KRSRR, Volume 2: Kierkegaard and the Greek World

Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources

	Volume 2: Kierkegaard and the Greek World Edited by Jon Stewart and Katalin Nun Tome I: Socrates and Plato Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate 2010. xix+321pp. Tome II: Aristotle and Other Greek Authors Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate 2010. xv+335pp. The present volume features articles that employ source-work research to trace Kierkegaard’s understanding and use of authors from the Greek tradition. The articles treat a series of figures of varying importance in Kierkegaard’s authorship, ranging from early Greek poets to late Classical philosophical schools. In general it can be said that the Greeks collectively constitute one of the single most important bodies of sources for Kierkegaard’s thought. He studied Greek from an early age and was profoundly inspired by what might be called the Greek spirit. Although he is generally considered a Christian thinker, he was nonetheless consistently drawn back to the Greeks for ideas and impulses on any number of topics. He frequently contrasts ancient Greek philosophy, with its emphasis on the lived experience of the individual in daily life, with the abstract German philosophy that was in vogue during his own time. It has been argued that he modeled his work on that of the ancient Greek thinkers specifically in order to contrast his own activity with that of his contemporaries. Tome I: Socrates and Plato This volume has been organized so as to reflect the full spectrum of Kierkegaard’s Greek sources. Tome I is dedicated to the different pictures of Socrates. It contains a series of articles on Plato, who is clearly his main Greek source in general. In addition, a second section features articles on Xenophon and Aristophanes, the other ancient sources of Socrates discussed by Kierkegaard. A third section contains articles that treat the reception of the figure of Socrates in the Germanophone world and in Denmark respectively. Table of Contents Part I: Plato’s Socrates Apology: Kierkegaard’s Socratic Point of View Paul Muench Meno: Kierkegaard and the Doctrine of Recollection David D. Possen Phaedo and Parmenides: Eternity, Time, and the Moment or From the Abstract Philosophical to the Concrete Christian Janne Kylliäinen Phaedrus: Kierkegaard on Socrates’ Self-Knowledge—and Sin David D. Possen Protagoras and Republic: Kierkegaard on Socratic Irony David D. Possen *Symposium: Kierkegaard and Platonic Eros Rick Anthony Furtak* Theaetetus: Giving Birth or Kierkegaard’s Socratic Maieutics Marius Timmann Mjaaland Cumulative Plato Bibliography Katalin Nun Part II: Other Greek Sources on Socrates Aristophanes: Kierkegaard’s Understanding of the Socrates of the Clouds Eric Ziolkowski Xenophon: Kierkegaard’s Use of the Socrates of the Memorabilia William McDonald Part III: Later Interpretations of Socrates Kierkegaard’s Socrates Sources in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Danish Scholarship Tonny Aagaard Olesen Kierkegaard’s Socrates Sources in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Germanophone Scholarship Harald Steffes Reviews “This exciting collection of essays examines Kierkegaard’s engagement with, and debt to Greek philosophy…. Kierkegaard was shaped by Socrates from the beginning, and continually looked to Socrates (primarily as portrayed by Plato) as a role model and an inspiration, as well as for specific concepts, themes and ideas; Kierkegaard without Socrates is simply inconceivable, and yet it seems as if this relationship is practically ignored. These essays begin to redress this imbalance in Kierkegaard scholarship, by examining Kierkegaard’s relationship with Socrates, the sources he used to develop his view of Socrates, and what he did with his Socrates once he had him….In addition to the essays, the book contains cumulative bibliographies of the relevant writings owned by Kierkegaard, as well as modern secondary literature referenced by the essayists themselves. This book is certain to be useful to anyone doing research on Kierkegaard and Socrates; but more importantly, the essays explore concepts that Kierkegaard took from Plato and Socrates and made his own, so anyone wishing to understand Kierkegaard better will profit from this book regardless of prior background in the Greeks.” Glenn Kirkconnell, Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, no. 58, November 2011, pp. 10-11. Tome II: Aristotle and Other Greek Authors While Tome I treats the different sources for Socrates, Tome II features articles dedicated to the rest of Kierkegaard’s Greek sources, beginning with a section containing several articles on different aspects of Aristotle’s writings that influenced his thought. This is followed by another section featuring analyses of other Greek philosophers and philosophical schools, which were important for him. Finally, a third section explores Kierkegaard’s uses of a handful of Greek poets, dramatists and historians. Part I: Aristotle Organon and Metaphysics IV: The First Principles of Logic and the Debate about Mediation Håvard Løkke and Arild Waaler Physics and Metaphysics: Change, Modal Categories and Agency Håvard Løkke and Arild Waaler Nicomachean Ethics: Ignorance and Relationships Håvard Løkke Poetics: The Rebirth of Tragedy at the End of Modernity Daniel Greenspan *Rhetoric: Eloquence, Faith and Probability Heiko Schulz* Cumulative Aristotle Bibliography Katalin Nun Part II: Other Greek Philosophers Diogenes Laertius: Kierkegaard’s Source and Inspiration Nicolae Irina The Eleatics: Kierkegaard’s Metaphysical Considerations of Being and Motion Jon Stewart Heraclitus: Presocratic Ideas of Motion, Change and Opposites in Kierkegaard’s Thought Finn Gredal Jensen The Skeptics: Kierkegaard and Classical Skepticism Anthony Rudd The Sophists: Kierkegaard’s Interpretation of Socrates and the Sophists K. Brian Söderquist The Stoics: Kierkegaard on the Passion for Apathy Rick Anthony Furtak Part III: Poets, Dramatists and Historians Aeschylus: Kierkegaard and Early Greek Tragedy Finn Gredal Jensen Euripides: Kierkegaard and the Ancient Tragic Heroes Nicolae Irina Herodotus: Traces of The Histories in Kierkegaard’s Writings Finn Gredal Jensen Hesiod: Kierkegaard and the Greek Gods Nicolae Irina Homer: Kierkegaard’s Use of the Homeric Poems Finn Gredal Jensen Plutarch: A Constant Cultural Reference Nicolae Irina Sophocles: The Tragic of Kierkegaard’s Modern Antigone Nicolae Irina	Kierkegaard and the Bible, Tomes I-II Kierkegaard and the Greek World, Tomes I-II Kierkegaard and the Roman World Kierkegaard and the Patristic and Medieval Traditions Kierkegaard and the Renaissance and Modern Traditions, Tomes I-III Kierkegaard and his German Contemporaries, Tomes I-III Kierkegaard and his Danish Contemporaries, Tomes I-III
The series Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources is published Routledge Research, Philosophy Routledge / Taylor & Francis Group, 711 Third Ave., Eighth Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA Jon Stewart©2007-2020