Søren Kierkegaard was one of the most important European philosophers of the nineteenth-century and is widely regarded as the founder of existentialism. His work had a profound influence on some of the main intellectual currents of the last two centuries. Clearly and thematically structured, with investigations into a host of Kierkegaard's key concepts-including 'immediacy', 'sin', 'despair', 'individuality' and 'the crowd'-and with references to a wide range of his works, Starting with Kierkegaard provides the reader with a balanced overview of the Danish philosopher's project, paying as much attention to the signed 'edifying' works as to the famous authorship of the pseudonyms. Starting with Kierkegaard also offers a short survey of the historical, biographical and philosophical context of Kierkegaard's ideas as they started to take shape in the 1830s. The book closes with a discussion of Kierkegaard and society, and of his continuing relevance to today. Starting with Kierkegaard is the ideal introduction for anyone coming to the work of this hugely important thinker for the first time.

This clear, readable introduction to Kierkegaard presents him as a thinker with powerful answers to the questions which philosophers ask.

Soren Kierkegaard is one of the prophets of the contemporary age, a man whose acute observations on life in nineteenth-century Copenhagen might have been written yesterday, whose work anticipated fundamental developments in psychoanalysis, philosophy, theology and the critique of mass culture by over a century. John Caputo offers a compelling account of Kierkegaard as a thinker of particular relevance in our postmodern times, who set off a revolution that numbers Martin Heidegger and Karl Barth among its heirs. His conceptions of truth as a self-transforming 'deed' and his haunting account of the 'single individual' seemed to have been written with us especially in mind. Extracts include Kierkegaard's classic reading of the story of Abraham and Isaac, the jolting theory that truth is subjectivity and his ground-breaking analysis of the concept of anxiety.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was one of the most original thinkers of the 19th Century – and one of the most enigmatic men who ever walked the Earth. Philosophically, Kierkegaard was the “bridge” that led from Hegel to Existentialism. Kierkegaard abhorred Hegel’s abstract, Know-it-all idealism that tried to capture reality in a few words. Kierkegaard’s attack on social and religious complacency and his single-handed assault on traditional Western philosophy generated a crisis that produced a radically new way of philosophizing and made him the founder of the school that would later be called Existentialism. To Kierkegaard, reality was personal, subjective – it began and ended with the individual – and philosophy was not something one merely talked about, it was the way you lived. For such a brilliant thinker, the way Kierkegaard lived was… somewhat too interesting? His “abstract” love affair? His obsession with death? His “leap of Faith,” his cynicism, his marvelous sense of humor – how do you put all that into one man? For starters, you read Kierkegaard For Beginners. It explains, plainly and simply, the great Danish thinker’s obsession with the particularity of human existence as well as his demonstration of how the creation of an authentic new kind of individual is possible

The most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Kierkegaard quotations ever published "Why I so much prefer autumn to spring is that in the autumn one looks at heaven—in the spring at the earth."—Søren Kierkegaard The father of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a philosopher who could write like an angel. With only a sentence or two, he could plumb the depths of the human spirit. In this collection of some 800 quotations, the reader will find dazzling bon mots next to words of life-changing power. Drawing from the authoritative Princeton editions of Kierkegaard's writings, this book presents a broad selection of his wit and wisdom, as well as a stimulating introduction to his life and work. Organized by topic, this volume covers notable Kierkegaardian concerns such as anxiety, despair, existence, irony, and the absurd, but also erotic love, the press, busyness, and the comic. Here readers will encounter both well-known quotations ("Life must be understood backward. But then one forgets the other principle, that it must be lived forward") and obscure ones ("Beware false prophets who come to you in wolves' clothing but inwardly are sheep--i.e., the phrasemongers"). Those who spend time in these pages will discover the writer who said, "my grief is my castle," but who also taught that "the best defense against hypocrisy is love." Illuminating and delightful, this engaging book also provides a substantial portrait of one of the most influential of modern thinkers. Gathers some 800 quotations Drawn from the authoritative Princeton editions of Kierkegaard's writings Includes an introduction, a brief account and timeline of Kierkegaard's life, a guide to further reading, and an index

Kierkegaard is an important literary and religious figure, as well a major philosopher whom students may have a difficult time comprehending- this guide provides a clear and concise understanding of his work