Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, Volume II (Kierkegaard's Writings, XII.2)

Kierkegaard, Soren; Hong, Howard V. & Hong, Edna H. (Eds./Transl.)

ISBN 10: 0691073953 / ISBN 13: 9780691073958

Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1992

About this Item

VOL. II ONLY. First edition, hardcover, has a minor skew to the binding, bumps to the spine ends, and some very slight shelf wear to the edges. Overall, this is a solid, tight, Very Good+ copy in a Very Good dust jacket, which has slight bumps to the spine ends and corners, faint sunning to the spine, mild rubbing with a touch of edge wear to the covers, and a previous seller's barcode sticker to the tail of the back, which has been peeled/creased at the corners.

Seller Inventory # 205592

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, Volume II (Kierkegaard's Writings, XII.2)
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691073953
• ISBN 13: 9780691073958
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

In "Philosophical Fragments" the pseudonymous author Johannes Climacus explored the question: What is required in order to go beyond Socratic recollection of eternal ideas already possessed by the learner? Written as an afterword to this work, "Concluding Unscientific Postscript" is on one level a philosophical jest, yet on another it is Climacus's characterization of the subjective thinker's relation to the truth of Christianity. At once ironic, humorous, and polemical, this work takes on the "unscientific" form of a mimical-pathetical-dialectical compilation of ideas. Whereas the movement in the earlier pseudonymous writings is away from the aesthetic, the movement in "Postscript" is away from speculative thought. Kierkegaard intended "Postscript" to be his concluding work as an author. The subsequent "second authorship" after "The Corsair Affair" made "Postscript" the turning point in the entire authorship. Part One of the text volume examines the truth of Christianity as an objective issue, Part Two the subjective issue of what is involved for the individual in becoming a Christian, and the volume ends with an addendum in which Kierkegaard acknowledges and explains his relation to the pseudonymous authors and their writings. The second volume contains the scholarly apparatus, including a key to references and selected entries from Kierkegaard's journals and papers.

Review

"The definitive edition of the Writings. The first volume . . . indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes."--Library Journal