Jessop 1

Conner Jessop
PHIL-2350
Professor Atkinson
12/1/14
Virtue of the Absurd

Many great philosophers have argued for and tried to prove the existence of God through logic
and rationality. Other great theists believe God cannot be known with rationality, and can only be
understood through experience. Soren Kierkgagaard, a Danish existentialist is one such philosopher
who believes one can only experience God by living in complete obedience to him, as Abraham did in
the Old Testament. Even Kierkegaard admits its ridiculous living this way, but in his mind, it's the best
kind of life one can live. Although it's a life full of anxiety and responsibility, Kierkegaard believes
living this kind of life is worth it because it's the only truly free way to live. Though Kierkegaard
argues this is the best way to live, he provides ridiculous examples for the benefits of this kind of life
one can only relate too if they have faith in God already, and the incentive to try this type of life is
indeed absurd.
Kierkegaard was a philosopher that lived during the 19th century. He was born in Denmark and
lived a privileged life. Kierkegaard was educated at Copenhagen university where he studied
philosophy and theology. He was well known for his intellect and skills in philosophical discussion,
skills that would benefit him later in his life. It was during this time Kierkegaard began writing against
the prevailing hegelianistic views, sometimes under different names.
The idea behind hegelianism is that only what's rational exists. The founder of this view, G.W.F.
Hegel, believed that reality could be divided into categories in order to understand it more simply. The
idea was to ultimately create a way in which everyone could attain objective truth about reality in the

Jessop 2
same way.
Kierkegaard rejected the notion of an objective way to truth, and began working on his
philosophy which would later develop into existentialism. Existentialism is the view that the thinking,
feeling individual is responsible for their choices and determining the outcome of their lives. Emotions
and logic both need to be taken into account, and one doesn't live determining their choices solely
based on one or the other. This belief incorporates the human emotion into philosophy, believing
philosophical thought is not independent of the human experience.
As the father of Existentialist and also a theist, Kierkegaard wanted people to take more
personal responsibility for their beliefs rather than following the masses. He believed ones salvation is
not brought upon by institutions or conformity, nor is it through logic. He believed the way to God was
an individual approach and was achieved by living in continual response to God through faith.
Kierkegaard believed faith is independent of reason, a philosophy known as fideism which states that
faith is above reason in attaining truth.. Kierkegaard believed that truth was reached subjectively, and
rejected the absolute way to truth such as in hegelianism. Kierkegaard doesn't mean that truth is
subjective, but that the individual reaches truth differently. In other words, one arrives at objectivity
through the passion of living, not through reason.
Kierkegaard believes that in our lives we pass through three different phases when trying to find
truth and live an authentic life. First he says we live the hedonistic and aesthetic life. This life is all
about pursuing beauty. In this life, one seeks the material pleasures the world has to offer and ends up
indulging in them. This type of life is seen as a sinful life, and eventually leads to in-authenticity.
Nothing becomes good enough anymore.
The next type of life is called the ethical life. After the pursuit of material pleasure and gain, one
begins to change. They take a little more responsibility and begin to commit to that. They conform to
society, probably taking on a full time job and raising a family, doing the things they feel they should

Jessop 3
do. This type of life, one begins to feel they are living in order for the good of the whole. But even this
life, Kierkegaard argues leads to in-authenticity.
Those two types of life Kierkegaard says we all fluctuate between. Living for pleasure and then
focusing on what we should be doing for ourselves and our families. But what we should strive for is
the final stage Kierkegaard calls the religious life. According to Kierkegaard, this is the best life. This
kind of life is a full existential kind of life Kierkegaard believes gives full responsibility to the
individual. Kierkegaard says this kind of life is full of anxiety, dread, responsibility, but he states it's
also the only true free way to live. There is no one to blame for anything but ones self. One can't blame
societies expectations or what the pastor said like one can in the ethical life. One can't blame the drugs,
or their lust for more pleasure like in a hedonistic life either. All one has to do in order to live this life is
to live religiously, and have complete trust and faith in God.
In Kierkegaard's writings, he mentions the teleological suspension of the ethical, and faith by
virtue of the absurd. What teleological suspension of the ethical means is when living a religious life,
one must withhold what one believes is morally right for a purpose. This directly correlates with what
Kierkegaard says is faith by virtue of the absurd. This means that having compete faith in God and
suspending ones moral judgment, one will attain virtue in doing no matter what absurd thing God may
ask.
Kierkegaard uses the old bible story of Abraham and Isaac to help us better understand what he
means. The old bible story follows the prophet Abraham who was born in the city of Ur, an old
Sumerian city in ancient Mesopotamia. Ur was a highly active polytheistic city where idols were
worshiped everywhere. Abraham is said to have been instructed by the most powerful one of them all,
Yahweh, to leave the city and venture into the desert where God would bless him and his family with a
promised land.
Abraham's wife was barren, but with this promise God also promised him a son. So Abraham

Jessop 4
and his wife set off from Ur and into the desert. Later on long after Abraham's first son Isaac is born
and after more encounters with God, God asked Abraham to take Isaac to the top of Mount a mountain
and Sacrifice him. This is an example of the teleological suspension of the ethical. Knowing it was
wrong to sacrifice his son, Abraham trusted in God and took his son to the top of the mountain to be
sacrificed, even though what God was asking him was absurd. Abraham tied Issac to an alter, and as he
rose his knife to kill his son, an angel appeared and stayed his hand. The angel told him that a cattle
would be sacrificed instead and he would be rewarded for his obedience.
This kind of obedience is the purest form of fideism and is the kind of life Kierkegaard means is
a religious life. To live this life, one must close their eyes and take a leap of faith, trusting in God and
accepting the consequences of ones actions. However, living this kind of life seems very reckless and
impulsive, and there are serious flaws with fideism.
Although there is this so called freedom with fideism, there are more flaws one needs to take
into account. This kind of life contradicts inductive reasoning. Science and rationality go out the
window completely with this type of lifestyle. It can be reckless and many can consider it dangerous.
This kind of life can also seem impulsive. Though the thrill of living like this can make one feel alive,
one can never know the consequences till they're staring one in the face.
Another issue with it is it can lead one to some of the most atrocious acts in history. 911 was the
result of such thoughts, because the terrorists believed they were acting on Gods will. This suspension
of what one believes is ethical does not always lead to reward. If one believes God is telling them to do
something they know is wrong and they do it, things aren't going to work out the way the bible said
they did in the Old Testament. God will not stop ones hand from enacting the absurd.
Kierkegaard says himself this kind of life seems unreasonable. To an outsider not accustomed to
Christians parables and ritual will think this is all completely crazy. Kierkegaard argues that the only
way to understand it, is to take a leap of faith and just live the religious life. For someone outside the

Jessop 5
Christian world, it is indeed absurd for someone to ask they completely change their life and try this
life, hoping it will all work out in the end.

Jessop 6
Work Cited

Kimerling, Garth. "Kierkegaard." Kierkegaard. N.p., 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.

McDonald, William. "Sren Kierkegaard." Stanford University. Stanford University, 03 Dec. 1996. Web.
03 Dec. 2014