answer to it. This stress on subjectivity is Kierkegaard main contribution. The

answer did not rely on constructing a perfect system which explains everything. That was more

fundamental problem which prompted question such as, what is existence, what does it means to

exist? It was Kierkegaard who set himself a task in answering these questions.

Human Existence

Kierkegaard’s whole career might well be considered a self-conscious revolt against

abstract thought and attempt on his part to live up to Feuerbach’s admonition: “Do not wish to be

a philosopher in contrast to being a man… do not think as a thinker…think as a living, real

1 Zorka Hereford, “Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)” http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/sorenkierkegaard.html (accessed October 6, 2011).

2 Dan Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”, Quodlibet Journal 4 no. 1, (Winter 2002), http://www.quodlibet.net/articles/johnson-experience.shtml (accessed October 7, 2011).

being… think in Existence.”3 Human individual face personal choices which Kierkegaard meant

to think in terms of existence. In describing the human situation, Kierkegaard distinguished

between what we now are and what we ought to be.4 On Kierkegaard’s stages of life says that

there is a movement from our essence to our existence. The very essential of our human nature

involves a relation to God since we are created in the likeness and image of God. To find

meaning to our existences is to finding the path going toward God. But because of sins we

become separated from God and there is a gap which is called alienation. To fill up this gap the

solution for Kierkegaard is to relate ourselves to God. Shifting our orientation toward God,

though is often a tricky process, which Kierkegaard describes in terms of “stages on life’s way.”5

Kierkegaard's Stages6

Fundamentally, Kierkegaard suggested that there are two ways we can live our life the

aesthetic and the ethical. The third stage, the religious stage, is the synthesis of the two. Each

individual has the opportunity to make a conscious choice between these two. The first two

stages are characterized by a distinct set of beliefs and behavior that is easily identifiable,

whereas the last stage, the religious, is characterized by a highly personal, subjective, and non-

rational "leap of faith".7 In making this choice the individual must accept full responsibility for

his action which will characterize his entire existence in the most fundamental manner.

3 Samuel Enoch Stumpf and James Fieser, Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, 8th edition, (Philippines: McGraw-Hill, 2008), p. 341.

4 Ibid., p. 342. 5 Ibid., p. 343.6 Kierkegaard wrote the book Either/Or soon after receiving his doctorate and breaking his engagement

with Regina Olsen. Either/Or is his first major work and remains one of his most widely read. Kierkegaard wrote the book under a series of false names, or pseudonyms. The two stages on life’s way is written in this book.

7 Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”.

The Aesthetic Stage8

Individual who choice the aesthetic viewpoint basically lives for themselves and in their

own pleasure. This stage is characterized by an indulgence in the pleasurable and beautiful that

life has to offer.9 This need not be a shallow attitude to life. At this level human individual would

behave according to his impulses and emotions.10 In working for our own pleasure we almost

invariably work for the pleasure of others too if we are thinking in the longer term. Indeed it

could be argued that the scientist who selflessly dedicated his entire life to cure a painful disease,

sacrificing personal, domestic and social pleasure in the process is also living the aesthetic life if

he does simply because he enjoys scientific research. Kierkegaard has described his own

existence in the aesthetic realm as a vain search for anchorage on a "boundless sea of pleasure."11

The individual who lives in the aesthetic life is not in control of his existence, he lives for the

moment prompted by pleasure. He claims he had "tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge...but

the pleasure did not outlast the moment."12 His life maybe self contradictory lacking of instability

or certainty. The aesthetic life remains experimental. We follow a certain pleasure only if as long

it appeals to us. My life has no principle of limitation except my own taste.13 The inadequacy of

the aesthetic life viewpoint is fundamental. This is because it relies upon the external world it

expects everything from without. In this way it is passive and lacking in freedom, it relies upon

8 The book Either/Or has two parts: this first part of the book deals with the aesthetic, a word that Kierkegaard uses to denote personal, sensory experiences. It is written under the simple pseudonym “A,” although he wrote the last section of part I, “The Diary of the Seducer,” under the pseudonym “Johannes Climacus.”

9Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”.

