Essay

Existential Progeria in The Modern World.
What Kierkegaard's learned from his study of Socrates can be categorized into matters of style
and substance which led to Socrates providing an inspiration and role model for Kierkegaard's
entire writing career. Before looking at these categories and seeing how they relate to the
relevance of Kierkegaard's work today, keep in mind that the life and thought of Socrates came
down to Kierkegaard and his contemporaries in the form of interpretations and characterizations
written by others. Xenophon, in his Memorabilia, provides accounts of Socratic dialogues as well
as defenses of Socrates that may come closest to an historic vs. literary account of the ancient
philosopher. In contrast, both Aristophanes and Plato treated Socrates as a character, with
Aristophanes ridiculing him in his comedy The Clouds and Plato anchoring his own philosophical
project in a set of narrative dialogs that leave it unclear where the ideas of an historic Socrates end
and those of the writer Plato begins. Because Socrates left behind no written work of his own,
thinkers and writers working over the next two and a half millennia have interpreted him through
these third-party works, with these interpretations forming part of a broader foundation that writers
such as Kierkegaard could draw upon when setting about their own Socratic project.
The most notable contemporary interpreter for Kierkegaard was Hegel who provided an extended
analysis of the life and philosophy of Socrates in his History of Philosophy. And while Kierkegaard
expresses agreement with many key aspects of Hegel's interpretation in The Concept of Irony, he
breaks with Hegel's criticism of Socrates for not providing a positive set of ideas to fill the void
created by exposing other people's ignorance. For Kierkegaard saw such negativity as the whole
point of Socrates' philosophy (Concept of Irony XIII) as well as an inspiration for his own work.
Style and Substance While style might seem a shallow basis of comparison, the impact Socrates
had on his own society and subsequent generations had as much to do with his approach to the
philosophical subject as it did with the content of his arguments. In fact, Socrates' professions of
ignorance (best articulated in Plato's Apology - 21) would indicate that his technique of confounding
interlocutors by exposing the contradiction at the heart of their belief systems (leading either to
aporia – an impasse, or maieutics– the triggering of introspection through a process of intellectual
midwifery) was at the core of his philosophical project, not simply a device used as a backdoor
means to inject own positive philosophical ideals: You can see Kierkegaard's direct lifting of the
stylistic device of professing ignorance to challenge received wisdom in his pseudonymous work
Preface VIII that begins by laying out the purpose for a new (pretend) philosophical journal meant
to educate its incompetent creator (rather than serve as the basis for already enlightened
philosophers to argue past one another.
This excerpt also points two other stylistic devices Socrates and Kierkegaard share: the use of
irony (which we will get to shortly) and humor. Regarding humor, if you read either Socratic
dialogues or works like Kierkegaard's ironic A Word of Thanks to Professor Heiberg, they are
entertaining and often hilarious - at least in comparison to the dry, scholarly and arch writing of
"mainstream" philosophers, writing that has only become more impenetrable since Kierkegaard's
day. In contrast, the work of Socrates and Kierkegaard, while deeply sophisticated, remain
accessible through stylistic devices such as narrative and humor. In matters of substance,
Kierkegaard builds a number of his concepts off ideas Socrates (or at least the literary Socrates)
professed. For example, one cannot read his critique of democracy leading to leveling in The Point
of View without thinking about the harsh words Socrates had to say about "mob rule" in The
Republic (where he placed democracy second to last in his hierarchy of virtuous government,
above tyranny but below aristocracy, military rule and oligarchy). But it was Socrates use of irony,
the saying of one thing but meaning another for purposeful effect, which captured Kierkegaard's
imagination in The Concept of Irony, a fascination that carried on throughout the Danish writer's
career. Irony allowed Socrates to pose as an ignorant innocent, desperate to be educated by the
sophisticated and righteous who were then treated to the philosopher's entire ironic arsenal that
exposed the contradictions at the heart of their belief systems.
Similarly, Kierkegaard would use irony to expose contradictions that confounded those who
thought themselves believing Christians, making life as uncomfortable for the Danish bourgeoisie
(who thought themselves pious) as Socrates did the citizens of Athens. Inspiration and Role Model
Kierkegaard's work demonstrates numerous religious and philosophical influences: Old Testament
(as seen in Fear and Trembling), New Testament (as demonstrated in his non- pseudonymous
religious writing), as well as the lengthy critiques of other philosophers throughout so many of his
philosophical works. But while Abraham and Christ are treated with reverential detachment, and
fellow philosophers with either respect or (more frequently) contempt, the passion and warmth
Kierkegaard shows to Socrates did not seem to diminish from the beginning of his writing career
(with The Concept of Irony where Socrates takes center stage) to the end when Kierkegaard pines
"O Socrates!" in The Moment (XIV). This passion for and empathy with Socrates, when viewed
through the lens of Kierkegaard's entire career, implies that the Danish author did not simply
respect Socrates but saw him as the role model for his own life's work. If Socrates used irony to
make life uncomfortable for his wise and virtuous men of great (and quite intimate) Athens,
Kierkegaard would use that same device to torment his neighbors in equally intimate Copenhagen
during Denmark's Golden Age. If Socrates focused his critique on those things his fellow Athenians
held most dear (democracy, religion, respect for authority), Kierkegaard would aim his equally
confounding critique on what his fellow Danes thought best about themselves: their own piety.

Essay

Uploaded by

Essay

Uploaded by

Existential Progeria in The Modern World.

You might also like