Søren Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, remains one of the most thought-provoking and influential philosophers of the modern era. His works confront the tensions between faith and reason, despair and selfhood, and the search for true meaning in an uncertain world. The Kierkegaard Collection, published by Blackmore Dennett, brings together four of his most profound and enduring works—Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, Purity of Heart Is to Will On...

Creditable as have been the contributions of Scandinavia to the cultural life of the race in well-nigh all fields of human endeavor, it has produced but one thinker of the first magnitude, the Dane, Sören Å. Kierkegaard. The fact that he is virtually unknown to us is ascribable, on the one hand to the inaccessibility of his works, both as to language and form; on the other, to the regrettable insularity of English thought. It is the purpose of this book to remedy the defect in a measure, a...

Man is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation which relates itself to its own self, or it is that in the relation [which accounts for it] that the relation relates itself to its own self; the self is not the relation but [consists in the fact] that the relation relates itself to its own self. Man is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity, in short it is a synthesis.

Existentialism is a movement in philosophy and literature that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It holds that, as there is no God or any other transcendent force, the only way to counter this nothingness (and hence to find meaning in life) is by embracing existence.The Existential Literature Collection features:FEAR AND TREMBLING, by Soren KierkegaardMANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY, by Karl Marx and Friedrich EngelsON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DIS...

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian and religious author interested in human psychology. He is regarded as a leading pioneer of existentialism and one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century. In FEAR AND TREMBLING, Kierkegaard wanted to understand the anxiety that must have been present in Abraham when God commanded him to offer his son as a human sacrifice. Abraham had a choice to complete the task or to forget it. He resigned himself to the loss of his son, ac...

Kierkegaard's infamous and hugely influential philosophical work on faith, choice and sacrificeIn Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard, writing under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio, expounds his personal view of religion through the scene in Genesis in which Abraham prepares to kill his son at God's command. Kierkegaard believed Abraham's unreserved obedience to be the essential leap of faith needed to make a full commitment to his religion. The conviction shown in this pole...

Søren Kierkegaard's witty sayings and deep observations never cease to astound and challenge us.In addition to being the founder of religious existentialism, Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, psychologist, and writer.His concepts are simultaneously paradoxical and graceful. He once stated that it is impossible to approach God using reason, as human thought is neither capable of comprehending nor explaining the religious aspect of our existence. Kierkegaard's philosophical...

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...

In Either/Or, using the voices of two characters - the aesthetic young man of part one, called simply 'A', and the ethical Judge Vilhelm of the second section - Kierkegaard reflects upon the search for a meaningful existence, contemplating subjects as diverse as Mozart, drama, boredom, and, in the famous Seducer's Diary, the cynical seduction and ultimate rejection of a young, beautiful woman. A masterpiece of duality, Either/Or is a brilliant exploration of the conflict between the aesthe...

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christendom, morality, ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstrac...

A nineteenth century Danish philosopher and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard was a major influence on the development of existentialism and Protestant theology. He attacked the literary, philosophical and ecclesiastical establishments of his day for misrepresenting the highest task of human existence—becoming oneself in an ethical and religious sense. His critical works on organised religion, Christianity, morality, ethics and psychology reveal a fondness for metaphor, irony and parab...

This newly translated Fear and Trembling, a foundational document of modern philosophy and existentialism, could not be more apt for our perilous times.First published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio (“John of Silence”), Søren Kierkegaard’s richly resonant Fear and Trembling has for generations stood as a pivotal text in the history of moral philosophy, inspiring such artistic and philosophical luminaries as Edvard Munch, W. H. Au...