The Existence Of Inwardness Subjectivity

Sφren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is a key figure in the turning point of the modernization of western philosophy. He is known as "contemporary Socrates, " "father of existentialist, " "the most compelling thinker" and the "the profound philosopher as Karl Marx". The famous scholar Hayes placed Kierkegaard as among the three "great philosophers who changed the direction of civilization", including Hegel and Marx, who had a unique contribution to the theology, philosophy psychology and social critical theory, and remained an unabated practical significance till now. However, the academic study of Kierkegaard's philosophical thinking is still relatively backward and is constrained by traditional ideas, and failed to be studied in a broader area. The turning from Hegel's philosophy to reality followed two main lines:firstly, from Feuerbach to Marx" s "practical materialism, " which takes perceptual practice as the activity place and direction of reason; secondly, initiated with the existential philosophy of Kierkegaard, and examine the individual's perceptual existential activity from an irrational perspective. The academic circles paid more attention to the former line and lacked due attention to Kierkegaard's philosophy and its significance in philosophy history. The purpose of this thesis is to systematically expound the origin, basic content, characteristics and influence of Kierkegaard's individual existentialism.The thesis contains five parts.The introduction introduces three conceptions:the turning of subjectivity, individual being and irrational, the explaining of which would help the reader to better understand this thesis.Part one introduces the life and origin of Kierkegaard's philosophical thought. The 19th century was generalized as "an epoch of ideological system" by American scholar H. D. Aiken The speculative philosophy of Hegel dominated the mental outlook of Denmark at that time. "The period of Hegel doctrine" became a necessary stage of most philosophers and theologians'ideological development. Kierkegaard's university professor such as H. L. Martensen, F. C. Sibbren and F. M. Mφller all experienced such period, and were fundamentally influenced by Hegel in their own thinking. Kierkegaard, on the contrary, started with opposing Hegel's speculative philosophy. He held that "a system of logic is possible, but a system of existence is impossible, " and existence transcends the boundary of rational cognition. The arrogation of speculative philosophy over the domain of existence caused the oblivion of the fact of man's own existence, and man became the "onlooker" of their own existence. It also expressed as the substitution of "individual" by the abstract "public" in social life and in the replacement became substantial. Based on his life faith of finding the truth that deserves living and death, Kierkegaard vehemently criticized the prevalent speculative philosophy. His lifelong speculation centers on one issue, namely, how to become a Christian, which philosophically stated as how to achieve self-realization and become an individual being.". Part two defines the concept of "individual being". From the perspective of ontology, the subjectivity of Kierkegaard is a kind of inward being. The existence is not to recogonize an outward object, but to be part of it. In the existence philosophy, inward subjectivity is a self that concerns its own existence and reality. The individual being is the self-realization. Self is the logic starting point of Kierkegaard's individual existence. Self is not a subsitence in the form of achieved, acquired nature, but the synthesis of antagonistic factors such as infinite and finite, body and soul, realtiy and eternity, freedom and necessity, possibility and probability, etc. It is the spirit of infinite being. Self is the relationship of synthesis, which conects self-being and self. This kind of self can be regarded as the "realtionship ontology" self. It is a subjectivity that exists inwardly. Thus, this part would elaborate on the concept of "individual being" from two perspectives.Part three discusses the basic condition of individual's existence development. Man is not born to achieve self-realized form. The process of self-realization is an "existential" process of continuous selection, in which process the self-being might experience three developmental processes in its realization, or three realms:the aesthetic, the ethics and the religious. Of the three, the religious realm is regarded by Kierkegaard as the supreme state, meaning the realization of individual. It is not necessary for everyone to experience the three states, but only as a development process following which logic. It is an inescapable ethics responsibility for everyone to choose their own existence state or form, and everyone has to choose their existence model according to their own states.Part four generalizes the basic content of individual's existence activity and its characteristics. During the process of individualization, the basic components or activity of existence represent as "choose" and "experience" In light of Kierkegaard's inward subjectivity, the space of existence is bound to be in the field of subject spirituality. In face of "either-or" existence, the self choice becomes decisive and the existence is realized by continuous choice. Choice is realized by way of existence and the grasp of existence cannot be without experience, of which is the "participatory" consciousness of individual's existence, and implies the subject's comprehensive grasp and introspection upon its own existence. Selection cannot be realized by objective cognition, thus, experience is the basic component of individual existence.Man is the being of individual and soul. The conception of existence is manifested by Kierkegaard. Man's existence can be viewed as re-birth from "non-existence" to "existence". The non-existence is the non-truth state in which man is ignorant, and the individual's spirit is not awakened yet, or the self is not closely related with inward existence and concerned with self. Therefore, the existence process is to occupy and live up to truth ontologically. The truth here is not the objective one in the ontology sense, but the existence truth that closely relates to living. The existence process of subject expresses as an intrinsic dialectics from itself and regaining significance, namely, the existence dialectics. It presents not only as "leaping" in the realm of existence, but also in the gradation of emotion. From desperate self-denial to desperate assertion, the Self would finally confession of the "sin" before God. Belief is the contradiction between the passion of inward subject and the uncertainty of object. Thus, we can also refer the existence dialectics as "paradox dialectics".Part five aims to clarify the influence of Kierkegaard's philosophy of individual existence, and evaluate it from the perspective of Marx's practice subsistence. Kierkegaard is the initiator who steers the modern existentialism. Through his own experience and subjective introspection, he proposed the significance and value of individual existence. His orientation of revolt speculation against the existential individual reflects his original philosophical value and influences the following existentialism and post-modern philosophy. From the perspective of Marx's practice subsistence, Kierkegaard's individual existentialism has its distinct limitations. Firstly, Kierkegaard criticizes traditional rationalism's negligence of individual's existence, and its highlighting of the ultimate value of individual's self-realization, but he remained the unnecessary hypothesis of God, which limited man within the subjective spirit domain of individual self, and neglected the basic impact of publicity upon individual; secondly, Kierkegaard antagonized reason and existence, which makes existence to be an "existence self-being" that unable to reflect and express effectively. It results the mysteriousness and privatization of existence, and negligence of inter-subjectivity. From the angle of value of academic research, Kierkegaard's individual existence is the profound expounding of man's existence, which helps us to properly regard alienation in existence, and also plays an important reference meaning in our construction of Marx's theory of practical substance.