Quotes

Introduction to Kierkegaard (part 1): the existential problem

"The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. is bound to be noticed." (The Sickness Unto Death)

As a philosopher, Kierkegaard was extremely interested with ideas such as freedom, anxiety, despair, and what it means to live as a genuine human being. His thoughts of these topics were of great interest to the 20th century existentialists, such as Heidegger, Camus, and Sartre, which is why he is often called the "father of existentialism".

According to Kierkegaard human beings are a synthesis of opposites. One of these pairs of opposites he called the infinite and finite, writing:

"For the self is a synthesis in which the finite is the limiting factor, and the infinite the expanding factor."(The Sickness Unto Death)

The infinite corresponds to possibility, to the capacity to envisage new thoughts and ideas, bring into existence new creations, change oneself and choose from innumerable potentialities.

The finite corresponds to actuality or necessity, to the concrete here and now, to one's reality as a definite something in the world.

There is a compulsion to completely absorb oneself in either the finite or infinite, for in doing so one abandons the responsibility of being a self.

To lose oneself in the finite is to live a life which sees change as virtually impossible. In this situation such an individual frequently becomes depressed, slavish and dependent on others, imprisoned in what they perceive as an inescapable environment where no alternatives exist. Such individuals often find safety and security by assimilating themselves into social, institutional, or familial networks, finding it

"too venturesome a thing to be himself, far easier and safer to be like the others, to become an imitation, a number, a cipher in the crowd."(The Sickness Unto Death)

To lose oneself in the infinite is to live as though life is nothing but a series of endless experiments; different paths are sampled and personalities tried on for size but no enduring choice or commitment ever made. One who is lost in the infinite is obsessed with who one can potentially become, yet in reality never becomes anything, let alone a self:

"Now if possibility [infinite] outruns necessity [finite], the self runs away from itself...The self becomes an abstract possibility which tries itself out with floundering in the possible, but does not budge from the spot, not get to any spot, for precisely the necessary is the spot; to become oneself is precisely a movement at the spot."(The Sickness Unto Death)

To be a self requires that one balance these opposing tensions, in a manner unique to one's individuality. As it is far easier to lose oneself in the infinite or finite, this task of becoming a self requires vigilance, constant effort, and much courage, making it the greatest task there is:

"...to have a self, to be a self, is the greatest concession made to man, but at the same time it is eternity's demand upon him"(The Sickness Unto Death)

The weight of this task elicits anxiety. There are no manuals which guide one in the process of becoming a self and no external standards of success. On the path to selfhood one must "walk without meeting one single traveler" (Fear and Trembling). The individual is left alone in this balancing act of human existence, and a dizziness and disorientation rises up as he stares into the abyss of possibilities which confront him.