Comparing Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Fear And Trembling

Attaining selfhood in a world of philistines- the mass man- is Kierkegaard’s main theme in exploring the modes of existence in Either/Or and Fear and Trembling. A sense of purpose in life is introduced by one of Kierkegaard's pseudonyms in Either/Or, Judge Vilhelm, who represents one of the stages of existence. This sense of purpose for each of the stages is how to make one's life a masterpiece. The aesthetic stage takes it in a literal sense that art, music, culture, and rebellion will make life a true work of art. The ethical stage uses the idea of a masterpiece as a way to devote oneself to the church and the community that surrounds him, usually gaining monetary support and respect. The religious stage creates the true individual as a form …show more content…
A low existence of life in contrast to the ethical and further on, the spiritual. Aesthetics written in Either/Or, Kierkegaard’s work describing the expanse of human existence, a way of never being fulfilled. Kierkegaard's presentation of the idea of “aesthetic” life comes from poet A in Either/Or- a man who wants to turn his life into art by always having a choice and not abiding by the typical structure in Danish life and rules set by the Danish church. The aesthete exudes a teenage flickering that the world is boundless and everything is wildly interesting. The poetic nature of the aesthetic life is the essential part of the structure of evolving our spirits from animal pleasures to contemplate existential context, leaving “the poet” in his own misery. Cogito Ergo Sum; I Think Therefore I Am- the poet questions the word of the One to transpose into questions of his own mortality and how to accept it coming to the crossroads of scepticism and existentialism- Kierkegaard gives the aesthetic experience to the existential …show more content…
Irony is the underlying descriptor of the aesthetic life, saying that what humanity gives to each other the opposite of what we mean to protect our own selfs- later described as “defence mechanisms” by Freud- to keep the sanctity of beauty in how we present to the rest of the people. “Aestheticism” is an amalgamate of self-consciousness and the presentation of one's intellect where both serve a hedonistic approach to how one should experience the world and living a life of immediacy. The aesthetic stage is a close mimic to the religious stage in the fact that both searches for meaning in themselves, but completely differ in how they go about it. A, along with any other aesthete, explore their own breed of spirituality by experiencing art, art being as subjective as anyone's passions or hobbies, and being enriched by it. The aesthetic person wants a full soul and the way to achieve that is through an individual expression of life, for example, going to the cinema and enjoying the music as the story trails along or visiting an art gallery and inspecting every brush stroke then going outside and seeing the sunset. Unfortunately, these experiences only give that warm feeling for a few times then one starts to think the plot of a movie is basic, the art