Who might reasonably be nominated as the funniest philosopher of all time? With this anthology, Thomas Oden provisionally declares Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) -- despite his reputation as the melancholy, despairing Dane -- as, among philosophers, the most amusing. Kierkegaard not only explored comic perception to its depths but also practiced the art of comedy as astutely as any writer of his time. This collection shows how his theory of comedy is integrated into his practice of comic perception, and how both are integral to his entire authorship. "The Humor of Kierkegaard" is for anyone ready to be amused by human follies. Those new to Kierkegaard will discover a dazzling mind worth meeting. Those already familiar with his theory of comedy will be delighted to see it concisely set forth and exemplified. -- From publisher's description.

Who might reasonably be nominated as the funniest philosopher of all time? With this anthology, Thomas Oden provisionally declares Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)--despite his enduring stereotype as the melancholy, despairing Dane--as, among philosophers, the most amusing. Kierkegaard not only explored comic perception to its depths but also practiced the art of comedy as astutely as any writer of his time. This collection shows how his theory of comedy is integrated into his practice of comic perception, and how both are integral to his entire authorship. Kierkegaard's humor ranges from the droll to the rollicking; from farce to intricate, subtle analysis; from nimble stories to amusing aphorisms. In these pages you are invited to meet the wife of an author who burned her husband's manuscript and a businessman who, even with an abundance of calling cards, forgot his own name. You will hear of an interminable vacillator whom archeologists found still pacing thousands of years later, trying to come to a decision. Then there is the emperor who became a barkeeper in order to stay in the know. The Humor of Kierkegaard is for anyone ready to be amused by human follies. Those new to Kierkegaard will discover a dazzling mind worth meeting. Those already familiar with his theory of comedy will be delighted to see it concisely set forth and exemplified. Others may have read Kierkegaard intensively without having ever really noticed his comic side. Here they will find what they have been missing.

By exploring the works of both Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, and Søren Kierkegaard, Lydia B. Amir finds a rich tapestry of ideas about the comic, the tragic, humor, and related concepts such as irony, ridicule, and wit. Amir focuses chiefly on these two thinkers, but she also includes Johann Georg Hamann, an influence of Kierkegaard's who was himself influenced by Shaftesbury. All three thinkers were devout Christians but were intensely critical of the organized Christianity of their milieux, and humor played an important role in their responses. The author examines the epistemological, ethical, and religious roles of humor in their philosophies and proposes a secular philosophy of humor in which humor helps attain the philosophic ideals of self-knowledge, truth, rationality, virtue, and wisdom.

While some see the comic as trivial, fit mainly for amusement or distraction, Søren Kierkegaard disagrees. This book examines Kierkegaard’s earnest understanding of the nature of the comic and how even the triviality of comic jest is deeply tied to ethics and religion. It rigorously explicates terms such as “irony,” “humor,” “jest,” and “comic” in Kierkegaard, revealing them to be essential to his philosophical and theological program, beyond aesthetic interest alone. Drawing centrally from Kierkegaard’s most concentrated treatment of these ideas, Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846), this account argues that he defines the comic as a “contradiction” or misrelation that is essentially (though not absolutely) painless because it provides a “way out.” The comic lies in a contradiction between norms and so springs from one’s viewpoint, whether ethical or religious. “Irony” and “humor” play essential transitional roles for Kierkegaard’s famous account of the stages of existence because subjective development is closely tied to one’s capacity to perceive the comic, making the comic both diagnostic of and formative for one’s subjective maturity. For Kierkegaard, the Christian is far from humorless, instead having the maximal comic perception because he has the highest possible subjective development. The book demonstrates that the comic is not the expression of a particular pseudonym or of a single period in Kierkegaard’s thinking but is an abiding and fundamental concept for him. It finds his comic understanding even outside of Postscript, locating it in such differing works as Prefaces (1844), Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (1847), and the Corsair affair (c.1845-1848). The book also examines the comic in contemporary Kierkegaard scholarship. First, it argues that Deconstructionists, while accurately perceiving the widespread irony in Kierkegaard’s corpus, incorrectly take the irony to imply a lack of earnest interest in philosophy and theology, misunderstanding Kierkegaard on the nature of irony. Second, it considers two theological readings to argue that their positions, while generally preferable to the Deconstructionists’, lack the same attentiveness to the comic’s role in Kierkegaard. Their significant theological arguments would be strengthened by increased appreciation of the legitimate power of the comic for cultivating ethics and religion.

