October’s Not School groups are reading Roberto Bolano, Soren Kierkegaard, Victor Turner and Martin Heidegger, and we have proposals for a few more. Join up and come check them out!
Schleiermacher vs. Kierkegaard (at LibertarianChristians.com)
Clare Carlisle’s Spinoza Walk-Through (via The Guardian)
I just stumbled across an 8 part series on Spinoza (discussed by us here), completed today and begun here on 2/7/11, written by U. of Liverpool lecturer Clare Carlisle, who I see has written some books on Kierkegaard,which will give you some idea where she’s coming from. I’ve not read the whole series, but it seems pretty clear and cogent, Continue Reading …
The Sickness Unto Death, the PowerPoint!
I mentioned on the Kierkegaard episode having prepared a PowerPoint on The Sickness Unto Death, so I submit to you, the morbidly curious, TSUD: The PowerPoint! (Warning, it’s over 700KB, and might take a while to download on slower connections.) I believe Seth made some minor corrections and improvements, but any errors in spelling, interpretation, or insight are mine. Feel Continue Reading …
Kierkegaard, Docudramatized
Kierkegaard’s stern Christian vision originated with a strict, almost traumatic, upbringing. His defense of individualism and radical subjectivity would not likely have developed without it. But it’s hard for the modern reader to get past Kierkegaard’s freakish, introverted persona. A more sympathetic view of K. might be found in the 1984 BBC television series Sea of Faith, written and presented by controversial Continue Reading …
Louis CK on the story of Abraham
If you wanted some more detail on the story of Abraham as discussed by Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling, here’s a version by comedian Louis CK (yes, with swearing): Watch on youtube. This presentation shows the challenge Kierkegaard or any other Judeo-Christian apologist faces in defending a belief system that would make this story a central, celebrated piece of its Continue Reading …
Modern Science Searches for the Self
Below is a clip from David Malone’s recent documentary, Soul Searching, originally broadcast on the UK’s Channel 4. It reviews some of the latest developments in brain science to discover that the self might just be an illusion, a byproduct of the brain’s left hemisphere trying to construct a narrative of reality. It makes for compelling viewing, and those uninterested in Continue Reading …
Fun with Kierkegaard – YouTube edition
During the podcast on Kierkegaard, Daniel made reference to a YouTube video featuring K. in a mock election ad. There were a couple of these that are quite amusing. Linkage for your reference: Another one after the bump…
Kierkegaard and Cinema
You don’t have to be a self-absorbed mope to like Kierkegaard, but it can’t hurt. Below is a stereotypically morose clip from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), which echoes themes presented in The Sickness Unto Death: Watch on youtube. The protagonist, Antonius Block, is a medieval knight suffering from what Kierkegaard might classify as conscious despair of infinitude. Despite assertions by many Continue Reading …
What is Despair, Anyway?
[Editor’s note: If you’ve listened to the Kierkegaard episode, then you’ve heard plenty of felicitous exposition and argumentation by Mr. Daniel Horne, whom we’ve consequently invited to post some follow-up thoughts and resources over the next weeks: Yes, we know Kierkegaard thought of despair as sin, but is despair “a” sin? Is it “sin” writ large? Despair is prohibited by no Continue Reading …
Episode 29: Kierkegaard on the Self (Citizens Only)
Discussing Soren Kierkegaard’s “The Sickness Unto Death” (1849). What is the self? or K. we are a tension between opposites: necessity and possibility, the finite and the infinite, soul and body. With guest Daniel Horne.
End song: “John T. Flibber” by The MayTricks, from Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994)
PREVIEW-Episode 29: Kierkegaard on the Self
Discussing Soren Kierkegaard’s “The Sickness Unto Death” (1849). What is the self? or K. we are a tension between opposites: necessity and possibility, the finite and the infinite, soul and body. With guest Daniel Horne.