At the core of Kierkegaard's work is the rejection of
systematized, logical thought as an adequate guide to life and meaning. His
chief target was Hegel, whose philosophical system was seen by many in the
mid-nineteenth century as able to explain virtually everything.
1. On Hegel’s
Absolute Mind
1.1. Hegel believed that the structure of the universe is
at the same as the structure of God’s mind (Absolute mind), so if one reaches
an ultimate understanding of logical structure of the world or universe one has
simultaneously reached an ultimate understanding of the logical structure of
God’s mind.
1.2. Kierkegaard vigorously attacks Hegel’s belief in the
supremacy of the rational mind by pointing out the fact that our mortal nature
places limits on our understanding of reality.
2. On Hegel’s
Dialectical Method
3.1Instead
of Hegel’s dialectical approach to knowledge which effectively means embracing
opposing positions and bringing them together and Hegel’s stress on the
dominance of reason and philosophy, Kierkegaard substituted the disjunction ‘Either/Or’
and the primacy of faith over reason.
3.2 Kierkegaard argued that the ‘movement’ in the
synthesis is not explained. If the synthesis is fully contained in the thesis
and antithesis, then the synthesis is no real progression at all. On the other
hand, if there is something new in the synthesis, then the movement is not
strictly rational, as something new must have been introduced that was not
contained in the original pairing.
3.3 Thus, there are logical gaps in the system.
And the gaps can only be breached by a leap of faith.
see: Fear and Trembling
Some books to check out:
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