The Concept Of Despair In Kierkegaard' Works

Kierkegaard is the forerunner in the history of existentialism. In 1849,he published a book, Sickness Unto Death, in which he studied human beings' state and drew a conclusion that human beings were filled with despair. He tried to dignose the cause of the disease and find a way to recover from despair. We can find the clue of despair in Either/Or, which was published in 1843.In Sickness Unto Death, the thought fully grew and developed and became more mature. It refered to a lot of important thought in Kierkegaard's authorship, such as the theory of the single individual, the three stages of existence and his religious thought and so on. In summary, there are three kind of important thought: the thought about humanity, existence and Christian religion.Human beings are the composition of this life and eternal and built by spirit, If one can not do with the relationship between this life and the eternal or don't have spirit, he is in the state of despair. His thought about the consitution of human beings is the same as Christian's explanation, but kierkegaard pays attention to both this life and the eternal. He tried to mix them together. And spirit here, in fact, is Christian religion.The thought of existence is the core of Kierkegarrd' philosophy. His concern about real life is the starting point, and it is also the foothold on which he criticized the thought of Hegel' philosophy. "Despair" is attached to the thought of existence. Kierkegaard emphasized the lifestyle of the single individual and refute to follow the crowed. To be the single individual means to be yourself. If one follows the crowd or doesn't realise the important of spirit, he is in the state of despair.In Kierkegaard' opinion, Christian religion is the only way to get rid of despair. But the road is rough. We must break away from intellect and believe in God with all the passion. We must believe that everything is possible in front of God. We can see that the experience of himself influenced his thought. Philosophers after Kierkegaard found another way to save human beings.