Potential Role of Art in Kierkegaards Description of the Individual

Description

Kierkegaard scholarship has generally focused on either existential or religious issues, interpreting Kierkegaards understanding of the individuals relationship to itself and to the Christian God. As a result of his description of the stages of development of the individual in the process of that relationship, such scholarship has consistently ignored the inherent potential to articulate an aesthetic system which would describe art as a means of facilitating the development in a positive direction. This book offers the first thorough description of a Kierkegaardian aesthetic which does not demote art to a merely sensuous and negative influence; it is an explication of the specific feature of Kierkegaards description of the individual (such as communication, repetition, and the self) within the context of a positive notion of art, as well as an analysis of art itself, the artist, and the fundamental value of art as a profitable means of influencing the individuals. While this book is unique for placing art into a central role within Kierkegaard scholarship, it also remains critical of such a role, maintaining the importance of recognizing the limitations which art has. The final result is that art emerges as a means of communication which urges the individual on towards a better relationship with the actual, as represented by the Christian god, but which also finds its fullest value in its inadequacy in the confrontation with the ideal.