The Politics of Exodus: Soren Kierkegaard's Ethics of Responsibility 9780823293162

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THE POLITICS OF EXODUS

PERSPECTIVES IN CoNTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

John D. Caputo, Series Editor I. John D. Caputo, ed., Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversa-

tion with Jacques Derrida. 2. l\1ichael Strawser, Both/And: Reading Kierkegaard-From Irony to Edification. 3. Michael Barber, Ethical Hermeneutics: Rationality in Enrique DusseCs Philosophy of Liberation. 4. James H. Olthuis, ed., Knowing Other-wise: Philosophy at the Threshold of Spirituality. 5. James Swindal, Reflection Revisited: furgen Habermas's Discursive Theory of Truth. 6. Richard Kearney, Poetics of Imagining: Modern and Postmodern. Second edition.

7. Thomas W. Busch, Circulating Being: From Embodiment to Incorporation-Essays on Late Existentialism. 8. Edith \Vyschogrod, Emmanuel Levinas: The Problem of Ethical Metaphysics. Second edition. 9. Francis J. Ambrosio, ed., The Question of Christian Philosophy Today. 10. Jeffrey Bloechl, ed.~ The Face of the Other and the Trace of God: Essays on the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. ll. Ilse N. Bulhof and Laurens ten Kate, eds., Flight of the Gods: Philosophical Perspectives on Negative Theology. 12. Trish Glazebrook, 1leidegger S Philosophy of Science. 13. Kevin Hart, The Trespass of the Sign. Second edition. 14. Mark C. Taylor, Journeys to Selfhood: Hegel and Kierkegaard. 1

ond edition. 15. Dominique Janicaud, Jean-Franc;ois Courtine, Jean-Louis Chretien, Michel Henry, Jean-Luc lV1arion, and Paul Ricoeur, Phenomenology and the Theological Turn: The French Debate. 16. Karl Jaspers, The Question of German Guilt. Introduction by Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. 17. Jean-Luc Marion, The Idol and Distance: Five Studies. Translated with an introduction by Thon1as A. Carlson. · 18. Jeffrey Dudiak, The Intrigue of Ethics: A Reading of the Idea of Discourse in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas. 19. Robyn Horner, Rethinking God As Gift: Marion, Derrida, and the Limits of Phenomenology.

THE POLmCS OF EXODUS Snren Klerkegaard's Ethics of Responsibility MARK DOOLEY

Fordham University Press New York 2001

Copyright © 2001 by Fordham University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording~ or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews~ without the prior permission of the publisher. Perspectives in Continental Philosophy No. 20 ISSN l 089-3938

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dooley, Mark. The politics of Exodus : S~ren Kierkegaard's ethics of responsibility I Mark Dooley.-1 st ed. p. em.- (Perspectives in continental philosophy; no. 20) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8232-2124-5- ISBN 0-8232-2125-3 (pbk.) 1. Kierkegaard, S~ren, 1813-1855-Ethics. 2. Derrida, Jacques-Ethics. I. Title. II. Series.

B4378.E8 D66 2001 170' .92-dc21

200103 3347

Printed in the United States of America

01

02 03 04 05

5 4 3 2 I

First Edition

To Laura, for making my dreams come true

CONTENTS Acknowledgments

IX

List of Abbreviations for \Vorks by Kierkegaard

XI

Introduction: Loosening the Lutheran Thread

xm

1: What the Age Demands 2: The Centrality of Hegel

24

3: The Ethics of Irony

43

4: Repetition and Selfhood

74

5: The God-l\tlan As Unconditioned Ethical Prototype

115

6: A Politics of the Emigre

144

Afterword

247

Bibliography

249

Index

279

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Jack Caputo, Jacques Derrida, Richard Kearney, Brendan Purcell, and Vanessa Rumble for their generous advice and help throughout the writing of this book. Many thanks also to four of my students-Brian Garvey, Neil Brophy, Liam Kavanagh, and Eoin O'Connell-for their assistance in preparing the manuscript. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my colleagues in the Department of Philosophy, University College Dublin, for their constant support of my work. A very special acknowledgment is owed to Mary Buckley and Ann O'Dwyer for all their expert secretarial assistance and guidance. Without the support and fellowship of Madeline and James Dooley this book would surely not have seen the light of day. Finally, and most importantly, I wish to thank my wife, Laura, for her inspiration and friendship.

ABBREVIATIONS FOR WORKS BY KIERKEGMRD CA

The Concept of Anxiety. Trans. Reidar Thomte in collabora-

CI

tion with Albert B. Anderson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. (Begrebet Angest, by Vigilius Haufniensis, ed. S. Kierkegaard, 1844) The Concept of Irony, together with j'Notes on Schelling's Berlin Lectures." Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. (Om Begrebet Ironi, 1841)

Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. (Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift, by Johannes Climacus, 1846) DODE De Omnibus Dubitandum Est. Trans. Howard V. Hong and

CUP

Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985. EO

FSE

FT

JFY

Either/Or. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. (En ten/ Eller 1-2, ed. Victor Eremita, 1843) For Self-Examination. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. (Til Selvpr¢velse, 18 51) Fear and Trembling. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. (Frygt og Bc£ven, by Johannes de Silentio, 1843) fudge for Yourself! Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong.

Princeton:

Princeton

University

Press,

1990.

JP

(D¢mmer Selv! 1852) S¢ren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers. Ed. and trans.

PC

Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, assisted by Gregor Malantschuk. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1967-78. (From Papirer 1-11 and 12-13, and Brev og Akstykker vedr¢rende S¢ren Kierkegaard, ed. Niels Thulstrup, 1-2, 1953-54) Practice in Christianity. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna

xu

ABBREVIATIONS

H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. (Ind0velse I Christendom, by Anti-Climacus, ed. S. Kierkegaard. 1850) PF

POV

R

SLW

SUD

TA

WL

Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985. ("Johannes Climacus eller de omnibus dubitandum est," written 1842-43, unpublished, Papirer 4) The Point of View for My Work as an Author. Trans. Walter Lowrie. London: Oxford University Press, 1939. (Synspunktet for min Forfatter-Virksomhed, posthumously published 1859; Om min Forfatter-Virksomhed, 1851) Repetition: A Venture in Experimenting Psychology. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. (Gjentagelsen, by Constantin Constantius, 1843) Stages on Life's Way. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. (Stadier paa Livets Ve;, ed. Hilarius Bogbinder, 1845) The Sickness unto Death. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. (Sygdommen til D0den, by Anti-Climacus, ed. S. Kierkegaard,

1849) Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age: A Literary Review. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, I 978. (En literair Anmeldelse: To Tidsaldre, 1846) Works of Love. Trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. (Kjerlighedens Gjerninger, 1847)

INfRODUCTION: LOOSENING THE LUTHERAN THREAD IN THIS

BOOK,

I argue that the work of S¢ren Kierkegaard contains a

strong social, political, and ethical dimension that is often overlooked or simply ignored by contemporary commentators. Until quite recently, Kierkegaard was appraised as a champion of isolated subjectivity, individuality, and, in the words of Theodore Adorno, ~