The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) [Hardcover]

Alastair Hannay (Editor), Gordon Daniel Marino (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521471516 | ISBN-13: 978-0521471510 | Publication Date: October 28, 1997

This companion probes the full depth of Kierkegaard's thought revealing its distinctive subtlety. The topics covered include Kierkegaard's views on art and religion, ethics and psychology, theology and politics, and knowledge and virtue. Much attention is devoted to the influence of Kierkegaard on twentieth-century philosophy. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Kierkegaard currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Kierkegaard.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Readers will find this ne of the most convenient and accessible general guides to Kierkegarrd's writings currently available." World Trade.com

"...richly rewarding...." John Kent, International Philosophical Quarterly

"The sixteen new essays in the Companion to Kierkegaard, written by leading contemporary scholars, will be most useful to readers on the more advanced end of that continuum." Ethics

"The Companion should not be missed by anyone interested in learning to think with Kierkegaard." Norman Lillegard, Philosophy in Review

"Monumental...Hannay's guide-wire readings offer support to those new to Kierkegaard while his interpretations are rich enough to challenge people who have been squinting over Kierkegaard's manuscripts for decades." Commonweal

Book Description

This companion probes the full depth of Kierkegaard's thought revealing its distinctive subtlety. The topics covered include Kierkegaard's views on art and religion, ethics and psychology, theology and politics, and knowledge and virtue. Much attention is devoted to the influence of Kierkegaard in 20th century philosophy. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Kierkegaard currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Kierkegaard.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521471516
• ISBN-13: 978-0521471510
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,967,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Collection, January 6, 2009

By 

Peter Downing "Peter" (Antigonish, NS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) (Paperback)

The "Cambridge Companion to..." series almost invariably provides an excellent introduction to the thought of the thinkers it treats upon, and the volume on Kierkegaard is no exception. It collects 16 essays by current scholars on aspects of Kierkegaard's authorship and life ranging from his relationship with his native Denmark and his family to expositions of some of his most difficult and influential works. The essays on faith in "Philosophical Fragments" and the explication of "The Concept of Anxiety," in my view Kierkegaard's most important work, are standouts, as is Alastair Hannay's piece on "The Sickness Unto Death." Though primarily for undergraduates and grad students who have not yet been exposed to Kierkegaard, even specialists in continental philosophy will find this a wonderful one-stop reference on some of the major issues taken up by the hordes of later philosophers who fall under Kierkegaard's sway, Heidegger in particular.

16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Essays Miss the essence of Soren K., August 23, 2007

By 

J. Clemons "clotblaster" (Surfdom California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) (Paperback)

The essays can be helpful in understanding some of K's works, but the pervasive ignoring of the spiritual/religious aspects of K's works individually and taken all together makes the book incomplete and totally unsatisfactory. The secularists who write and edit this kind of collection of essays just can't get beyond their own prejudices. Most essays are difficult to read because of poor writing and a failure to really look and analyze what K. is saying. Also, the selection of topics are arbitrary, and I am sure most of the writers wish K. had only written Either/Or and perhaps Stages on Life's way. Please do what K. would want you to do: read his works and ignore the intellectual blather in this book which he would have despised.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars State of play in Kierkegaard studies., January 3, 2010

By 

Joseph A. Harder "coffee drinking papist" (Warren Michigan,) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) (Paperback)

"Kierkegaard was by far the greatest thinker of the nineteenth century. Kierkegaard was a saint'- Ludwig Wittgenstein. The last major anthology of essays on Kierkegaard was edited by Josiah Thompson and was published in the early seventies as part of the excellent "Anchor Studies in Philosophy " series. While most of the essays in the Thompson collection were and are classics, this anthology is more representative of the present and future state of Kierkegaard studies. People are moving away from the lonely, anguished, subjective Kierkegaard of myth and appreciating his real subtlety and power . It used to still be common to denigrate Kierkegaard as a thinker, and to view him as a romantic mystic rather than a serious philosopher. There is, for instance, no chapter on Kierkegaard in Bryan Magee's book The Great Philosophers. This book is symbolic of a turning of the tide. SK was more than a brilliant Christian apologist; he was a philosopher of a high order.