10 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 343.11 Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”.

12 Ibid.13 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 343.

things that remain ultimately beyond the control of its will such as power, possession, or even

friendship. It is contingent, dependent upon the accidental that is nothing necessary about it. If

we understand such things we see the ultimate inadequacy of the aesthetic existence. When an

individual who lives the aesthetic life reflects on his existence he soon realizes that he is lacking

any certainty or meaning. This leads one to seek for meaning in a higher realm.14 The human

individual is now face to face with an either-or decision: Either he remain at the aesthetic level

with its fatal attractions and inherent limitations, or he move to the next stage.15

The Ethical Stage16

The alternative of aesthetic life is the ethical. The individual who lives in the ethical life

creates himself by his choice and self creation becomes the goal of his existence. Where the

aesthetic individual merely accepts himself as he is, the ethical individual seeks to know himself

and to change himself by his own choice. He will be guided in this by his self knowledge and his

willingness not to accept what he discovers but try to improve upon it. Here we see the

categorical difference between aesthetic and the ethical. The aesthetic is concern in the outer

world and the ethical is in the inner. The ethical individual seeks to know himself and tries to

turn himself into something better. He aims in becoming an ideal self. The ethical individual is

no longer contingent, inconsistent or accidental. This is the moral life, living by standards and

codes of conduct that have been set up by society, the State, Christendom, and even oneself.17 In

doing so he enters into a realm of fundamental categories such as good and evil, beauty and ugly.

Kierkegaard’s argument by which ethical individual moves from the absolutes of subjectivity to 14 Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To

Enlightenment”.15 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 344.16 This is the second part of the book Either/Or. It deals with ethics. In this part Kierkegaard discusses the

merits of a social and morally proper life. It is written under the interchangeable pseudonyms “B” and “the Judge.”17 Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To

Enlightenment”.

this universal way of life is scarcely convincing. It assumes that we automatically recognize the

ethical as superior and thus we are naturally attracted to it. This stage is mostly a transitory stage,

in that one does not really stay within this realm in any consistent manner. It is an elusive

category, one Kierkegaard himself does not elaborate on in depth.18 The basic distention between

the aesthetic and ethical is that aesthetic is outer, contingent, inconsistent, and self dissipating

and the ethical is inner, necessary, consistent, and self creating. But we can never live an

exclusively an ethical life, there are always necessary be an elements of the outer and accidental

about our lives even we have chosen to live the ethical life the element of the aesthetic is bound

to remain. The ethical stage is a mode of existence one lives in that allows for the religious to

come about. The ethical stands in direct opposition to the religious. The ethical is safe, secure,

understandable.19 But the time comes, Kierkegaard says, when the dialectical process begins to

work in the consciousness of the ethical person he then begin to realize that he is involved in

something more profound than an inadequate knowledge of moral law or insufficient strength of

will. He is doing something more serious than merely making mistakes. He ultimately come to

realize that he is in fact incapable of fulfilling the moral law, and he even deliberately violate that

law. He thus becomes conscious of his guilt and sin. Guilt, Kierkegaard says, becomes a

dialectical antithesis that places before him a new either-or.20 This is not the last stage of

existence. There remains the religious awakening that transcends all previous stages. The ethical

is never completely left behind. It does not disappear when one "leaps" into the religious stage,

but it is only "suspended." This leads to the point that all of the three stages cannot be thought of

18 Ibid.19 Ibid. 20 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 344.

as hard and fast categories with no overlap. They are always there and one moves in and out and

through all three. There remains to be discussed the final stage--the religious.21

The Religious Stage

A third stage of life which is the synthesis of the two opposites aesthetic and the ethical.

