- On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates
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On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates (Danish: Om Begrebet Ironi med stadigt Hensyn til Socrates) is Søren Kierkegaard's university thesis paper that he submitted in 1841. This thesis is the culmination of three years of extensive study on Socrates, as seen from the view point of Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Plato.
His thesis dealt with irony, and in particular, socratic irony. In Part One, Kierkegaard regards Aristophanes' portrayal of Socrates, in Aristophanes' The Clouds to be the most accurate representation of the man. Whereas Xenophon and Plato portrayed Socrates seriously, Kierkegaard felt that Aristophanes best understood the intricacies of socratic irony.
In the shorter Part Two of the dissertation, Kierkegaard compares Socratic irony with contemporary interpretations of irony. Here he offers analysis of major 19th century writers and philosophers including Fichte, Schlegel, and Hegel.
References
- for review of Kierkegaard analysis of Socratic irony see Kieran Egan The educated mind : how cognitive tools shape our understanding. (1997) University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-226-19036-6 p. 137-144
External links
Søren Kierkegaard 1843–1846 On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates · Either/Or · Two Upbuilding Discourses, 1843 · Repetition · Three Upbuilding Discourses · Fear and Trembling · Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1843 · Two Upbuilding Discourses, 1844 · Three Upbuilding Discourses, 1844 · Philosophical Fragments · The Concept of Anxiety · Prefaces · Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1844 · Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions · Stages on Life's Way · Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments · Two Ages: A Literary Review
1847–1854 Edifying Discourses in Diverse Spirits · Works of Love · Christian Discourses · The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress · The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air · The Sickness Unto Death · Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays · Practice in Christianity · Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays · The Book on Adler · For Self-Examination · Attack Upon Christendom
Posthumous publications Ideas Philosophy · Theology · Angst · Anguish · Authenticity · Double-mindedness · Indirect communication · Infinite qualitative distinction · Knight of faith · Leap of faith · Ressentiment · Rotation method
Related topics Categories:- 1841 books
- Books about irony
- Books by Søren Kierkegaard
- Philosophy book stubs
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