Sharon Krishek – författare

Romantic love is a defining phenomenon in human existence, and an object of heightened interest for literature, art, popular culture, and psychology. But what is romantic love and why is it typically experienced as so central?Sharon Krishek's primary aim in this work is to explore the nature of romantic love through the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, and in doing so, to defend it as a moral phenomenon. She does so by developing a connection between love and selfhood, here explained in terms of one's distinct individuality. To be a self, she claims, is to possess a "name," that is, an individual essence. It is when we love that we regard people by their names; we respond to who they truly are. Therefore, love is a correspondence between essences: if Jane Eyre loves Edward Rochester, she responds to him being "who he is," by virtue of her being "who she is." The conception of being thus correspondent has important implications as to the moral and spiritual value of romantic love. Relying on Kierkegaard's analysis of the self, of faith, and of love--even if sometimes in a way that departs from Kierkegaard's explicit position--Krishek explores these implications, construing romantic love as a desirable phenomenon, emotionally, morally, and spiritually.

Romantic love is a defining phenomenon in human existence, and an object of heightened interest for literature, art, popular culture, and psychology. But what is romantic love and why is it typically experienced as so central?Sharon Krishek's primary aim in this work is to explore the nature of romantic love through the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, and in doing so, to defend it as a moral phenomenon. She does so by developing a connection between love and selfhood, here explained in terms of one's distinct individuality. To be a self, she claims, is to possess a "name," that is, an individual essence. It is when we love that we regard people by their names; we respond to who they truly are. Therefore, love is a correspondence between essences: if Jane Eyre loves Edward Rochester, she responds to him being "who he is," by virtue of her being "who she is." The conception of being thus correspondent has important implications as to the moral and spiritual value of romantic love.Relying on Kierkegaard's analysis of the self, of faith, and of love—even if sometimes in a way that departs from Kierkegaard's explicit position—Krishek explores these implications, construing romantic love as a desirable phenomenon, emotionally, morally, and spiritually.

Kierkegaard's writings are interspersed with remarkable stories of love, commonly understood as a literary device that illustrates the problematic nature of aesthetic and ethical forms of life, and the contrasting desirability of the life of faith. Sharon Krishek argues that for Kierkegaard the connection between love and faith is far from being merely illustrative. Rather, love and faith have a common structure, and are involved with one another in a way that makes it impossible to love well without faith. Remarkably, this applies to romantic love no less than to neighbourly love. Krishek's original and compelling interpretation of the Works of Love in the light of Kierkegaard's famous analysis of the paradoxicality of faith in Fear and Trembling shows that preferential love, and in particular romantic love, plays a much more important and positive role in his thinking than has usually been assumed.

The themes of love and loving are often, albeit not always explicitly, present in Kierkegaard's works. It is only his 1847 Works of Love, however, in which the topic serves as a central focus of inquiry. And while at first glance, this text may seem alien to Kierkegaard's poetic existentialism, revolving as it does around the commandment 'You Shall Love Your Neighbour as Yourself' rather than the drama of human existence and the mysteries of the human heart, the thesis that emerges is entirely existential: the capacity for loving is inherent to our very existence as humans. Focussing on Works of Love supported by a few short detours through other texts of Kierkegaard, this Element explores Kierkegaard's view of love as ultimately construing loving as a way of life.

The themes of love and loving are often, albeit not always explicitly, present in Kierkegaard's works. It is only his 1847 Works of Love, however, in which the topic serves as a central focus of inquiry. And while at first glance, this text may seem alien to Kierkegaard's poetic existentialism, revolving as it does around the commandment 'You Shall Love Your Neighbour as Yourself' rather than the drama of human existence and the mysteries of the human heart, the thesis that emerges is entirely existential: the capacity for loving is inherent to our very existence as humans. Focussing on Works of Love supported by a few short detours through other texts of Kierkegaard, this Element explores Kierkegaard's view of love as ultimately construing loving as a way of life.

Kierkegaard's writings are interspersed with remarkable stories of love, commonly understood as a literary device that illustrates the problematic nature of aesthetic and ethical forms of life, and the contrasting desirability of the life of faith. Sharon Krishek argues that for Kierkegaard the connection between love and faith is far from being merely illustrative. Rather, love and faith have a common structure, and are involved with one another in a way that makes it impossible to love well without faith. Remarkably, this applies to romantic love no less than to neighbourly love. Krishek's original and compelling interpretation of the Works of Love in the light of Kierkegaard's famous analysis of the paradoxicality of faith in Fear and Trembling shows that preferential love, and in particular romantic love, plays a much more important and positive role in his thinking than has usually been assumed.

The Sickness unto Death (1849) is commonly regarded as one of Kierkegaard's most important works - but also as one of his most difficult texts to understand. It is a meditation on Christian existentialist themes including sin, despair, religious faith and its redemptive power, and the relation and difference between physical and spiritual death. This volume of new essays guides readers through the philosophical and theological significance of the work, while clarifying the complicated ideas that Kierkegaard develops. Some of the essays focus closely on particular themes, others attempt to elucidate the text as a whole, and yet others examine it in relation to other philosophical views. Bringing together these diverse approaches, the volume offers a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal work. It will be of interest to those studying Kierkegaard as well as existentialism, religious philosophy, and moral psychology.