Retail $35.00 Paper

Philosophy

ISBN 978-0-86554-832-9

MUP / P233

Soren Kierkegaard’s The Sickness unto Death is often regarded as one of his most influential achievements. While much has been written on his work, the contributors to this volume address a contemporary set of questions and concerns. They look at Kierkegaard from a new angle, and in doing so reveal fresh insights, interpretations, and interests.

Kierkegaard’s work is often stereotyped as having no social or political content, and as having no concern for the issues facing modern society. “His individualism has frequently been interpreted quite narrowly and apolitically,” Perkins says in his introduction. Like the scholars before them, the contributors carefully explore the details of the text and the development of Kierkegaard’s arguments. But, breaking from the traditional views, this new class of scholars shares the assumption that “Kierkegaard’s thought has great importance for social philosophy and even constitutes a major critique of modernity.” They contend that what Kierkegaard has to say is based upon a developing understanding of the historical and social conditions of his age, but is at the same time transcendental, theocentric, apocalyptic, and prophetic. Moreover, the work of Kierkegaard can teach us much about the self and its role in today’s society.

The Sickness unto Death provokes reflection on a wide range of issues. The authors of this volume examine in detail Kierkegaard’s fundamental understanding of society in both a secular and Christian sense, his definition of the self, the doctrine of sin, the relation of revelation and reason, and the association of Kierkegaard with existential philosophy. Their essays mark a major advancement in the interpretation of Kierkegaard’s thought and its relevance to our understanding of the modern world.

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