''Either/Or'' ( Danish: ''Enten – Eller'') is the first published work of Danish philosopher

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , ; ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danes, Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical tex ...

. It appeared in two volumes in 1843 under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

ous editorship of ''Victor Eremita'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "victorious hermit"). It outlines a theory of human existence, marked by the distinction between an essentially hedonistic,

aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

mode of life and the ethical life, which is predicated upon commitment. ''Either/Or'' portrays two life views. Each life view is written and represented by a fictional author, with the prose reflecting and depending on the life view. The aesthetic life view is written in short essay form, with poetic imagery and

allusion Allusion, or alluding, is a figure of speech that makes a reference to someone or something by name (a person, object, location, etc.) without explaining how it relates to the given context, so that the audience must realize the connection in the ...

s, discussing aesthetic topics such as

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

seduction In sexuality, seduction means enticing someone else into sexual intercourse or Human sexual activity, other sexual activity. Strategies of seduction include conversation and Sexual script theory, sexual scripts, paralanguage, paralingual featur ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

, and

beauty Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes them pleasure, pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, art and taste are the main subjects of aesthetics, one of the fie ...

. The ethical life view is written as two long letters, with a more argumentative and restrained prose, discussing

moral responsibility In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morality, morally desert (philosophy), deserving praise, blame, reward (psychology), reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if ...

, critical reflection, and

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

. The views are expressed as experiences embodied by the fictional authors. The book's central concern is

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's primal question, "How should we live?" His motto comes from

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, "The deceived is wiser than one not deceived." The aesthetic is the personal, subjective realm of existence, where an individual lives and extracts pleasure from life for its own sake. This realm offers the possibility of the highest and lowest experiences. The ethical, on the other hand, is the civic realm of existence, where value and identity are judged and at times superseded by the objective world. The choice is whether to remain oblivious to the outside world or to become involved. More specifically, the ethical realm starts with a conscious effort to choose one's life. Either way it is possible to go too far in one direction and lose sight of the self. Only faith can rescue the individual from these two opposing realms. ''Either/Or'' concludes with a brief sermon hinting at the religious sphere of existence, which consumed most of Kierkegaard's publishing career. Ultimately, his challenge is for the reader to "discover a second face hidden behind the one you see" internally, and then in others.

Historical context

After writing and defending his dissertation ''

On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates ''On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates'' () is Søren Kierkegaard's 1841 master's thesis under . This thesis is the culmination of three years of extensive study on Socrates, as seen from the view point of Xenophon, Ari ...

'' (1841), Kierkegaard left

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in October 1841 to spend the winter in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. His main purpose was to attend lectures by German philosopher

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...

, an eminent figure at the time. The lectures disappointed many in Schelling's audience, including

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. During his stay, Kierkegaard worked on the manuscript for ''Either/Or'', took daily lessons to perfect his German, and attended operas and plays, particularly by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. He returned to Copenhagen in March 1842 with a draft of the manuscript, which he completed late that year and published in February 1843. According to a journal entry from 1846, ''Either/Or'' was written "lock, stock, and barrel in eleven months" ("''Rub og Stub, i 11 Maaneder''"), although a page from the "Diapsalmata" section in the "A" volume was written earlier. The title ''Either/Or'' affirmed

Aristotelian logic In logic and formal semantics, term logic, also known as traditional logic, syllogistic logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for an approach to formal logic that began with Aristotle and was developed further in ancient history mostly b ...

, particularly as modified by

Johann Gottlieb Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

and

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

. Is the question, "Who am I?" a scientific question or one for the individual to answer? Kierkegaard argues that Hegel's philosophy dehumanized life by denying personal freedom and choice through the neutralization of the "either/or". The dialectic structure of becoming renders existence far too easy, in Hegel's theory, because conflicts are eventually mediated and disappear through a natural process that requires no individual choice other than a submission to the Will of the Idea or ''Geist''. Kierkegaard saw this as a denial of selfhood and instead advocated the importance of personal responsibility and choice.Beiser, Frederick C. ''The Cambridge Companion to Hegel''. Cambridge, Watts, Michael. ''Kierkegaard''. Oneworld,

Structure

The book is the first of Kierkegaard's works written

ously, a practice he employed during the first half of his career.Magill, Frank N. ''Masterpieces of World Philosophy''. HarperCollins, Gardiner, Patrick. ''Kierkegaard: Past Masters''. Oxford, In this case, he employed four pseudonyms: *''"Victor Eremita"'' - the fictional compiler and editor, which he claims to have found in an antique

escritoire A secretary desk or escritoire is made of a base of wide drawers topped by a desk with a hinged desktop surface, which is in turn topped by a bookcase usually closed with a pair of doors, often made of glass. The whole is usually a single, tall ...

. *''"A"'' - the fictional author of the first text ("Part I") by Victor Eremita, whose real name he claims not to have known. * B ''"Judge Vilhelm"'' (or "Wilhelm" - "William") - the fictional author of the second text ("Part II"). *''"Johannes"'' - the fictional author of a section of "Part I" titled "The Diary of a Seducer" and ''Cordelia'' his lover.

Publication

Kierkegaard published the second edition of ''Either/Or'' on May 14, 1849, the same day he published ''The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Devotional Discourses''. He published three books on the same day October 16, 1843.

Part I

The first part describes the "

" phase of existence. It contains a collection of papers, notionally found by "Victor Eremita" and written by "A", the aesthete. The aesthete, according to Kierkegaard, eventually falls into despair, a psychological state (explored further in Kierkegaard's '' The Concept of Anxiety'' and '' The Sickness Unto Death'') that results from a recognition of the limits of the aesthetic approach to life. Kierkegaard's "despair" is a somewhat analogous precursor of

existential Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

angst Angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity. ''Anguish'' is its Romance languages, Latinate cognate, equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin. Etymology The word ''angst'' was introduced in ...

. The natural reaction is to make an eventual leap to the second phase, the ethical, which is characterized by rational choice and commitment that replace the capricious and inconsistent longings of the aesthetic mode.

Diapsalmata

The first section of Part I is a collection of tangential

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

s, anecdotes, and musings on the aesthetic mode. The word "diapsalmata" is related to "

psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

", and means "refrains". It contains some of Kierkegaard's best-known and poetic lines, such as "What is a poet?", "Freedom of Speech" vs. "Freedom of Thought", the "Unmovable chess piece", the tragic clown, and the laughter of the gods. Reading these as written shows a constant movement from the outer poetic experience to the inner experience of humor. The movement from the outer to the inner is a theme in Kierkegaard's works.

Immediate Stages of the Erotic, or Musical Erotic

Don Juan and the statue of the Commander mg 0119

This essay discusses the idea that music expresses sensuality. "A" evaluates Mozart's ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'', ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'' and ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'', as well as

Goethe's Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophi ...

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

''. "A" accepts the task of proving, through the works of Mozart, that "music is a higher, or more spiritual art, than language". During this process, he offers three stages of the musical-erotic. He distinguishes a seducer such as

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. The original version of the story of Don Juan appears in the 1630 play (''The Trickster of Seville and t ...

, who falls under aesthetic categories, and Faust, who falls under ethical categories. "The musical Don Juan enjoys the satisfaction of desire; the reflective Don Juan enjoys the deception, enjoys the cunning." Don Juan is split between the aesthetic and the ethical. He becomes lost in the multiplicity of the "1,003 women he has to seduce" (as in the famous ''aria'' "

Madamina, il catalogo è questo "" (also known as the Catalogue Aria) is a bass (voice type), bass catalogue aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's opera ''Don Giovanni'' to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, and is one of Mozart's most famous and popular arias. It is ...

"), Faust seduces just one woman. This section deals with theological questions. "A" asks if God seduces 1,003 people at one time or if he seduces one individual at a time in order to make a believer. He writes:

Achim v. Arnim tells somewhere of a seducer of a very different style, a seducer who falls under ethical categories. About him he uses an expression which in truth, boldness, and conciseness is almost equal to Mozart’s stroke of the bow. He says he could so talk with a woman that, if the devil caught him, he could wheedle himself out of it if he had a chance to talk with the devil’s grandmother. This is the real seducer; the aesthetic interest here is also different, namely:
how How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidman ...
, the method.

Essays read before the Symparanekromenoi

The next three sections are essay lectures from "A" to the "symparanekromenoi", a club or fellowship of the dead who practice the art of writing posthumous papers. The first essay, which discusses ancient and modern

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

, is the "Ancient Tragical Motif as Reflected in the Modern". He writes about tragedy's inner and outer aspects. Can remorse be shown on a stage? What about sorrow and pain? Which is easier to portray? He also discusses guilt, sin, fear, compassion, and responsibility in what can be considered a foreshadowing of ''

Fear and Trembling ''Fear and Trembling'' () is a philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym ''Johannes de silentio'' (Latin for ''John of the Silence''). The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, which says ...

'' and ''

Repetition Repetition may refer to: *Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

''. He then writes a modern interpretation of ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'' that presages '' The Concept of Anxiety''. The second essay, " Shadowgraphs: A

Psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

Pastime", discusses modern heroines, including Mozart's Elvira and Goethe's Gretchen (Margaret). He studies how desire can come to grief. He asks whether love can be deceived. He is asking whether one person can reveal the inner life of a historical figure. Psychologically he is asking whether psychologists can give an accurate account of the inner world. Religiously he's asking whether one person can accurately perceive the inner world of another. He conducts several thought experiments to attempt this. The third essay, called "The Unhappiest One", discusses the hypothetical question: "who deserves the distinction of being unhappier than everyone else?" Kierkegaard has expanded his search for the highest to a search for the lowest. He wants to find the unhappy person by looking to the past. Is it

Niobe Niobe (; : Nióbē) was in Greek mythology a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. She was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. Niobe is mentioned by Achilles in Homer's ''Iliad ...

Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...

, the father of the

prodigal son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father; ) is one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. In Luke 15, Jesus tells this stor ...

, or

Periander Periander (; ; died c. 585 BC) was the second tyrant of the Cypselid dynasty that ruled over ancient Corinth. Periander's rule brought about a prosperous time in Corinth's history, as his administrative skill made Corinth one of the wealthiest city ...

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

? Ultimately, for Kierkegaard, the aesthetical and the ethical are both superseded by a final phase which he terms the "religious" mode. This is introduced later in ''

''.

The First Love

In this volume, Kierkegaard examines the concept of "First Love" as a pinnacle for the aesthete, using his concepts of "closedness" (''indesluttethed'' in Danish) and "demonic" (''demoniske'') with reference to

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...

. Scribe wanted to create a template for all playwrights. He insisted that people value plays to escape reality and not for instruction. Kierkegaard rejected any template in the field of literature or of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. He was against systematizing literature, because the system forces the artist to settle down within the system. He wrote about the

muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

as the occasion for inspiration. He considers how much of the muse's calling depends on the muse, how much on the individual, and how much on will/volition. Later in '' Concluding Unscientific Poscript'' he wrote; "inspiration is indeed an object of faith, is qualitatively dialectical, not attainable by means of quantification." Kierkegaard attacks reading about love instead of discovering love. Scribe's play is 16 pages long leading Kierkegaard to write a 50-page review. He attacked the practice of reading reviews instead of the subject books. He attends a performance and sees his lover at a play called ''First Love''; for him this is a sign, like a four-leaf clover, that she must be the one. Confusion sets in for her because of mistaken identity. She is unable to make up her mind about love and says, "The first love is the true love, and one loves only once." Kierkegaard rejects this as

sophistry A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...

, "because the category first, is at the same time a qualitative and a numerical category."

Crop Rotation: An Attempt at a Theory of Social Prudence

To Kierkegaard's aesthete, boredom is the root of all evil, and must be avoided. In this section, "A" explains that, just as a farmer rotates crops to keep the soil fertile, so must a man continue to change in order to remain interesting. "A" speaks out against anything that may prevent this rotation and lock one into boredom, including friends, family, and most importantly for the second half of the book, marriage.

Diary of a Seducer

Written by "Johannes the Seducer", this volume illustrates how the aesthete holds the "interesting" as his highest value and that to satisfy his

voyeuristic Voyeurism is the Sexual attraction, sexual interest in or Human sexual activity, practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. ...

reflections, he manipulates the girl Cordelia into becoming interesting – he seduces her, but then schemes to have her question the idea of engagement. Finally, Johannes succeeds in having Cordelia break the engagement. He uses irony, artifice, caprice, imagination and arbitrariness to engineer poetically satisfying possibilities; he is not so much interested in the act of seduction as in willfully creating its interesting possibility. The Seducer is reminiscent of ''Faust'' Part 1, Scene VII (A Street). Faust says to

Mephistopheles Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...

, "Listen, you must get that girl for me!" Mephistopheles says she's an "innocent" girl, but Faust says she's "older than 14". Mephistopheles says he's "speaking like some Don Juan". Faust then calls the devil a Master Moraliser. But Goethe may have been responding to

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

's ''

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ''The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus'', commonly referred to simply as ''Doctor Faustus'', is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in e ...

'' (1616); Goethe and Marlowe have devils and angels as third person or persons between him and his love, but Kierkegaard has a different third person involved in the discussions between Johannes the Seducer and Cordelia. He has this power called chance. The Seducer knows the value of chance and wants to use chance to be "a possibility which seems an impossibility". Kierkegaard had this seducer speak again in ''Stages on Life's Way'', where he explored possibilities and then once more where he tried to explain that misunderstanding can be the root of the unity of the tragic and the comic: Kierkegaard explores the category of choice and the aesthetic as well as the ethical. Both can choose to love each other but the "how" of love is Kierkegaard's subject.

Part II

The second part represents the ethical stage. Eremita found a group of letters from a retired Judge Vilhelm or William (in Danish: "Assessor Wilhelm"), another pseudonymous author, to "A", trying to convince "A" of the value of the ethical life by arguing that the ethical person can still appreciate aesthetic values. The difference is that the pursuit of pleasure is tempered with ethical values and responsibilities. Letters: *"The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage": This letter is about the aesthetic value of

and defends marriage as a way of life. *"Equilibrium between the Aesthetic and the Ethical in the Development of Personality" concerns the subject of choosing the good, or one's self, and of the value of making binding life-choices. *"Ultimatum": The volume ends in a discourse on the Thought that, against God everyone is always wrong. His spiritual advice for "A" and "B" is that they make

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

with each other. Kierkegaard quotes from: the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

19:42 NIV "and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace --but now it is hidden from your eyes."

Sennacherib's prism Sennacherib's Annals are the annals of Sennacherib, emperor of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. They are found inscribed on several artifacts, and the final versions were found in three clay prisms inscribed with the same text: the Taylor Prism is in the ...

"That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp When the people got up the next morning -- there were all the dead bodies!" to the end for this

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

. It is human nature to look to external forces when faced with obstacles, but the ethicist is against this. Comparison is an esthetic exercise and has nothing to do with ethics and religion. He says, "Let each one learn what he can; both of us can learn that a person’s unhappiness never lies in his lack of control over external conditions, since this would only make him completely unhappy." He also asks if a someone in love can know whether they are more in love than another. He advances this thought in ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript'' and expands on looking inward in ''Practice in Christianity''.

The ethical and the ethical-religious have nothing to do with the comparative. ... All
comparison Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...
delays, and that is why mediocrity likes it so much and, if possible, traps everyone in it by its despicable friendship among mediocrities. A person who blames others, that they have corrupted him, is talking nonsense and only informs against himself. p. 549-550

Comparison is the most disastrous association that love can enter into; comparison is the most dangerous acquaintance love can make; comparison is the worst of all
seduction In sexuality, seduction means enticing someone else into sexual intercourse or Human sexual activity, other sexual activity. Strategies of seduction include conversation and Sexual script theory, sexual scripts, paralanguage, paralingual featur ...
s. Søren Kierkegaard, ''Works of Love'' (1847), Hong, p. 186

Lord Jesus Christ, our foolish minds are weak; they are more than willing to be drawn-and there is so much that wants to draw us to itself. There is pleasure with its seductive power, the multiplicity with its bewildering distractions, the moment with its infatuating importance and the conceited laboriousness of busyness and the careless time-wasting of light-mindedness and the gloomy brooding of heavy-mindedness-all this will draw us away from ourselves to itself in order to deceive us. But you, who are the truth, only you, Savior and Redeemer, can truly draw a person to yourself, which you have promised to do-that you will draw all to yourself. Then may God grant that by repenting we may come to ourselves, so that you, according to your Word, can draw us to yourself-from on high, but through lowliness and abasement. Søren Kierkegaard, ''Practice in Christianity'', 1850 p.157 Hong

It is unclear if Kierkegaard acknowledges an ethical stage without

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

. Freedom seems to denote freedom to choose the will to do the right and to denounce the wrong in a secular, almost

Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...

ian style. However, remorse (''angeren'') seems to be a religious category specifically related to the Christian concept of deliverance. Moreover, Kierkegaard is constant in his point of view that each individual can become conscious of a higher self and embrace the spiritual self in an "eternal understanding".

Discourses and sequel

Along with this work, Kierkegaard published, under his own name, '' Two Upbuilding Discourses'' on May 16, 1843, intended to complement ''Either/Or'', "The Expectancy of Faith" and "Every Good and Every Perfect Gift is from Above". Kierkegaard also published another discourse during the printing of the second edition of ''Either/Or'' in 1849. This discourse has to do with the difference between wishing and willing in the development of a particular expectancy. "As thought becomes more absorbed in the future, it loses its way in its restless attempt to force or entice an explanation from the riddle."

Expectancy Expectation, or expectations, as well as expectancy or expectancies, may refer to: Science * Expectancy effect (disambiguation), Expectancy effect, including observer-expectancy effects and subject-expectancy effects such as the placebo effect * ...

always looks to the future and can hope, but regret, which is what Goethe did in ''

The Sorrows of Young Werther ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; ), or simply ''Werther'', is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm und Drang'' ...

'', closes the door of hope and love becomes unhappy. Kierkegaard points to "faith as the highest" expectancy because faith is something everyone has, or can have. He says: "The person who wishes it for another person wishes it for himself; the person who wishes it for himself wishes it for every other human being, because that by which another person has faith is not that by which he is different from him but is that by which he is like him; that by which he possesses it is not that by which he is different from others but that by which he is altogether like all." The characters in ''Either/Or'' believe everyone is alike in that everyone has talent or everyone has the conditions that would allow them to live an ethical life. Goethe wanted to love and complained that he couldn't be loved, but everyone else could be. But he wished, he didn't have an expectancy to work his will to love. Kierkegaard responds to him: The "Ultimatum" at the end of the second volume of ''Either/Or'' hinted at a future discussion of the religious stage in ''The Two Upbuilding Discourses'', "Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it-and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart’s indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you-for only the truth that builds up is truth for you." This discussion is included in '' Stages on Life's Way'' (1845). The first two sections revisit and refine the aesthetic and ethical stages elucidated in ''Either/Or'', while the third section, ''Guilty/Not Guilty'' is about the

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

stage and refers specifically to Goethe's other book, ''The Autobiography of Goethe: Truth and Poetry, from My Own Life'' vol 1, 2Kierkegaard, Søren. ''Stages on Life's Way'', p. 148ff trans. Howard and Edna Hong. Princeton University Press, In addition to the discourses, one week after ''Either/Or'' was published, Kierkegaard published a newspaper article in ''Fædrelandet'', titled "Who Is the Author Of Either/Or?", attempting to create authorial distance from the work, emphasizing the content of the work and the embodiment of a particular way of life in each of the pseudonyms. Kierkegaard, using the pseudonym "A.F.", writes, "most people, including the author of this article, think it is not worth the trouble to be concerned about who the author is. They are happy not to know his identity, for then they have only the book to deal with, without being bothered or distracted by his personality."

Themes

The various essays in ''Either/Or'' help clarify the various forms of aestheticism and ethical existence. Both A and Judge Vilhelm attempt to focus primarily upon the best that their mode of existence has to offer. A fundamental characteristic of the aesthete is ''immediacy''. In ''Either/Or'', there are several levels of immediacy explored, ranging from unrefined to refined. Unrefined immediacy is characterized by immediate cravings for desire and satisfaction through enjoyments that do not require effort or personal cultivation (e.g.

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

s, casual sex, sloth, etc.) Refined immediacy is characterized by planning how best to enjoy life aesthetically. The "theory" of social prudence given in ''Crop Rotation'' is an example of refined immediacy. Instead of mindless hedonistic tendencies, enjoyments are contemplated and "cultivated" for maximum pleasure. However, both the refined and unrefined aesthetes still accept the fundamental given conditions of their life, and do not accept the responsibility to change it. If things go wrong, the aesthete simply blames existence, rather than one's self, assuming some unavoidable tragic consequence of human existence and thus claims life is meaningless. Kierkegaard spoke of immediacy this way in his sequel to ''Either/Or'', ''Stages on Life's Way''. Commitment is an important characteristic of the ethicist. Commitments are made by being an active participant in society, rather than a detached observer or outsider. The ethicist has a strong sense of responsibility, duty, honor and respect for his friendships, family, and career. Judge Vilhelm uses the example of marriage as an example of an ethical institution requiring strong commitment and responsibility. Whereas the aesthete would be bored by the repetitive nature of marriage (e.g. married to one person only), the ethicist believes in the necessity of self-denial (e.g. self-denying unmitigated pleasure) in order to uphold one's obligations. Kierkegaard stresses the "eternal" nature of marriage and says "something new comes into

existence Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one does ...

" through the

wedding ceremony A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wed ...

. The aesthete doesn't see it that way. The aesthete makes a "half hour’s resolution" but the ethical person, and especially the religious person, makes the "

good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...

resolution". Someone devoted to pleasure finds it impossible to make this kind of resolution. The ethical and "Christian religious" person make the resolution because they have the ''will'' to have ''a true conception of life and of oneself''." A resolution involves

change Change, Changed or Changing may refer to the below. Other forms are listed at Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of t ...

but for the single individual this involves only change in oneself. It never means changing the whole world or even changing the other person.

Interpretation

The extremely nested pseudonymity of this work adds a problem of interpretation. A and B are the authors of the work, Eremita is the editor. Kierkegaard's role in all this appears to be that he deliberately sought to disconnect himself from the points of view expressed in his works, although the absurdity of his pseudonyms" bizarre

names proves that he did not hope to thoroughly conceal his identity from the reader. Kierkegaard's ''Papers'' first edition VIII(2), B 81 - 89 explain this method in writing. He discussed Either/Or in first and second edition in his 1848, 1859 book ''

The Point of View of My Work as an Author ''The Point of View of My Work as an Author'' (subtitle: ''A Direct Communication, Report to History'') is an autobiographical account of the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's use of his pseudonyms. Overview The work was wri ...

''.Kierkegaard, Søren. ''The Point of View'', translated by Howard and Edna Hong, Princeton University Press,

In my career as an author, a point has now been reached where it is permissible to do what I feel a strong impulse to do and so regard as my duty — namely, to explain once for all, as directly and frankly as possible, what is what: what I as an author declare myself to be. The moment (however unpropitious it may be in another sense) is now appropriate; partly because (as I have said) this point has been reached, and partly because I am about to encounter for the second time in the literary field my first production. ''Either/Or,'' in its second edition, which I was not willing to have published earlier. Point of View, Lowrie translation 1962 p. 5

Furthermore, Kierkegaard was a close reader of the aesthetic works of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and the ethical works of

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and t ...

. Each presented a way of living one's life in a different manner. Kierkegaard's writings in this book are close to what Goethe wrote in his Autobiography.

Existential interpretation

A common interpretation of ''Either/Or'' presents the reader with a choice between two approaches to life. There are no standards or guidelines which indicate how to choose. The reasons for choosing an ethical way of life over the aesthetic only make sense if one is already committed to an ethical way of life. Suggesting the aesthetic approach as evil implies one has already accepted the idea that there is a good/evil distinction to be made. Likewise, choosing an aesthetic way of life only appeals to the aesthete, ruling Judge Vilhelm's ethics as inconsequential and preferring the pleasures of seduction. Thus, existentialists see Victor Eremita as presenting a radical choice in which no pre-ordained value can be discerned. One must choose, and through one's choices, one creates what one is. However, the aesthetic and the ethical ways of life are not the only ways of living. Kierkegaard continues to flesh out other stages in further works, and the '' Stages on Life's Way'' is considered a direct sequel to ''Either/Or''. It is not the same as ''Either/Or'' as he points out in ''Concluding Postscript'' in 1846.

Christian interpretation

The whole book can be viewed as the struggle individuals go through as they attempt to find meaning in their lives. Victor Eremita bought a secretary (desk), which was something external, and said, "a new period of your life must begin with the acquisition of the secretary". "A" desires the

absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk ma ...

highest. He can find no meaning in his life until he begins to study. He writes letters for the dead like the historians do. He's trying to find God by studying the past as Hegel did. Don Juan seduces him away from God and Faust robs him of his innocent faith through the power of language. For him, tautology is the highest realm of

thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...

. He's someone who is in complete "conflict with his environment" because he is relating himself to externals. "B" argues with "A". He says

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

are the highest. "A" wants to remain a mystery to himself but "B" says it's the meaning of life to become open to yourself. It's more important to know yourself than historical persons. The more you know about yourself the more you can find your eternal validity. God will bless the most ethical person. Each one knows what's best for the other but neither knows what's best for himself. Kierkegaard, speaking in the voice of the upbuilding discourse at the end, says they are both wrong. They're both trying to find God in a childish way. Whatever they relate to in an external way will never make them happy or give them meaning. Art, science, dogma, and ethics constantly change. We all want to be in the right and never in the wrong. Once we find what we desire we find that it wasn't what we imagined it to be. So Kierkegaard says to leave it all to God. A recent way to interpret ''Either/Or'' is to read it as an applied

Kantian Kantianism () is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mi ...

text. Scholars for this interpretation include

Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (12 January 1929 – 21 May 2025) was a Scottish-American philosopher who contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of ...

Davenport, John and Anthony Rudd. ''Kierkegaard After MacIntyre: Essays on Freedom, Narrative, and Virtue''. Open Court Publishing, 2001, and Ronald M. Green.Green, Ronald M. ''Kierkegaard and Kant: The Hidden Debt.'' SUNY Press, Albany, 1992. In ''

After Virtue ''After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory'' is a book on moral philosophy by the Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. MacIntyre provides a bleak view of the state of modern moral discourse, regarding it as failing to be rational, and failing ...

'', MacIntyre claims Kierkegaard is continuing the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

project set forward by Hume and Kant. Green notes several points of contact with Kant in ''Either/Or'': However, other scholars think Kierkegaard adopts Kantian themes in order to criticize them, while yet others think that although Kierkegaard adopts some Kantian themes, their final ethical positions are substantially different. George Stack argues for this latter interpretation, writing, "Despite the occasional echoes of Kantian sentiments in Kierkegaard's writings (especially in ''Either/Or''), the bifurcation between his ethics of self-becoming and Kant's formalistic, meta-empirical ethics is, ''mutatis mutandis'', complete ... Since radical individuation, specificity, inwardness, and the development of subjectivity are central to Kierkegaard's existential ethics, it is clear, essentially, that the spirit and intention of his practical ethics is divorced from the formalism of Kant."

Biographical interpretation

From a purely literary and historical point of view, ''Either/Or'' can be seen as a thinly veiled autobiography of the events between Kierkegaard and his ex-fiancée

Regine Olsen Regine Schlegel (née Olsen; 23 January 1822 – 18 March 1904) was a Danish woman who was engaged to the philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard from September 1840 to October 1841. Biography Early years and engagement to Kierkegaard O ...

. Johannes the Seducer in ''The Diary of a Seducer'' treats the object of his affection, Cordelia, much as Kierkegaard treats Regine: befriending her family, asking her to marry him, and breaking off the engagement. ''Either/Or'', then, could be the poetic and literary expression of Kierkegaard's decision between a life of sensual pleasure, as he had experienced in his youth, or a possibility of marriage and what social responsibilities marriage might or ought to entail. Ultimately however, ''Either/Or'' stands philosophically independent of its relation to Kierkegaard's life. Yet, Kierkegaard was concerned about Regine because she tended to assume the life view of characters she saw in the plays of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

at the theater. One day she would be " Beatrice in ''

Much Ado about Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

''" and another

Juliet Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist Ro ...

Reception

Early reception

''Either/Or'' established Kierkegaard's reputation as a respected author.Garff, Joakim. ''Søren Kierkegaard: A Biography''. Trans. Bruce H. Kirmmse. Princeton, 2005, 0-691-09165-X Henriette Wulff, in a letter to

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

, wrote, "Recently a book was published here with the title ''Either/Or''! It is supposed to be quite strange, the first part full of Don Juanism, skepticism, et cetera, and the second part toned down and conciliating, ending with a sermon that is said to be quite excellent. The whole book attracted much attention. It has not yet been discussed publicly by anyone, but it surely will be. It is actually supposed to be by a Kierkegaard who has adopted a pseudonym...." Johan Ludvig Heiberg, a prominent

Hegelian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and the ...

