Kierkegaard's Writings, VII, Volume 7

Philosophical Fragments, or a Fragment of Philosophy/Johannes Climacus, or De omnibus dubitandum est. (Two books in one volume)

Søren Kierkegaard, Edna H. Hong, Howard V. Hong

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781400846962
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy of Religion

This volume contains a new translation, with a historical introduction by the translators, of two works written under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. Through Climacus, Kierkegaard contrasts the paradoxes of Christianity with Greek and modern philosophical thinking. In Philosophical Fragments he begins with Greek Platonic philosophy, exploring the implications of venturing beyond the Socratic understanding of truth acquired through recollection to the Christian experience of acquiring truth through grace. Published in 1844 and not originally planned to appear under the pseudonym Climacus, the book varies in tone and substance from the other works so attributed, but it is dialectically related to them, as well as to the other pseudonymous writings. The central issue of Johannes Climacus is doubt. Probably written between November 1842 and April 1843 but unfinished and published only posthumously, this book was described by Kierkegaard as an attack on modern speculative philosophy by "means of the melancholy irony, which did not consist in any single utterance on the part of Johannes Climacus but in his whole life.... Johannes does what we are told to do--he actually doubts everything--he suffers through all the pain of doing that, becomes cunning, almost acquires a bad conscience. When he has gone as far in that direction as he can go and wants to come back, he cannot do so.... Now he despairs, his life is wasted, his youth is spent in these deliberations. Life does not acquire any meaning for him, and all this is the fault of philosophy." A note by Kierkegaard suggests how he might have finished the work: "Doubt is conquered not by the system but by faith, just as it is faith that has brought doubt into the world!."

EDITORIAL APPENDIX

Acknowledgments

Collation of Philosophical Fragments in the
Danish Editions of Kierkegaard’s Collected Works

Notes to Philosophical Fragments

Notes to Johannes Climacus

Notes to Supplement

Bibliographical Note

Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Preparation of manuscripts for Kierkegaard’s Writings is supported by a genuinely enabling grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant includes gifts from the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the Augustinus Fond, the Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorcks Fond, the A. P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond, and the Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation.

The translators-editors are indebted to the late Gregor Malantschuk, Grethe Kjær, and Julia Watkin for their knowledgeable observations on crucial concepts and terminology.

John Elrod, Per Lønning, and Sophia Scopetéa, members of the International Advisory Board for Kierkegaard’s Writings, have given valuable criticism of the manuscript on the whole and in detail. Rune Engebretsen, Jack Schwandt, Pamela Schwandt, Michael Daugherty, Steven Knudson, Robert Roberts, Craig Mason, and Kevin Swan have helpfully scrutinized the manuscript. The Greek has been checked by Lloyd Gunderson and James May. Translations of German quotations are by Rune Engebretsen. The index was prepared by Kennedy Lemke. The entire work has been facilitated by George Coulter and Lavier Murray.

Acknowledgment is made to Gyldendals Forlag for permission to absorb notes to Søren Kierkegaards Samlede Værker.

Inclusion in the Supplement of entries from Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers is by arrangement with Indiana University Press.

The book collection and the microfilm collection of the Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College, have been used in preparation of the text, Supplement, and Editorial Appendix. The Royal Library, Copenhagen, has provided photographs of selected manuscript pages.

The manuscript, typed by Dorothy Bolton, has been guided through the press by Gretchen Oberfranc.

COLLATION OF PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS IN THE DANISH EDITIONS OF KIERKEGAARD’S COLLECTED WORKS

Vol. IV Ed. 1 Pg	Vol. IV Ed. 2 Pg	Vol. VI Ed. 3 Pg
174	198	8
175	199	9
176	199	9
177	200	10
178	201	11
179	203	15
180	203	15
181	204	16
182	205	17
183	206	17
184	207	18
185	209	19
186	210	20
187	211	21
188	212	22
189	213	23
190	214	24
191	215	25
192	216	26
193	217	26
194	218	27
195	219	28
196	220	29
197	221	30
198	223	31
199	224	32
200	225	33
201	226	34
202	227	35
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204	230	37
205	231	38
206	231	39
207	232	40
208	233	41
209	234	41
210	235	42
211	236	43
212	237	44
213	238	4$
214	239	46
215	241	47
216	242	48
217	243	49
218	244	50
219	245	50
220	246	51
221	247	52
222	248	53
223	249	54
224	250	55
225	251	56
226	252	57
227	254	58
228	255	59
229	256	60
230	257	61
231	259	62
232	260	63
233	261	64
234	262	65
235	264	67
236	264	67
237	265	68
238	266	69
239	267	69
240	268	70
241	269	71
242	270	72
243	271	72
244	272	73
245	273	74
246	274	75
247	275	76
248	276	76
249	277	77
250	278	79
251	279	80
252	281	81
253	281	81
254	282	82
255	284	83
256	285	84
257	286	85
258	287	86
259	288	87
260	289	88
261	290	89
262	291	89
263	292	90
264	293	91
265	294	92
266	295	93
267	297	94
268	298	95
269	299	96
270	300	97
271	301	98
272	302	99

NOTES

PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS

TITLE PAGE AND EPIGRAPHS

TITLE PAGE. See Supplement, p. 177 (Pap. V B 39), for changes in the title page in draft and final copies; see Historical Introduction, pp. xvi-xvii.

EPIGRAPHS, happiness. The Danish Salighed has a richness of meaning (happiness, bliss, felicity, blessedness, salvation) such that some scholars prefer to keep the word as an especially significant term without translation. Here Salighed is translated as “happiness,” in keeping with Socratic-Platonic terminology in English. Εὐδαιμονία is usually rendered as “happiness” in the sense of complete well-being, the fulfillment of one’s essential human nature rather than pleasurable satisfaction or joyousness. See, for example, Plato, Phaedo, 81 a; Platonis quae exstant opera, I-XI, ed. Friedrich Ast (Leipzig: 1819-32; ASKB 1144-54), I, pp. 530-31; Udvalgte Dialoger af Platon, I-VIII, tr. Carl Johan Heise (Copenhagen: 1830-59; ASKB 1164-67, 1169 [I-VII]), I, p. 49; The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Pr...