Kierkegaard's Recurring Criticism of Hegel's ‘The Good and Conscience’

Abstract

Kierkegaard was, at least during his early years, an avid reader of Hegel's philosophy. For example, his dissertation, The Concept of Irony, constitutes a careful study of, among other things, Hegel's account of Socrates in the Lectures on the History of Philosophy, and of Hegel's discussion of Romantic irony in both the Lectures on Aesthetics and the book review of Solger's Posthumous Writings. Similarly, in connection with the analysis of Antigone in Either/Or and the discussion of universals and particulars in the unfinished Johannes Climacus or De Omnibus dubitandum est, Part Two, there is clear evidence that Kierkegaard consulted the relevant parts of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Based on these examples, Kierkegaard's use of Hegel can almost always be characterised as ad hoc. He goes directly to specific passages or discussions in Hegel's texts, which are of special interest in connection with works that he himself is writing. Thus, when working on The Concept of Irony, the first part of which is concerned with Socratic irony, Kierkegaard goes specifically to the section in Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy that treats Socrates, without feeling any obligation to read the book from cover to cover.