Kierkegaard’s Influence on Social-Political Thought PDF
Preview Kierkegaard’s Influence on Social-Political Thought
KierKegaard’s influence on social-Political thought Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources Volume 14 Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources is a publication of the søren Kierkegaard research centre General Editor Jon stewart Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Editorial Board finn gredal Jensen Katalin nun Peter ŠaJda Advisory Board lee c. barrett maría J. binetti istvÁn czaKÓ heiKo schulz curtis l. thomPson Kierkegaard’s Influence on social-Political thought Edited by Jon stewart First published 2011 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprintof the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright© 2011 Jon stewart Jon stewart has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Kierkegaard’s influence on social-political thought. volume 14. – (Kierkegaard research) 1.Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855 – Influence. 2. Kierkegaard, søren, 1813–1855 – Political and social views. i. series ii. stewart, Jon (Jon bartley) 198.9–dc22 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kierkegaard’s influence on social-political thought / [edited by] Jon stewart. p.cm. — (Kierkegaard research ; v. 14) includes indexes. isbn 978-1-4094-3491-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Political science—Philosophy—history—20th century. 2. Political scientists—history—20th century. 3. Kierkegaard, søren, 1813–1855—Influence. 4. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855—Political and social views. i. stewart, Jon (Jon bartley) Ja83.K48 2011 320.092—dc23 2011026578 isbn 9781409434917 (hbk) isbn 9781138261617 (pbk) cover design by Katalin nun contents List of Contributors vii Preface xi Acknowledgements xvii List of Abbreviations xix giorgio agamben: state of exception Leif Bork Hansen 1 hannah arendt: Religion, Politics and the Influence of Kierkegaard Marcio Gimenes de Paula 29 alain badiou: thinking the subject after the death of god Michael O’ Neill Burns 41 Judith butler: Kierkegaard as her early teacher in rhetoric and Parody Gerhard Thonhauser 53 Jürgen habermas: social selfhood, religion, and Kierkegaard J. Michael Tilley 73 martin luther King, Jr.: Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, King’s Strength to Love Nigel Hatton 89 györgy lukács: from a tragic love story to a tragic life story András Nagy 107 herbert marcuse: social critique, haecker, and Kierkegaardian individualism J. Michael Tilley 137 vi Kierkegaard’s Influence on Social-Political Thought José ortega y gasset: meditations on “Provincial romanticism” Robert Puchniak 147 Jean-Paul sartre: between Kierkegaard and marx Michael O’Neill Burns 159 carl schmitt: zones of exception and appropriation Bartholomew Ryan 177 eric voegelin: Politics, history, and the anxiety of existence Peter Brickey LeQuire 209 cornel west: Kierkegaard and the construction of a “blues Philosophy” Marcia C. Robinson 231 richard wright: Kierkegaard’s Influence as Existentialist Outsider Jennifer Elisa Veninga 257 Index of Persons 275 Index of Subjects 283 list of contributors Leif Bork Hansen, Kirkestræde 10 a, dK-2800 Kgs. lyngby, denmark. Michael O’ Neill Burns, department of Philosophy, school of humanities, university of dundee, dundee dd1 4hn, united Kingdom. Marcio Gimenes de Paula, university of brasilia, department of Philosophy, university of brasilia, icc ala norte, campus darcy ribeiro, P.o. box: 04661, brasilia – df, brazil, ceP: 70910-900. Nigel Hatton, school of social sciences, humanities & arts, university of california, merced, merced, ca 95343, usa. Peter Brickey LeQuire, committee on social thought, the university of chicago, 1130 east 59th street, chicago, il 60637, usa. András Nagy, university of Pannonia, faculty of modern Philology and social sciences, department of theatre studies, egyetem u. 10, h-8200 veszprém, hungary. Robert Puchniak, delbarton school, 230 mendham road, morristown, nJ 07960, usa. Marcia C. Robinson, department of religion, 501 hall of languages, syracuse university, syracuse, nY 13210, usa. Bartholomew Ryan, european college of liberal arts, Platanenstraße 24, 13156 berlin, germany. J. Michael Tilley, department of Philosophy, georgetown college, 400 e. college street, georgetown, KY 40324, usa. Gerhard Thonhauser, department of Philosophy, university of vienna, universitätsstraße 7, 1010 vienna, austria. Jennifer Elisa Veninga, st. edward’s university, 3001 south congress avenue, austin, texas 78704, usa. Preface søren Kierkegaard has long been known as a multifaceted writer and thinker. his works possess the rare virtue of appealing to various kinds of people specialized in different fields of study. While scholars have traditionally recognized his important contributions to fields such as ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, philosophical psychology, and hermeneutics, it was long thought that he had nothing meaningful to say about society or politics. this has rendered the importance of his work for social- political thinking somewhat problematic. there are indeed many reasons for the neglect of this aspect of his work. Kierkegaard has been traditionally characterized as a religious writer who focused more or less exclusively on the faith of the individual. according to this view, what is of supreme importance is the inward religious life of each individual believer, and this cannot be meaningfully shared with others in a religious community. Thus, first, Kierkegaard appeared to be interested only in religion, or specifically Christianity, and not politics or the social order, and, second, his view of christian faith was thought to be radically individual and to exclude any meaningful theory of the group, be that religious, social, or political. indeed, one does not have to look too hard to find passages in his authorship which seem to support some version of this view. for example, in one of his nb journals he discusses as follows the relation of religion to the political order: what i have so often said jokingly—that it does not make any difference what government i live under just so i get to know who it is, who is Imprimatur—it now occurs to me that this is really christianity. for in the story about the tax coin christ asks: whose likeness is this, who is Imprimatur? christ clearly means this: if you want to be a christian, then snap your fingers first and foremost and above all at politics; whether the picture you see on the coin is named Peter or Paul, is a native or an alien—forget it—give him the tax and do not waste a single moment on such squabbling, you who as a christian have enough to do giving god what is his due, for the emperor’s image is on the tax coin, but the christian bears god’s image and therefore does with his whole person what he is commanded to do with the coin—gives himself wholly to the one whose image he bears.1 this entry seems to be saying that one condition for being a true christian is to be entirely indifferent or even disdainful towards politics or the current political situation. with his reference to the picture on the coin being that of “Peter or Paul,” he seems to deny the possibility of any religious community as well. indeed, such a community seems to be lumped together with the political sphere. in another journal entry he contrasts what he takes to be the true christianity of christ with the later work of the apostles, which he takes to be a distortion: 1 SKS 21, 126, NB7:94 / JP 4, 4151.
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