Kierkegaard

Definition: Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard

Noun

1. Danish philosopher who was the founder of existentialism (1813-1855).

Specialty Definition: Søren Kierkegaard

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher, has achieved general recognition as the father of existentialism. Philosophically, he bridged the gap that existed between Hegelian philosophy and Existentialism. Kierkegaard strongly rejected both the Hegelian philosophy of his time, and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Danish church.
Kierkegaard's work sometimes resists interpretation, since he wrote most of his early work under various pseudonyms, and often these pseudo-authors will comment on the works of the earlier pseudo-authors.
Kierkegaard's Life
Søren Kierkegaard was born to an affluent family in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. His father, Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, was a strongly religious man. Convinced that he had earned God's wrath, he believed that none of his children would live to the age of 34 (Christ's age at crucifixion). The sins necessitating this punishment, he believed, included cursing the name of God in his youth, and possibly impregnating Kierkegaard's mother out of wedlock. In fact, his predictions were realized for all but two of his seven children. So strong was his father's conviction that Søren himself was surprised when he survived his 34th year.
This early introduction to the notion of sin, and its connection from father and son, laid the foundation for much of Kierkegaard's work (particularly Fear and Trembling.) Kierkegaard's mother, Anne Sørensdatter Lund Kierkegaard, is not directly referred to in his books, although she too affected his later writings (details?)
Despite his father's occasional religious melancholy, Kierkegaard and his father shared a close bond. Kierkegaard learned to explore the realm of his imagination through a series of exercises and games they played together.
Another important aspect of Kierkegaard's life that is generally considered to have had a major influence on his work, was his broken engagement to Regine Olsen. Kierkegaard's motive for ending the engagement remains mysterious. It is generally believed that the two were deeply in love -- perhaps even after she married Johan Frederik Schlegel (1817-1896), a prominent civil servant (not to be confused with the German philosopher Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829). For the most part, their contact was limited to chance meetings on the streets of Copenhagen. Some years later, however, Kierkegaard went so far as to ask Regine's husband for permission to speak with her, but was refused. Soon afterward, the couple left the country, Schlegel having been appointed Governor in the Danish West Indies. By the time Regine returned, Kierkegaard was dead. Regine Schlegel lived until 1904, and upon her death she was buried near Kierkegaard in the Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen.
Notes: The name "Kierkegaard" means "(the) farm by (the) church". Not a churchyard.
Major Works:
Either/Or
Fear and Trembling
Repetition
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
Stages On Life's Way
The Sickness Unto Death
Works of Love

See also philosophy of religion.

External addresses

Google: Kierkegaard, Søren
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "S�ren Kierkegaard."

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Synonyms: Kierkegaard

Synonyms: Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (n), Soren Kierkegaard (n). (additional references)

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Modern Usage: Kierkegaard

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Søren Kierkegaard roadshow (1990)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Kierkegaard

Domain	Title
Books	Poul Martin Moeller : oder, Die dänische Erziehung des Soeren Kierkegaard : eine krit. Monographie mit e. ersten Übers. Seiner Abhandlung über d. "Affectation" (reference) Freedom and Its Misuses: Kierkegaard on Anxiety and Dispair (Marquette Studies in Philosophy, #12) (reference) Soren Kierkegaard O La Subjetividad del Caba (reference) Dialogical Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Buber (Suny Series in Jewish Philosophy) (reference) Chatter: Language and History in Kierkegaard (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics Series) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Kierkegaard

Author	Quotation
Soren Kierkegaard	Be that self which one truly is.
	Once you label me you negate me.
	Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
	Purity of heart is to will one thing.
	What our age lacks is not reflection, but passion.
	Repetition is the reality and the seriousness of life.
	Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.
	It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey.
	Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Kierkegaard

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Denmark	The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75), the philosophical essays of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55), and the short stories of Karen Blixen (penname Isak Dinesen, 1885-1962) have earned international recognition, as have the symphonies of Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). Danish applied art and industrial design have won awards for excellence. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Kierkegaard

"Kierkegaard" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Kierkegaard" is used about 35 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (proper)	100%	35	58,339

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Kierkegaard

Expressions using "Kierkegaard": soren Aabye Kierkegaard ♦ soren Kierkegaard. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Kierkegaard

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
kierkegaard	174
soren kierkegaard	70
kierkegaard quote	9
kierkegaard søren	7
kierkegaard werke	6
entweder kierkegaard oder	4
fear kierkegaard trembling	4
kierkegaard sören	4
kierkegaard existentialism	3
kierkegaard quote soren	3
either kierkegaard	3
diary kierkegaard	3
angest begrebet kierkegaard søren	2
grevenberg kierkegaard	2
kierkegaard philosopher	2
kierkegaard ren s	2
faith kierkegaard leap	2
kierkegaard picture soren	2
faith kierkegaard knight	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Anagrams: Kierkegaard

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-d-e-e-g-i-k-k-r-r"
	-3 letters: gerardia.
	-4 letters: readier, regrade.
	-5 letters: aeried, aerier, agreed, arider, daiker, darker, dearer, dearie, dekare, dragee, edgier, garred, geared, girder, grader, kerria, raider, reader, reared, redear, rediae, regard, regear, reread.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.