Subjectivity and Faith in the Work of Søren Kierkegaard: An examination of the Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments .
Human history is fraught with the attempts of wise men and philosophers to perceive and ascertain truth. The pursuit of this grail has enamored the greatest minds of history, resulting in a slew of opinions and possible answers to the question of the actual nature of truth, and whether it does indeed exist. For Søren Kierkegaard, it would seem that, not only does truth exist, but it is each man's vocation to strive to attain it. .
Kierkegaard would postulate that there is a decisive route to truth, but the majority of his contemporary society has chosen the wrong path. In an effort to correct this erroneous course, he has written, under a number of pseudonyms, many volumes concerning the method by which truth may be, not merely discovered, but incorporated into the life of the existing individual. The correct method becomes clear in a dialectical comparison between the two possible conditions for seeking the truth: objective or subjective. Upon examination of his texts, it becomes readily apparent that the objective method is inferior to the subjective, inferior to the point of error if it is to be utilized in a quest for the truth. .
Kierkegaard proposes that faith supersedes reason as the essential and necessary means by which truth can be attained by an existing individual. Such being the case, faith subordinates and transforms the role of reason, while becoming synonymous with truth, through its relationship to the existing individual. This becomes clear through a close examination of Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. The case presented therein by Kierkegaard, or rather, Johannes Climacus, the pseudonymous author of the work in question, constitutes a solid and convincing argument in favor of his ideas.
