A Study Of Kierkegaard's Aesthetic Existence

S(?)ren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is a Danish philosopher, theologian, psychologist and poet. Gifted with profoundly thought and brilliant talents, his life is short but left abundant works and unique insight in philosophy, religion, psychology and cultural criticism. Kierkegaard lived an untimely life, and his ideas unappreciated by his contemporaries due to his perspectiveness. But with the intensification of the reason and faith crisis in the end of the century, this outstanding thinker began to be recognized and accepted gradually, and his thought began to receive widespread academic attention. The existentialism regarded him as "Father of Existentialism". The German existentialist Karl Jasper speaks highly of him, "Kierkegaard and Nietzsche opened our eyes." In the theology domain, under the guidance of Kierkegaard's religious philosophy, the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth completed the "crisis" theology. In the field of psychoanalysis, Kierkegaard was neck and neck with Sigmund Freud, and was known as "the master of post-psychoanalysis"After the two World Wars, especially since the 1960s, the war-scourged people have begun to reflect on their own values and ideas. What kind of life do we want? The existence of self and others, the problem of whole human race's survival has been confusing us. With the rapid development of science and technology today, mankind possesses power, science and technology and civilization, but found their own spirit homeless. Although the material life improved greatly, the spiritual problem not only unsolved, but even deepened. Under the domination of reason, people lost the self, lacked passion and faith, and individual become countless existence of fragments. Therefore, Kierkegaard exhausted his entire life to reject the control of reason over individual. He put forward the "existence philosophy" which is in opposition to speculative philosophy. This thesis is based on the text of Kierkegaard, and in association with his ideas of ethical existence and religious existence. It starts form the lowest level of aesthetic existence to analyze the predicament of aestheticism existence and how to achieve self redemption under the guide of faith through the abyss of nihilism and despair. In short, it is the road provided for the individuals to survive from destruction to saving, which provides an opportunity for the dilemma of modern people's existence. From the level of individual'existence to explore ideas of Kierkegaard, it is no doubt of realistic significance.The thought of Kierkegaard caused concerned with the rise of existentialism. The research of it abroad is comparatively more comprehensive and in-depth. Kierkegaard was introduced to China gradually at the end the 19th century, but didn't attract attention. In the 1980s, existentialism trend was booming in Chinese academic circles. Compared with Sartre, Camus, and a number of other existentialism thinkers, the introduction of Kierkegaard seemed like an attachment, and not received enough attention. For example, his book, "The Seducer's Diary" was changed into "Three Girls Who Once Been Men", which disregarded its philosophical thought. But there are also some serious scholars began to translate Kierkegaard in the true academic sense. Some presses also published works of Kierkegaard. And now graduate thesis and dissertations on Kierkegaard appeared almost every year, in which the three realms of Kierkegaard's existence attracted attention from many scholars.Based on Kierkegaard's text, this thesis would make an analysis of the basic connotation of Kierkegaard's aesthetic existence in connection with the ideas of the ethical and religious existence, from the perspective of existentialism. It would also generalize the true nature of his aesthetic ideas, and elaborate on his aesthetic viewpoints. The innovation of this thesis lies in its starting point of existentialism and the expounding on the basic content and features of aesthetic existence. Moreover, it would re-examine the relationship of Kierkegaard's aesthetic existence ethical existence from a comprehensive perspective and reach the conclusion, namely, the theology aesthetics. It can be said that Kierkegaard's philosophical starting point is the individual, the end is God. In other words, Kierkegaard did not just stop at the level of Hegel's criticism of aestheticism, but found another way of theology to avoid generalization, and to keep the metaphysical nature of the aesthetic. So we should take aesthetic existence dialectically, that is, to be aware of its importance in Kierkegaard's aesthetic existence, and notice Kierkegaard's critique of it. Only an accurate identification of it realized, can a comprehensive understanding of his philosophical thought be obtained.The shadow of childhood, the defect of his body made him melancholy and solitude. The stern education of his father rendered him an extremely complicated inner world. The frustration of love made him despaired. But it was precisely his unfortunate and suffering that endowed him with profound and lasting thinking. His ideas were greatly influenced by the social thoughts and historical background of his times. Influenced by the "Irony" of Socrates'philosophy, he formed his unique ideas during the process of criticizing the speculative philosophy that represented by Hegel. It is of great importance for us to understand his lifetime and the origin of his thought.Kierkegaard divided individual's existence into three realms or phases. The aesthetic existence is the starting and initial stage of Kierkegaard's three existential realms. The "aesthetics" taken by Kierkegaard is not the aesthetic theory in the traditional sense of metaphysic. Kierkegaard regards "aesthetics" as a way of existence by individual, a state of a realm of Being. He regards aesthetic existence as a way to religious existence, by which people achieve self-realization and salvation. The individual feels fearful, lonely and desperate in aesthetic existence. In the abyss of emptiness, people fulfill their inner emptiness by material lust, or resist in their minds, but they would inevitably come to realize that existence itself is emptiness and despair. There is only one way to get rid of it, namely, the God. Through irony, people constantly realize the Self, deny the Self and transcend the Self, so as to obtain the higher realm of existence, the religious existence.Thus, aesthetic existence is by no means the habitat of individual's soul. Then how about the man in the realm of ethical existence, and whose life and action have been pre-determined, and just to be proceeded step by step? Easy life as it is, Kierkegaard thinks of it without any value. He would rather choose the direct, aesthetic life, and experiences the actual existence as time passes. Thus, the ethical existence was shelved by Kierkegaard. He required people to focus on the religious existence, which is different from ethical existence in that it emphasizes the individual and the individual's existence. In certain sense, it reconstructed existence in a higher realm of existence. The aesthetic existence has a postern to the religious existence. The attitude of Kierkegaard himself towards aesthetic existence realm is dialectic. On the one hand, he takes aesthetic existence in against to the rationalism that destructed human nature; on the other, he criticizes the emptiness and lack of foundation of the aesthetic existence. Through his criticism and identification of the realm of aesthetic existence, we could comprehend the ideas of Kierkegaard's aesthetics, namely, the theology aesthetics, which was of religious meaning due to the influence of religion.