Philosophical tidbits, or a little philosophy, S. Kierkegaard

Philosophical Fragments is one of Kierkegaard's most important works, partly because it contains most of the basic concepts of his thinking. The fictional author of the text is Johannes Climacus, and his reflections revolve around the question of knowing eternal (i.e., non-historical) truth. He calls his treatise a "thought project" or experiment. It consists of developing a hypothesis about what would happen if the knowledge of eternal truth proceeded differently than Socrates assumes. Climacus comes to the conclusion that the alternative is the Christian faith only after ruling out the possibility that the analyzed hypothetical method of knowledge could be philosophical or historical. The author does not directly defend Christianity, leaving the choice between the Socratic and Christian alternatives to the reader. At the same time, he shows that a consistent thinker cannot arrive at a third, Hegelian alternative, which prevailed in Danish philosophy and theology at the time and was based on the assumption that eternal truth undergoes historical development and that this development can be gradually understood through reason.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) is the most influential Danish philosopher and theologian of all time. His work was particularly well received during the heyday of existentialism and the rise of postmodern thinking. The most significant part of his work consists of several pseudonymous writings from 1843–1846, in which he uses the method of indirect communication to distance himself from the principles of contemporary Hegelian speculative philosophy and, through fictional authors and narrators, plays out a game of different perspectives on human existence. The best known of these works are Either/Or (Enten – Eller, 1843), which includes the popular text The Seducer's Diary (Forførerens Dagbog), Fear and Trembling (Frygt og Bæven, 1843), The Concept of Anxiety (Begrebet Angest, 1844), Philosophical Fragments (Philosophiske Smuler, 1844), Stages on Life's Way (Stadier paa Livets Vei, 1845), and Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift, 1846).