Sören Kierkegaard (1813–55)

Sören Kierkegaard was a Danish religious philosopher who became known as the father of existentialism.

Kierkegaard was heavily influenced by events in his early life. He grew up in a strict Lutheran environment. His mother died when he was young as did five of his six elder siblings. Racked by guilt, Kierkegaard believed those closest to him were doomed to disaster. That is why he broke off his engagement with the love of his life, Regine Olsen. The breakup deeply affected him the rest of his life. When she married someone else, Kierkegaard became bitter and began to dislike all women. His life ended in isolation.

Kierkegaard was interested in freedom and individual existence. He held that people have many life options to choose from, but they must decide for themselves which path to commit to. Thus, he advocated the “leap of faith” in which a person makes a passionate commitment to something without objective certainty. For Kierkegaard, the “leap of faith” was a passionate choice to believe in the Christian God apart from evidence that this God existed. This concept of the “leap of faith” is akin to fideism—belief in something apart from reason or rational proofs.

Kierkegaard argued that each person can choose three lifestyles: (1) the Aesthetic – the life of pleasure; (2) the Ethical – the life of duty, laws, and making decisions; or (3) the Religious – the life of service to God. Kierkegaard chose the third option. The leap of faith is necessary to get from the second to third lifestyle. To illustrate the Religious lifestyle, Kierkegaard used the example of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. According to Kierkegaard, many laud Abraham as the ‘father of faith’ but do not seriously consider that Abraham was willing to kill his own son, Isaac, in obedience to God. Abraham was willing to forsake the normal laws of human conduct to obey God in a radical way. The lesson, thus, is that your personal interaction with God is more important than pre-established expectations.