in Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard presents Abraham, the patriarch…

in Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard presents Abraham, the patriarch…

in Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard presents Abraham, the patriarch

of Israel, as a “knight of faith” – that is, one who experiences God directly, without any “mediation” – without, that is, any socially accepted meanings or morality. SK (the common abbreviation for Kierkegaard’s name, which you’re also welcome to use) argues that God – or existence, reality, being – is beyond human meanings, and therefore the experience of God is “absurd” – it can be given no meaning, and in fact, it may involve doing things that are socially unacceptable – such as Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his own son, Isaac.

1. What are the characteristics of the knight of faith, of Abraham? What are some of the
differences between the knight of infinite resignation and the knight of faith?

2. Why does Kierkegaard claim that the ethical way of life leads to despair and “infinite
resignation”? For most societies, ethics are the value system, expressing the
best way to live, but SK says that such value systems actually get in the way of reality. Why does he think so?

3. Do you think that there is a system of values “higher than” or “beyond” (transcending) social values? If this system of values is “beyond” social values, how can it be understood and lived in society? Feel free to compare Kierkegaard’s idea of the knight of faith with other Existentialist figures, like Nietzsche’s “Übermensch” (Overman or Superman), or in contrast, Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov.