Kierkegaard's Paradox

Paper Summary:

This paper describes Kierkegaard's basic paradox between Reason and Passion and its ultimate expression. The paper explains that this is the attempt to describe the existence of God, which is the name he gives for the Unknown. The paper illustrates how according to Kierkegaard, it is impossible for human Reason to know or describe the Unknown, yet it is the ultimate goal of Reason. The paper shows how this is what creates the paradox.

From the Paper:

"The 19th century Dutch philosopher Sen Kierkegaard believed that paradox was integral to a philosopher or thinking man, because it created passion and without both of those, philosophy and thought was meaningless. This created a paradox for the serious philosopher, because reason being a matter of thought and intellect is the opposite of passion, being of feelings and emotions. He believed that paradox created passion, but without passion the thinker could not be inspired to create his philosophy, but that at some point there would be a "collision" of Reason and passion, and that this would be the undoing of one or both of them, because it is in the nature of the paradox of Reason and passion to try to destroy each other. Kierkegaard said, "The supreme paradox of all thought is the attempt to discover something that thought cannot think.""

More papers on Kierkegaard's Paradox:

• Essay # 53484 : "Kierkegaard - On Becoming a Christian"
• Essay # 86694 : "Nietzsche and Kierkegaard"
• Essay # 42298 : "Kierkegaard, Theology and Faith"

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