Preface The following is a comment made by a fellow WP blogger on one of my posts on Kierkegaard. Because it is very informative and interesting, I decided to turn it into a “guest post”, so that other readers can potentially learn from it. The author is a Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and did his doctoral thesis on Kierkegaard. So his opinion carries the weight of an expert. […]
Read moreCategory: Psychology
Kierkegaard: The Concept of Anxiety
Reading Kierkegaard without sufficient knowledge of Christian theological tradition and the Western philosophical tradition, Hegel in particular, is like watching a boxing match where one opponent is invisible to the audience: you see the movement of only one boxer, you might appreciate his physique and agility, but you don’t know at all whether his attacks and dodges are effective. I’ve read eight of Kierkegaard’s works, and enjoyed them all, but […]
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Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Hume and Moral Philosophy Hume speaks of “moral philosophy” in the very beginning of his treatise. I suspect that one of the main purposes of his writing is to overthrow moral philosophy and religion. Nietzsche attempted the same a century later. Hume didn’t come right out and attack Christian philosophy, perhaps because blasphemy law was still in effect in the U.K. Epistemology and ethics are closely related branches of philosophy. […]
Read more“The Varieties of Religious Experience” by William James
William James anticipated modern debate on the relationship between science and religion, and provided practical reasons to take religion seriously. His personal and common sense approach works particularly well within a pluralistic and consumer culture. Choosing a Religion For Yourself First, every human being must face the reality of life, death, suffering, and something beyond ourselves. How do we respond to this reality? James surveys responses from atheists (Voltaire), transcendentalists […]
Read more“Repetition” by Søren Kierkegaard
She is the boundary of his being Kierkegaard met Regine Olsen in Copenhagen in 1837, and, by all appearances, there was a deep attraction between the two. They were engaged in 1840, but Kierkegaard immediately broke off the engagement the following year. Regina married her old tutor in 1847, and the couple left Copenhagen for the Danish West Indies in March 1855. Kierkegaard died in November that same year, having […]
Read more“Ennead I” by Plotinus
What is Consciousness One of the things that came to mind when I read Ennead I was Alzheimer disease. I’ve heard some say that advanced Alzheimer disease makes life not worth living, and that people afflicted with this disease have become less than human. Although I strongly rejected this opinion, I did it intuitively and on emotional grounds, but failed to make any strong counter-arguments. Plotinus wrote some of his […]
Read more“For Self-Examination/Judge for Yourself” by Søren Kierkegaard
Against Humanity Jesus and Socrates have much in common, according to Kierkegaard: Both were terrible robbers and both were sentenced to death for their robbery. “What is assaulting a lone traveler on a highway perhaps a half-dozen times compared with his assault upon the whole human race and upon what it means to be a human being! A thief can steal my money; in so doing we are in disagreement, […]
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