Many of Kierkegaard's earlier works from 1843 to 1846 were written pseudonymously. In the non-pseudonymous
The Point of View of My Work as an Author, he explained that the pseudonymous works are written from
perspectives which are not his own: while Kierkegaard himself was a religious author, the pseudonymous authors
wrote from points of view that were aesthetic or speculative. One exception to this is Anti-Climacus, a
pseudonymous author developed after the writing of The Point of View: Anti-Climacus is a religious author who
writes from a Christian perspective so ideal that Kierkegaard did not wish it to be attributed to himself.
Because the pseudonymous authors write from perspectives which are not Kierkegaard's own, some of the
philosophy mentioned in this article may or may not necessarily reflect Kierkegaard's own beliefs. Just as other
philosophers bring up viewpoints in their essays to discuss and criticize them, Kierkegaard assigns pseudonyms to
explore a particular viewpoint in-depth, which may take up a whole book or two in some instances, and Kierkegaard,
or another pseudonym, critiques that position. For example, the author, Johannes Climacus is not a Christian and he
argues from a non-Christian viewpoint. Anti-Climacus, as mentioned earlier, is a Christian to a high degree and he
argues from a devout Christian viewpoint. Kierkegaard places his beliefs in-between these two authors.
Most of Kierkegaard's later philosophical and religious writings from 1846 to 1855 were written and authored by
himself, and he assigned no pseudonyms to these works. Subsequently, these works are considered by most scholars
to reflect Kierkegaard's own beliefs. Where appropriate, this article will mention the respective author,
pseudonymous or not.
Some books to check out:
