Product Description

One of the most remarkable philosophical works of the nineteenth century, The Sickness Unto Death is also famed for the depth and acuity of its modern psychological insights. Writing under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus, Kierkegaard explores the concept of ‘despair’, alerting readers to the diversity of ways in which they may be described as living in this state of bleak abandonment – including some that may seem just the opposite – and offering a much-discussed formula for the eradication of despair. With its penetrating account of the self, this late work by Kierkegaard was hugely influential upon twentieth-century philosophers including Karl Jaspers, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The Sickness unto Death can be regarded as one of the key works of theistic existentialist thought – a brilliant and revelatory answer to one man’s struggle to fill the spiritual void.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257466 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-24
• Original language: Danish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Kierkegaard (1813-55) was born in Copenhagen, the youngest of seven children. His childhood was unhappy, clouded by the religious fervour of his father, and the death of his mother, his sisters and two brothers. Educated at the School of Civic Virtue, he went on study theology, liberal arts and science at university, gaining a reputation for his academic brilliance and extravagant social life. He began to criticize Christianity, and in 1841 broke off his engagement to concentrate on his writing. Over the next ten years he produced a flood of works, in particular twelve major philosophical essays, many written under noms de plume. By the end of his life he had become an object of public ridicule, but he is now enjoying increasing acclaim. Alastair Hannay was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, the University of Edinburgh and University College London. In 1961 he became a resident of Norway and is now Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo.

Customer Reviews

Modernity's bane: malaise, despair, THE SICKNESS UNTO DEATH!
If you really want to know where modernity's notion of despair claims it genesis then read the "Sickness Unto Death" It was Kierkegaard who coined despair as a "sickness unto death" and as a sickness of the self. Kierkegaard himself lived a life full of death, sadness, melancholy and malaise, so it comes to no surprise that he would write about despair. The Sickness Unto Death is all about despair, its different forms, how it manifests itself, where it comes from and how it is related to sin. It is a Christian dialectic on despair in man. Kierkegaard imitates Socrates, dialectically extrapolating despair in a constant interplay between relation and misrelation. Man is a synthesis of infinitude and finitude. But often a misrelation occurs and man is unaware of being in despair. That is despair's specific character, that it is unaware of itself. No one wants to be in despair. Kierkegaard's grim conclusion is that most of us conceal our despair. Christian or not, everyone has despaired, and in some extent, at any point in one's life, is still in some degree in despair according to Kierkegaard. Persons of skewed immediacy and misdirected reflections: their immediacy conceals despair, conceals the infinite within. He cannot pinpoint his pain because he has no self; he has no self that he is aware. He is immediacy. Reflection can help. Though, reflection is not the antidote in of itself; it will not save you alone. Life is absurd. Man has lost love. Man has fallen into despair and sin because of his weakness. Despair as weakness equates to sin. Kierkegaard is right in his dialectic: we conceal a deeper, infinitely related despair, but the problem is how deep can we know our own despair? Kierkegaard's book, while it may be a little dry, is great for getting a head start in understanding a condition that seems to be universal: for those who believe in a god and those who don't. Heidegger would call it everydayness, some contemporaries call it malaise. Kierkegaard called it the sickness unto death. Once you get past the first chapter the rest falls into place. If you allow Kierkegaard to speak to you, allow the text to open your mind to a greater awareness of self then I think you will be blessed. You may, though, be just as lost as before you read the book -- but if you are looking for a great philosophical work on despair ... not fluff or mush ... but something substantial, not your everyday, malaise ridden dime novel, but hard core, concise, dialectically composed text, then go for Soren Kierkegaard "The Sickness Unto Death".