The Concept of Anxiety in Soren Kierkegaard

The Concept of Anxiety in Soren Kierkegaard Synopsis

This is a Danish classic available in translation. From the preface: ""The Concept of Anxiety"" is one of Kierkegaard's major works. It summarizes and anticipates themes that are developed in his other works, but not by presenting a unified perception. It has more the character of a work that constitutes a turning point: themes from earlier works (in particular Either/Or) are pursued in a broken way that gives a new starting point for later works. Even though ""The Concept of Anxiety"" is often an unreasonably difficult book, it is worthwhile to read as a gateway to the entire works of Kierkegaard. 'In the following chapters I will provide a thematic introduction to Kierkegaard's body of work based on ""The Concept of Anxiety"". In chapter 1, which in volume is already different from the others, I explore ways of thinking and major themes in The Concept of Anxiety, and then in the following chapters I pursue them in other works, only to return to The Concept of Anxiety. 'Since an introduction to Kierkegaard is also an invitation to read Kierkegaard himself; I give many text references as we go along, but I hope in a discrete way so that it does not disturb the coherent reading of the book. The text references are also extensive for another reason. When one wants to examine the major themes of Kierkegaard's work, it is important to connect these themes to the individual works in order to get a feeling for both the often complex development in the individual text and for the differences and tensions between the individual works. At the same time I have in a more discursive way tried to hold on to questions, cross referencing them with the individual works'.

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