Kierkegaard and the analysis of despair between the individual and society

Abstract

The analysis of despair, as developed in The Sickness Unto Death, does not restrict itself to the existential question of the individual, but includes also a comprehension and critics of the social context of Kierkeggard’s Denmark. The concept of despair is developed in its specificities from the anthropological definition of human being as a synthesis of polar elements. From the description of the main types of despair, developed in connection with the concept of the individual, it is shown that the despair of spiritlessness can also be read as a critical description of the bourgeoisie as a social type. Relationships are established between the bourgeoisie and the Christendom of the nineteenth century Denmark and the importance of elements of social criticism in The Sickness Unto Death is shown. These elements are helpful for understanding the relationship between the individual and society in the thought of Kierkegaard and, more specifically, to understanding Kierkegaard's later polemics with the Danish church and with the society of his context.