Soren Kierkegaard
Soren Kierkegaard was a theologian, poet, religious author and a philosopher who is
nowadays widely known as the first existentialist philosopher. Kierkegaard displayed his
love of metaphor, irony and parables on most of his writings and most of his philosophical
works are related to “the issues of how one live as a “single individual”, giving priority to
concrete human reality over abstract thinking, and highlighting the importance of personal
choice and commitment (Wiki)”. Kierkegaard’s theological work focused on Christian
ethics and the individual’s subjective relation to the Christ and he was also a critic of
idealist philosophers.
The first important date in Kierkegaard’s life is 1813 when he was born in a wealthy
family in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1830 Kierkegaard attended the School of Civic Virtue
and he studied Latin and history. He first met Regine Olsen on 1837 and was attracted to
each other. However, their engagement was broken after several disillusionments and
eventually ended on 1841. This had a major influence on Kierkegaard’s work.
The influential books of Kierkegaard included The Concept of Irony, which is considered
the first major book written by Kierkegaard in 1841. The book deals with the conflict with
Hegelianism. Other books such as Fear and Trembling (1843) which is a study of the story
of Abraham and Issac, The concept of Dread (1844), Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
(1847), and The Sickness unto Death (1849) are writings which were published under
