Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard, SÖREN AABY, the greatest thinker of Denmark, was born at Copenhagen, on 5th May 1813, led the simple but busy life of a thinker and writer, and died on 11th November 1855. He was a very voluminous author. His greatest books are Either—Or (1843) and Stadia on Life's Way (1845); these and many others were published under fictitious names. Kierkegaard applied the Socratic method to the examination of the fundamental philosophical principles of Christianity, regarded not as an organised or church religion, but as the religion of the individual soul. Both his thought and style are singularly original. In dialectical skill, eloquence, and imaginative qualities he is scarcely inferior to Plato; and to these he joined wit and a love of irony and paradox. He has been one of the most potent influences in modern Dano-Norwegian literature. In his last years he made a bitter attack on the official church. See Life by Georg Brandes (in Danish, 1877), and biographical studies by Bärthold (in German, 1875-86).