The Paradoxical Rationality of Søren Kierkegaard

Richard Mccombs

Description

The tension between reason and faith

Richard McCombs presents Søren Kierkegaard as an author who deliberately pretended to be irrational in many of his pseudonymous writings in order to provoke his readers to discover the hidden and paradoxical rationality of faith. Focusing on pseudonymous works by Johannes Climacus, McCombs interprets Kierkegaardian rationality as a striving to become a self consistently unified in all its dimensions: thinking, feeling, willing, acting, and communicating. McCombs argues that Kierkegaard's strategy of feigning irrationality is sometimes brilliantly instructive, but also partly misguided. This fresh reading of Kierkegaard addresses an essential problem in the philosophy of religion—the relation between faith and reason.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. A Pretense of Irrationalism
2. Paradoxical Rationality
3. Reverse Theology
4. The Subtle Power of Simplicity
5. A Critique of Indirect Communication
6. The Figure of Socrates and the Climacean Capacity of Paradoxical Reason
7. The Figure of Socrates and the Downfall of Paradoxical Reason
8. The Proof of Paradoxical Reason
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Ebooks
• Savoirs
• Philosophie
• Religious
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religión
• Philosophy
• Philosophy of religion
• Religion
• Søren Kierkegaard

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 04 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253006578
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PARADOXICAL RATIONALITY OF SØREN KIERKEGAARD

INDIANA SERIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

Merold Westphal, editor

THE PARADOXICAL RATIONALITY OF SØREN KIERKEGAARD

This book is a publication of

Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA

iupress.indiana.edu

Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931

© 2013 by Richard McCombs

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCombs, Richard Phillip. The paradoxical rationality of Søren Kierkegaard / Richard McCombs.  pages cm. — (Indiana series in the philosophy of religion) Includes bibliographical references (pages) and index. ISBN 978-0-253-00647-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-00657-8 (electronic book) 1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. 2. Faith and reason— Christianity. 3. Philosophical theology. I. Title. BX4827.K5M33 2013

198'.9—dc23

1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13

2012039961

TO MY PARENTS

RICHARD AND SANDRA MCCOMBS

CONTENTS

· Acknowledgments

· Abbreviations

1 A Pretense of Irrationalism

2 Paradoxical Rationality

3 Reverse Theology

4 The Subtle Power of Simplicity

5 A Critique of Indirect Communication

G The Figure of Socrates and the Climacean Capacity of Paradoxical Reason

7 The Figure of Socrates and the Downfall of Paradoxical Reason

8 The Proof of Paradoxical Reason

· Notes

· Bibliography

· Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people gave helpful criticisms and suggestions on drafts of this book. Jim Carey minutely critiqued an early draft. James Cutsinger gave helpful suggestions on parts of the manuscript and, more importantly, helped me with superlative Socratic art to learn a way of reading and thinking that led to the writing of this book. John Cornell, Joseph Smith, Steven Taylor, and Llyd Wells read portions of the manuscript and gave useful advice and criticisms. Sandra McCombs proofread the last draft and pointed out many errors. Walter Sterling read all of the manuscript and gave excellent advice both on the organization of the book as a whole and on the beginning of the book in particular. Merold Westphal, my mentor on Kierkegaard, gave very valuable advice on the manuscript as a whole and also made crucial suggestions on additions to the manuscript. Finally, my wife, Acacia, read the entire manuscript once, and many parts of it several times, and discovered many obscurities, inconsistencies of voice, and infelicities of style, and, more importantly, patiently supported and encouraged me in the writing of this book. Of course, any remaining errors in the text are to be attributed to its author.

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ABBREVIATIONS

The Concept of Anxiety Christian Discourses, Etc. The Concept of Irony The Corsair Affair and Articles Related to the Writings Concluding Unscientific Postscript Early Buddhist Discourses Either/Or Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses From the Papers of One Still Living For Self-Examination Fear and Trembling Johannes Climacus or De omnibus dubitandum est Judge for Yourself! Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers The Moment and Late Writings The Teachings of the Buddha, the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha Practice in Christianity Philosophical Fragments The Point of View for My Work as an Author Repetition Stages on Life’s Way The Sickness unto Death Two Ages Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits Without Authority Works of Love