UDC

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Abstract

This article discusses Kierkegaard’s interpretation of the concept of subjectivity in his master’s thesis. While the traditional interpretation links subjectivity to the will as a negative concept, Kierkegaard considers subjectivity to be neutral. He links it with the concepts of worldview, free will, duty, and responsibility. For the first time subjectivity in historical reality is found in Socrates’ irony. The ironist appears at the moments of crisis in history, when a person faces the problem of self-identification. The ironist is taken out of historical reality and finds himself between two kinds of reality. His critical attitude to reality creates freedom and a possibility of choice for him. Kierkegaard distinguishes between metaphysical and restrained irony: 1) metaphysical irony denies the entire reality, while restrained irony denies only historical reality that has lost its right to existence; 2) metaphysical irony is possible only for God-ironist, but not for humans: people can express themselves only in restrained irony; 3) metaphysical irony is based on identity of thinking and being, but such identity is possible only for God, while restrained irony is based on the loss of identity, on a divided subject. In Kierkegaard’s thesis, irony is neither an aesthetic category or contemplation, but a form of existence. In each of the forms of existence – aesthetic, ironic, ethical, humorous, and religious – subjectivity is reflected in different ways. The ironist is one of the forms of expressing subjectivity, which depends on the value system of the ironic worldview.

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References

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