The Paradoxical Rationality of Søren Kierkegaard

by Richard McCombs

Soren Kierkegaard deliberately feigned irrationality in many of his pseudonymous writings in order to present a rational argument about reason and faith. Richard McCombs posits that Kierkegaard's strategy of revealing the philosophical and religious underpinnings of his thought was both instructive and misguided. Focusing on pseudonymous works by Johannes Climacus and Anti-Climacus, McCombs discusses Kierkegaard's irrationality and the manner in which it bolsters important truths about rationality. He reveals Kierkegaard striving for a single, integrated self that thinks, feels, wills, acts, and communicates with purpose. This fresh reading of Kierkegaard engages an essential problem in the philosophy of religion--the difference between what is understood by reason and what must be taken on faith.

Genres: Philosophy

260 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Cal Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kierkegaard is a very difficult author to get ones head around. McCombs displays how Kierkegaard plays with characters and concepts to really get the reader to think, and that there's more coherence in his writings than the apparent incoherence.