, at first criticized the aesthetic section, ''Either'' (Part I), then he had much better things to say about ''Or'', Part II. Julia Watkin said "Kierkegaard replied to Heiberg in ''The Fatherland'' as Victor Eremita, blaming Heiberg for not reading the

preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literature, literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface o ...

to Either/Or which would have given him the key to the work." Kierkegaard later used his book '' Prefaces'' to publicly respond to Heiberg and Hegelianism. Kierkegaard also published a short article, ''Who is the Author of Either/Or?'', a week after the publication of ''Either/Or'' itself. In 1886,

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

compared ''Either/Or'' with

Frederik Paludan-Müller Frederik Paludan-Müller (7 February 1809 – 27 December 1876) was a Danish poet, the third son of Jens Paludan-Müller and born in Kerteminde, on the island of Funen. In 1819 his father was transferred to Odense, and Frederik began to atten ...

's ''Kalanus'' in ''Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century'', which was translated into English at that time. Later, in 1906, he compared Kierkegaard's ''Diary of the Seducer'' with Rousseau's ''

Julie, or the New Heloise ''Julie or the New Heloise'' (), originally entitled (Letters from two lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps), is an epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761 by Marc-Michel Rey in Amsterdam. The novel's subti ...

'' and with Goethe's '' Sorrows of Young Werther''. He also compared ''Either/Or'' to

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''Brand'' but

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhood ...

disagreed with him. Kierkegaard later referred to his concept of choosing yourself as the single individual in ''The Concept of Anxiety'', June 17, 1844, and then in his '' Four Upbuilding Discourses'', August 31, 1844, and once again in '' Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits'', 1847.

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...

echoed Kierkegaard in his lecture on ''The Sick Soul'' where he wrote, "the man must die to an unreal life before he can be born into the real life." August Strindberg photographic selfportrait 1

August Strindberg photographic selfportrait 1

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

was familiar with ''Either/Or'' and this book made him "forever a champion of the ethical as juxtaposed to the aesthetic life conception and he always remained faithful to the idea that

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

must be subservient to life, and that life itself must be lived as we know best, chiefly because we are part of it and cannot escape from its promptings." Strindberg was obviously attracted to ''Either/Or Part II'' where Kierkegaard developed his

categorical imperative The categorical imperative () is the central philosophical concept in the deontological Kantian ethics, moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant's 1785 ''Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals'', it is a way of evaluating motivati ...

. He wrote the following in ''Growth of a Soul'' published posthumously in 1913 about Kierkegaard's ''Either—Or'': "it was valid only for the priests who called themselves Christians and the seducer and ''Don Juan'' were the author himself, who satisfied his desires in imagination". Part II was his "Discourse on Life as a Duty, and when he reached the end of the work he found the moral philosopher in despair, and that all this teaching about duty had only produced a

Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...

." He then states that Kierkegaard's discourses might have led him closer to Christianity but he didn't know if he could come back to something "which had been torn out, and joyfully thrown into the fire". However, after reading the book he "felt sinful". Kierkegaard put an end to his own

double-mindedness Double-mindedness is a concept used in the philosophy and theology of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard as insincerity, egoism, or fear of punishment. The term was used in the Bible in the Epistle of James. Kierkegaard developed his own sy ...

about devoting himself completely to aesthetics or developing a balance between the aesthetic and the ethical and going on to an ethical/Christian religious existence in the first part of his authorship (1843-1846) and then described what he had learned about himself and about being a Christian beginning with ''Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits'' (1847). He learned to choose his own Either/Or.

Later reception

Although ''Either/Or'' , published in 1843, was Kierkegaard's first major book, it was one of his last books to be translated into English, as late as 1944. Frederick DeW. Bolman Jr. insisted that reviewers consider the book in this way: "In general, we have a right to discover, if we can, the meaning of a work as comprehensive as ''Either/Or'', considering it upon its own merits and not reducing the meaning so as to fit into the author's later perspective. It occurred to me that this was a service to understanding Kierkegaard, whose esthetic and ethical insights have been much slighted by those enamored of his religion of renunciation and transcendence. ... Kierkegaard's brilliance seems to me to be showing that while goodness, truth, and beauty can not speculatively be derived one from another, yet these three are integrally related in the dynamics of a healthy character structure". David F. Swenson, a professor at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, introduced three lectures about Kierkegaard in 1918 in which he "presented Soren Kierkegaard’s delineation of three fundamental modes of life: First, the Life of Enjoyment – Folly and Cleverness in the Pursuit of Pleasure; second, the Life of Duty – Realizing the Self through Victorious Accomplishments; third, the Life of Faith – The Religious Transformation of the Self through Suffering.''Saint Paul Institute Bulletin, Volume Nine Number Five'' February 1918 p. 13
/ref> Miguel de Unamuno published his 1914 novel

Mist Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a Dispersion (chemistry), dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets ...

in response to his reading of Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer. Thomas Henry Croxall was impressed by "A"s thoughts on music in the essay, "The Immediate Stages of the Erotic, or Musical Erotic". Croxall argues that "the essay should be taken seriously by a musician because it makes one think, and think hard enough to straighten many of one's ideas; ideas, I mean, not only on art, but on life" and goes on to discuss the psychological, existential, and musical value of the work.

Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...

questioned Kierkegaard's emphasis in his pastoral epistle at the end of Or. He wrote the following in 1949. Johannes Edouard Hohlenberg wrote a biography about Søren Kierkegaard in 1954 and in that book he speculated that the ''Diary of the Seducer'' was meant to depict the life of P.L. Moller who later (1845) wrote the articles in ''

The Corsair ''The Corsair'' (1814) is a long tale in verse written by Lord Byron (see 1814 in poetry) and published by John Murray in London. It was extremely popular, selling ten thousand copies on its first day of sale, and was influential throughout t ...

'' detrimental to the character of Kierkegaard. The ''Diary of a Seducer'' by itself, is a provocative novella, and has been reproduced separately from ''Either/Or'' several times.Published in August 1997 by Princeton, with an introduction by John Updike,

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

said of the ''Diary'', "In the vast literature of love, ''The Seducer's Diary'' is an intricate curiosity – a feverishly intellectual attempt to reconstruct an erotic failure as a pedagogic success, a wound masked as a boast". Many authors were interested in separating the esthetic, the ethical and the religious but it may have been, as far as Kierkegaard was concerned, of more importance for the single individual to have a way to decide when one was becoming dominant over the other two.

Henrik Stangerup Eva Helle Stangerup (30 October 1939 – 29 March 2015) was a Danish crime and thriller novelist. She published her first novel ''Gravskrift for Rødhætte'' in 1967 and followed it with her breakthrough work ''Gule handsker'' a year later. Stange ...

, (1937–1998) a Danish writer, wrote three books as a way to illustrate Kierkegaard's three stages of existence, 1981, ''The Road to Lagoa Santa'', which was about Kierkegaard's brother-in-law

Peter Wilhelm Lund Peter Wilhelm Lund (14 June 1801 – 25 May 1880) was a Danish Brazilian paleontologist, zoologist, and archeology, archeologist. He spent most of his life working and living in Brazil. He is considered the father of Brazilian paleontology as wel ...

(the ethicist), 1985 ''The Seducer: It Is Hard to Die in Dieppe'', Peder Ludvig Moller was the esthetic in that novel, and in 1991 ''Brother Jacob'' which describes Søren Kierkegaard as a

Franciscan friar The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

. In contemporary times, ''Either/Or'' received new life as a grand philosophical work with the publication of

's ''

'' (1981), where MacIntyre situates ''Either/Or'' as an attempt to capture the

spirit set forth by

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

and

. ''After Virtue'' renewed ''Either/Or'' as an important ethical text in the Kantian vein, as mentioned previously. Although MacIntyre accuses Victor Eremita of failing to provide a criterion for one to adopt an ethical way of life, many scholars have since replied to MacIntyre's accusation in ''Kierkegaard After MacIntyre''.

In popular culture

The 1997

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

album ''Either/Or'' derives its name from ''Either/Or'', reflecting Smith's interest in philosophy, which he studied at

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The novel ''Either/Or'' by

Elif Batuman Elif Batuman (born 1977) is an American author, academic, and journalist. She is the author of three books: a memoir, ''The Possessed'', the novel ''The Idiot,'' which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and '' Either/Or''. Bat ...

is named after Kierkegaard's ''Either/Or,'' and the main character reflects on the themes of Kierkegaard's work within the book.

References

Primary references

* ''Either/Or: A Fragment of Life''. Translated by Alastair Hannay, Abridged Version. Penguin, 1992, (Hannay) * ''Either/Or''. Translated by David F. Swenson and Lillian Marvin Swenson. Volume I. Princeton, 1959, (Swenson) * ''Kierkegaard's Writings III, Part I: Either/Or. Part I''. Translated by Howard and Edna Hong. Princeton, 1988, (Hong) * ''Kierkegaard's Writings IV, Part II: Either/Or. Part II''. Translated by Howard and Edna Hong. Princeton, 1988, (Hong)

Secondary references and notes

External links

*
''Either/Or''
Spark notes
''Kierkegaard's Existentialism: an overview''
YouTube Lecture by Anders Kraal on Either/Or

Kierkegaard "Either/Or"
YouTube introduction to the book

*Professor J Aaron Simmon
Kierkegaard's 3 Stages of Life: Aesthetic, Ethical, & Religious
YouTube
Troy Wellington Smith's ''Literary Encyclopedia'' article on ''Either/Or''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Either Or 1843 books Books by Søren Kierkegaard Ethics books Philosophical novels Psychology books Danish Culture Canon Literature about spirituality Works published under a pseudonym Existentialist books