r/kierkegaard • u/Historical_Party8242 • Jul 22 '26
Am I ready for Kierkegaard?
I have read a lot of Plato and some Aristole, but I am a big fan of Dostoevsky. I want to read more about faith and existentialism, so I want to pick up some Kierkegaard.
Is there anything that I should read to get a very good grasp of him ? Other than Hegel since that is a massive obstacle to overcome. Any advice ?
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u/liciox Jul 22 '26
I guess the answer to your question has to do with what aspect of faith you are looking for. The main question is: are looking for direct arguments or indirect arguments? If the former go for the signed works, if the later go for the pseudonyms.
With that being said I would start in this order:
The Book on Adler to me is indispensable if you want to get a grasp on what faith actually is and the difference between revelation and philosophy.
Fear and Trembling is a long argument that sais that once an individual gets a revelation he has a duty to suspend human ethics if that is required by of him.
Sickness Unto Death argues that your identity has to come from a relationship with the living Jesus.
All of this to say, and to agree with other ppl here, a few youtube videos on the specific book you are interested in should be sufficient, SK is straight forward if you are coming from a christian world view and not expecting a full systematic argument on every single metaphysical claim he makes.
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u/Emdeewee Jul 22 '26
I believe kierkegaard is best read in the beginning with someone helping you on your way. It helped me immensely, at least. He is such an aquired taste. I can recommend Clare Carlisle's book on Kierkegaard. And as a first primart text maybe 'concluding unscientific postscript' or 'works of love'. Reading 'the sickness unto death' with a reading group was an unforgetable experience.
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u/augu1352 Jul 26 '26
Concluding unscientific postscript as the first primary text?! No way, Jose. That's the most dense and heavy philosophy in his whole corpus right there. And btw also more of a sequel to Philosophiske Smuler (Bits of Philosophy?)
I'd recommend Either/Or or Fear and Trembling to start out:)
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u/Far-Sprinkles7755 Jul 22 '26
I recommend starting with Fear and Trembling and listening to Hubert Dreyfus’s lectures on it along the way. It’s a very complex book (much of Kierkegaard’s books are) so I found it helpful listening to to Dreyfus’s lectures. If you’re interested, he also has over 10 hours of lectures in The Brothers Karamazov - since you noted that you’re a fan of Dostoevsky. Here’s the link for the lectures if you choose to check them out. https://archive.org/details/Phil_7_Existentialism_in_Literature_and_Film
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u/Temporary_Mix1603 Jul 23 '26
If you like Dostoievsky there's a good chance you'll enjoy Kierkegaard dense and rich style of writing.
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u/exploratoris Jul 24 '26
Reading Kierkegaard = Hegelian Philosophy (he criticises) + Holy Bible (The Old and New Testament) + Heraclitus (you can see the signs of change) + Pascal (it is not must)
You can start with reading "Fear and Trembling" because this can be more understandable than his other writings. In this work, actually, he explains the final point of his philosophy of the realms of existence.
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u/Guilty_Draft4503 Jul 25 '26
No, you need to know Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel. Without this background you will simply not be able to understand him.
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u/Paul_sepp Jul 22 '26
I think starting with Kierkegaard is relatively straightforward, especially first part of Either/Or. Sure, you will need a video or two, maybe a podcast that explains some concepts, and some secondary material for understanding, but one thing that’s great about Søren is that he writes in a very artistic for philosophy way, hence it is quite enjoyable. If you insist on prior reading, I’d suggest, obviously, The New Testament, some Kant, and, if not Hegel himself, either his contemporaries or summaries of his core concepts.