Kierkegaard's Either/Or

A Critical Guide

Ryan S. Kemp, Walter Wietzke

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009080200
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

Either/Or is Kierkegaard's first major work and arguably his most virtuosic. It introduces many of the most important philosophical themes that define the rest of his authorship and showcases - through its several pseudonyms and genres - Kierkegaard's prodigious literary scope. In this Critical Guide, a diverse group of scholars strike new ground in our understanding of both this work, and Kierkegaard's authorship as a whole. Their essays highlight the text's philosophical range, with substantial discussions of issues in aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, phenomenology, and philosophy of religion. The volume will be essential reading for any person seeking to deepen their understanding of Either/Or and Kierkegaard's work more generally.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Imprints page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Existential Melancholia: The Affective Psychology of the “Diapsalmata” in Either/Or
• Chapter 2 Don Giovanni and the Musical-Erotic
• Chapter 3 For What May the Aesthete Hope?: Focus and Standstill in “The Unhappiest One” and “ Rotation of Crops”
• Chapter 4 Companions in Guilt: Aestheticism and Cartesianism as Two Sides of the Same Coin
• Chapter 5 A’s Religion of Boredom
• Chapter 6 The Artist Is Not Present: Metaphysical Performance in the “Diary of the Seducer”
• Chapter 7 Failed Temporalities in Either/Or
• Chapter 8 Love, Marriage, and Delusion in Either/Or
• Chapter 9 The Philosophy of Science in Either/Or
• Chapter 10 The Despair of Judge William
• Chapter 11 The Problem of Evil in Either/Or: A Religious-Aesthetic Debate
• Chapter 12 Illusions of Ethical Independence: The “Last Word” in Either/Or
• References
• Index