Kierkegaard As Phenomenologist ─ An Experiment

Kierkegaard has undoubtedly influenced phenomenological thinking, but he has rarely if ever been read as a phenomenologist himself. Recent developments in phenomenology have expanded our conception of the discipline and the varieties of experience it can address. Is it possible that Kierkegaard, a canonical figure by any measure, can be reappraised in light of these developments? Or, more radically, is it possible that the frontiers of phenomenological investigation were broached by Kierkegaard even before phenomenology was formally defined by Husserl?

In Kierkegaard as Phenomenologist: An Experiment, Jeffrey Hanson locates Kierkegaard within the current phenomenological discussion. Gathering some of the most prominent scholars of Kierkegaard and phenomenological thought, the book explores a broad range of philosophical and theological questions, from despair and temptation to subjectivity and givenness.

Viewing one of the most important philosophers of the nineteenth century through the lens of one of the twentieth century's most important intellectual movements, Kierkegaard as Phenomenologist lays the groundwork for two exciting possibilities: first, that Kierkegaard scholarship will be renewed, and second, that the meaning of phenomenology itself will be reconsidered.

Jeffrey Hanson is an adjunct assistant professor of philosophy at Boston College.

Jeffrey Hanson is an adjunct assistant professor of philosophy at Boston College.