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Articles

Søren Kierkegaard

Jeff Mason on Kierkegaard’s three forms of life: the ethical, the aesthetic and the religious.

Why get up in the morning? Should we get up for ourselves, for others, or for the Christian God? If we get up for ourselves, we live for pleasure, interest or boredom (the aesthetic life). If we get up for others, we live according to universal moral principles (the ethical life). Finally, if we get up for God, then we live for an absolute power that creates and supports us (the religious life). Which one is best? What are the consequences of living each sort of life? These are some of the questions addressed by the Danish philosopher and Christian religious thinker, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855).

Kierkegaard died young, but left a vast amount of writing.

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