Speculative Thinker

by Administrator at Jun 26, 12:44 pm

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Søren Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846) is an inquiry into the subjectivity of truth, and into the truth of subjectivity. Kierkegaard explains how objective truth may differ from subjective truth, and how objectivity differs from subjectivity. Kierhkegaard describes how objective truth may be an outer truth, and how subjective truth may be an inner truth. Kierkegaard distinguishes between speculative philosophy as a mode of reasoning which seeks objective truth, and religious faith as a mode of being which seeks subjective truth.

According to Kierkegaard, the objective thinker is interested in objective truth, while the subjective thinker is interested in subjective truth. Objective truth includes historical truth and philosophical truth. Subjective truth includes religious truth. The objective thinker is indifferent to the truth of subjectivity, while the subjective thinker finds an eternal happiness in subjectivity. For the subjective thinker, eternal happiness is an absolute good which is attained by faith. Faith is a passionate inwardness which affirms the truth of subjectivity.

For Kierkegaard, objective truth is characterized by outwardness, while subjective truth is characterized by inwardness. The objective thinker does not find an eternal happiness in subjective truth, and is disinterested in the truth of subjectivity. The objective thinker is interested in what defines existence, while the subjective thinker is interested in how existence is defined.