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Recommendations by interest…
If you want Kierkegaard at the height of his literary powers, start with Repetition. If that whets your appetite for more, then proceed to Either/Or and Stages on Life’s Way. /1 https://twitter.com/IVMiles/status/1247727563155349504
If you want Kierkegaard at the height of his literary powers, start with Repetition. If that whets your appetite for more, then proceed to Either/Or and Stages on Life’s Way. /1 https://twitter.com/IVMiles/status/1247727563155349504
If you want him at his most polemical, try Practice in Christianity and, if you remain undaunted, move on to The Moment and Late Writings (a.k.a. The Attack on Christendom). /2
If you are more interested in his “psychological” writings, The Concept of Anxiety is the place to start, followed by The Sickness Unto Death. /3
If you want to reckon with his attack on speculative systems that purport to be the best way, or only way, to access religious truth, begin with Philosophical Fragments and then – if you have the time, patience, and stamina – stand and face Concluding Unscientific Postscript. /4
If you want Kierkegaard the devotionalist, devote yourself to reading Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, then Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (which includes Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing), and finally Works of Love. /5
For Kierkegaard the social critic, The Present Age is your best bet. /6
If you want a less orthodox entryway into Kierkegaard, the volume Without Authority gives you two of his classic “ethico-religious” essays – including “The Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle” – sandwiched between a few more of his religious discourses. /7
Have I left out Fear and Trembling? Mea culpa. This one is routinely misinterpreted. If you must start here, read it alongside Practice in Christianity or any of the above volumes of his religious discourses. /8
If you would like to get an idea of how Kierkegaard envisions his own philosophical and literary aims and methods, The Point of View provides us with his “hermeneutic” of his own authorship. Then go back and read his dissertation, The Concept of Irony. /9
If you still can’t make up your mind, or simply want to encounter Kierkegaard in all his literary and philosophical diversity, The Essential Kierkegaard is a fine collection of excerpts from virtually every step in his authorship and writings. /10