Irony, humour and the comic play vital yet under-appreciated roles in Kierkegaard's thought. Focusing upon the Concluding Unscientific Postscript, this book investigates these roles, relating irony and humour as forms of the comic to central Kierkegaardian themes. How does the comic function as a form of 'indirect communication'? What roles can irony and humour play in the infamous Kierkegaardian 'leap'? Do certain forms of wisdom depend upon possessing a sense of humour? And is such a sense of humour thus a genuine virtue?

An anthology containing substantial excerpts from the Danish philosopher's major works.

An accessible, expert introduction to one of the greatest minds of nineteenth century. Whether you're completely new to him, or if you're already familiar with his work, Kierkegaard: A Single Life presents a fresh understanding of his life and thought. Kierkegaard was a brilliant and enigmatic loner whose ideas permeated culture, shaped modern Christianity, and influenced people as diverse as Franz Kafka and Martin Luther King Jr. Though few people today have read his work, that lack of familiarity with the real Kierkegaard is changing with this biography by scholar Stephen Backhouse, who clearly presents the man's mind as well as the acute sensitivity behind Kierkegaard's books. Drawing on biographical material that has newly come to light, Kierkegaard: A Single Life introduces his many guises—the thinker, the lover, the recluse, the writer, the controversialist—in prose as compelling and fluid as a novel and pursues clarity to long-standing questions about him: What made this Danish theologian so controversial and influential? Why were so many people drawn to his books, even if they didn't understand what they were reading? Can his complicated relationship with the Church and religion be untangled? Or, for that matter, what about his complicated—at times almost paradoxical—relationship with every sphere of life from politics to poetry? To be considered everything from a great intellect to a dandy, from a martyr to a "false messiah" is no mean feat, and this biography sheds light on Søren Kierkegaard as he was with empathy and humor. Included is an appendix presenting an overview of each of Kierkegaard's works, for the scholar and lay reader alike.

"Eric Ziolkowski's monumental study examines Kierkegaard's whole "prolix literature" - including the pseudonymous and the signed published writings as well as his private journals, papers, and letters - in relation to works by five other literary giants. Kierkegaard himself stresses the essentially literary as opposed to the strictly theological or philosophical nature of his writings. Uncovering this neglected aspect of Kierkegaard's oeuvre, Ziolkowski first considers the notions of aesthetics and the aesthetic as Kierkegaard adapted them, then his posture as a poet and his self-conception as "a weed in literature". After taking account of the history of the critical recognition of Kierkegaard as a literary artist, Ziolkowski looks at an important characteristic of Kierkegaard's literary craft that has received relatively little attention: the manner by which he and his pseudonyms read and quoted other authors. Ziolkowski explores the connections between the philosopher's writings and those of other literary masters who directly influenced him, such as Aristophanes, Cervantes, and Shakespeare, and those such as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Carlyle, who, while not direct influences, gave paradigmatic expression to some of the same aspects of aesthetic, ethical, and religious existence that Kierkegaard portrayed. A necessary resource for Kierkegaard scholars, philosophers, and students of religion and literature alike, 'The literary Kierkegaard' corrects a significant lack in our understanding of one of the most significant thinkers of the modern era." -- dust jacket.

In our time nobody is content to stop with faith but wants to go further. It would perhaps be rash to ask where these people are going, but it is surely a sign of breeding and culture for me to assume that everybody has faith, for otherwise it would be queer for them to be . . . going further. In those old days it was different, then faith was a task for a whole lifetime, because it was assumed that dexterity in faith is not acquired in a few days or weeks. When the tried oldster drew near to his last hour, having fought the good fight and kept the faith, his heart was still young enough not to have forgotten that fear and trembling which chastened the youth, which the man indeed held in check, but which no man quite outgrows. . . except as he might succeed at the earliest opportunity in going further. Where these revered figures arrived, that is the point where everybody in our day begins to go further.