Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard’s concise biography provides us an insight into his philosophy as influenced by his Christian faith as well as by his somewhat melancholic disposition. Kierkegaard admires and at the same time denounces Hegel’s absolute idealism and dialectics, which profess to offer a grand system encompassing the whole development of history and ideas. For Kierkegaard, the individual’s existential experiences cannot be subsumed into any universal category. The goal of life is to live an authentic and free existence. This chapter is devoted to an examination and discussion of Kierkegaard’s treatment of the theological virtues of faith and hope.