This Kierkegaard calls the religious stage. To pass into the religious stage one must "leap of

faith."22 In this stage, Kierkegaard examines the notion of faith. This he characterizes as the

ultimate subjective act. It is irrational, a leap beyond all possible justifications. It has nothing to

do with ethics or good behavior. The ethical life with its notion of self creation and responsible

choice is unable fully accommodate the leap of faith. Such as higher irrationality lies beyond the

ethical which require rational behavior. Faith relates the individual to something higher which is

itself the essence of everything ethical. According to Kierkegaard the ethical life is basically

concern with religion in a social sense but to achieve the religious stage requires a teleological

suspension of the ethical. In other words it is necessary to suspend our ethical standards so that

we can transcend them and fulfill a deeper purpose. According to Kierkegaard, the religious can

be viewed as dialectical synthesis of the aesthetic and the ethical. It combines both the inner and

the outer life, certainty and uncertainty. The leap of faith extending beyond all certainty. The

leap of faith does not bring someone into the presence of God whom he can rationally and

objectively describe as the Absolute and Knowable Truth instead; he is in the presence of a

Subject.23

21 Johnson, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”.

22 Ibid.23 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 344.

Kierkegaard illustrates the religious stage through the story of Abraham and Isaac from

the Bible.24 To test his faith, God directs Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Such an act can only

be seen as ethically wrong but true faith, the requirement of the religious stage, involves divine

purpose which surpasses all mere ethical demands. Abraham sets out to follow God’s command

regardless any doubts he may had of such an act. In this he is leading a life at a religious level

which is higher than the ethical because it has faith in the divinity from which the ethical

originates. Many may regard such an attitude as dangerous madness or religious fanatic.

Kierkegaard defends that he is dealing with the dialogue of the soul rather than a public act.

Look upon Abraham and Isaac as different elements of the same person and it all becomes not

only clearer but even credible. Sacrifice is necessary if we wish to achieve something. This

sacrifice is usually irrational and may conflict with what we learned between right or wrong.

Subjectively we often discover our purpose in life through irrational leap of faith which has little

or nothing to do with the ethical. Kierkegaard relates this to the religious but it is also how

anyone gives his life on a consuming purpose by believing in himself.

Conclusion

Kierkegaard’s philosophy can be summed up in his statement “Every human being must

be assumed in the essential possession of what essentially belongs to being human.”25 When we

come to examine our own existence we discover it more than just there, it has to be live out.

Human individual can exist at any of the tree stages. But he must become related to what is

essential for his existence and for Kierkegaard it is God. Human life seems to have boulders

which keep on dragging us and eventually trap us which somehow lead to a point of discernment

24 Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling and Repetition, trans. H.V. Hong and E.H. Hong (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 9-14

25 Stumpf and Fieser, Socarates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 345

on how we live our lives. To find true existence human individual must give up something to

patch up the gap, the alienation of our true existence. But arriving at authentic existence is not an

intellectual matter instead, it is a matter of faith and commitment and continuous process of

choice in the presence of varieties of either-or.26 Faith is not a universal but it is an individual

experience. We can look at the same thing but we can see it differently.

26.Ibid.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Kiekegaard, Soren, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. and trans. Alastair Hannay (Oxford; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

___________, Either/Or, trans. H. V. Hong and E.H. Hong (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), 2 vols.

___________, Fear and Trembling and Repetion, trans. H. V. Hong and E.H. Hong (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983).

___________, Philosophical Fragments, trans. H. V. Hong (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962).

Hannay, Alaistair, The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Krimse, Bruce, Kierkegaard in Golden Age Denmark (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1990).

Lowrie, Walter, A Short Life of Kierkegaard (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Press, 1942).

Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, and Fieser, James, Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, 8th ed., (Philippines: McGraw-Hill, 2008)

ONLINE SOURCES

Johnson, Dan, “Kierkegaard's Stages Toward Authentic Religious Experience And The Bodhisattva Path To Enlightenment”, Quodlibet Journal 4 no. 1, (Winter 2002), http://www.quodlibet.net/articles/johnson-experience.shtml (accessed October 6, 2011).

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)”, http://www.iep.utm.edu/kierkega/ (accessed October 6, 2011).

McDonald, William, "Søren Kierkegaard", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/kierkegaard/ (accessed October 6, 2011).

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855).” SparkNotes LLC. 2005. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kierkegaard/ , (accessed October 6, 2011).

Hereford, Zorka, “Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)”, http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/sorenkierkegaard.html , (accessed October 6, 2011).