Kierkegaard's Dialectic of Faith in Fear and Trembling

In Kierkegaard's existential philosophy, anxiety (angst) is not despair itself but the precondition for despair, arising from the awareness of human freedom and the burden of choice; despair manifests in three forms—unconscious despair, despair of self-deception, and despair of self-abandonment—all of which constitute sin, while faith serves as the antidote to despair by embracing the paradox of human existence before God.

This segment explores the core philosophical concepts of anxiety and freedom. The book was written simultaneously with 'Philosophical Fragments' and the four edifying discourses of 1844, with Kierkegaard working in multiple apartments with a pulpit in each room. The work is complementary to 'Philosophical Fragments'—one appeals to Genesis (Old Testament) and the other to the New Testament. Anxiety is properly the experience of the abyss before the leap of our freedom. Kierkegaard states that if anyone has ever felt anxiety, they will never be free, because anxiety is the experience of the abyss before the leap. This concept anticipates themes in 'The Sickness Unto Death' (1849), where determinism and fatalism lead to despair, while excessive imagination leads humans to live in the clouds and therefore also in despair. The book works with the dialectical structure of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, though it also ironically imitates historical-philosophical descriptions with triads such as Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity.

Kierkegaard articulated that anxiety is the dizziness of freedom—in a world of nothing, the self is freed from negativity but faces overwhelming possibilities. With no physical reality, one cannot know what is real. True despair is not mortality but obtaining immortality and infinitude, becoming an unbearable excess—a disease that deprives the ability to live fully while denying death as recourse. This is Kierkegaard's 'The Sickness Unto Death.' Human subjectivity is constituted by the other. Hegel's dialectic of recognition shows individual desire is intertwined with the other's desire, desiring the other as the only source of self-recognition. However, self-recognition is never symmetrical—the ego recognizes itself as an ideal ego that can never be achieved. Lacan correctly noted the ego is founded on misrecognition (méconnaissance). Unlike the little other (human counterpart), the absolute Other is someone of radical otherness, alterity, and foreignness—impersonal and inhuman. The biblical command to love neighbor as oneself is impossible because neighbors are absolute Others.

Kierkegaard's 'The Concept of Anxiety' represents his most significant contribution to psychological thought. In this work, Kierkegaard explores anxiety (angst) as a fundamental human experience that reveals the nature of human freedom and possibility. He distinguishes anxiety from fear, arguing that anxiety is not a response to a specific threat but rather a response to the possibility of freedom itself. The presenter explains that anxiety arises from the awareness that human beings exist in a field of genuine uncertainty and that their choices are not predetermined. Kierkegaard addressed a fundamental methodological problem in psychology by examining how the discipline approaches the concept of original sin. He argued that psychology must first establish what constitutes a 'sinless' life before it can properly understand sin. This requires psychology to engage with ethical and theological questions that lie beyond its traditional scope. Kierkegaard argued that psychology cannot properly understand human behavior without engaging with ethics and dogmatics (theological doctrine). He explained that ethics provides the framework for understanding what constitutes moral behavior, while dogmatics provides the historical and cultural context for understanding concepts like original sin. This interdisciplinary approach became important for existential psychology as it recognizes the complexity of human existence. Kierkegaard proposed that anguish (angst) should be the proper object of psychology - not because it is morally significant but because it reveals the fundamental structure of human existence. He argued that anguish is the experience of possibility itself - the awareness that human beings exist in a field of genuine uncertainty where outcomes cannot be predetermined. The presenter explains that this insight reveals the psychological dimension of human existence as fundamentally characterized by uncertainty and the need to make choices without guarantees. Kierkegaard proposed that psychology should focus on the field of possibility - the awareness that human beings exist in a field of genuine uncertainty - rather than merely describing what actually happens. He argued that this field of possibility represents both the object and the limit of psychological intervention, as psychology cannot determine what will actually happen but can only help individuals become aware of their own possibilities. Kierkegaard proposed that individuals can learn from anguish - the experience of possibility - and that this learning process constitutes what he called the 'school of anguish.' He suggested that anguish, far from being merely a negative experience, can serve as a teacher that reveals the nature of human freedom and possibility. Kierkegaard suggested that anguish, like fear, is learned through experience - individuals cannot be taught anguish directly but must encounter situations that reveal the reality of possibility and uncertainty. He proposed that this learning process constitutes what he called the 'school of anguish' - a process through which individuals come to understand the nature of their own freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. Kierkegaard's 'The Sickness Unto Death' explores the concept of despair as a fundamental human condition. He argued that despair is not merely a psychological state but a fundamental problem of human existence that arises from the tension between human finitude and human freedom. The presenter explains that despair, for Kierkegaard, represents the failure to properly relate to one's own existence and the possibilities that come with it. Kierkegaard explored the etymology of the word 'despair' (from the Danish 'desperance'), which literally means 'separation.' He argued that despair represents a fundamental separation within human existence - a separation between the individual and their own possibilities, between what one is and what one could be. Kierkegaard argued that human beings are fundamentally relations - beings who exist in relation to others and to the world. However, he also argued that human beings cannot place themselves in these relations - they are placed in them by a power beyond themselves (which he identified as God). This creates a fundamental tension in human existence: the need to relate to others while simultaneously being unable to determine the terms of that relation. The presenter explains that this insight reveals the psychological dimension of human existence as fundamentally characterized by uncertainty and the need to make choices without guarantees. Kierkegaard argued that human beings are relations of finitude and infinity, of temporal and eternal, of necessary and possible. This complex structure of human existence creates both the conditions for despair and the possibilities for its resolution.

Kierkegaard sees anxiety as 'dizziness over all of one's possibilities' - the classic existential despair when one realizes they can do whatever they want because nothing matters. This existential condition can be initially fun, allowing for freedom to enjoy life's pleasures. However, the longer one contemplates this vague anxiety over the existential condition, the more it sharpens and defines itself, taking on the form of something far more specific and potentially frightening.

To embody the Leap of Faith: accept the unknown, try new things without guarantees, confront anxiety rather than avoiding it, seek meaning not solutions, and live with passion. Kierkegaard's ideas influenced existentialists like Sartre and Camus, and inspired existential therapy and Viktor Frankl's logotherapy. In a secular world, his philosophy calls us to go beyond the material, trust in immaterial values, and live courageously amid uncertainty. The Leap of Faith is an invitation to act courageously, trust in the absurd, and find meaning even when reason fails.

Kierkegaard teaches that faith is the opposite of passivity - it is the affirmation that the man can transform the void into destiny. The bridge between Kierkegaard and the existentialists of the 20th century is the absurd, but there is a subtle difference. For Kierkegaard, the absurd is the terrain of faith. For Camus, the absurd is the terrain of revolt. Both agree on one essential point - that life is contradictory and that the man is only free when he accepts this contradiction. What Kierkegaard called the leap of faith, Camus would call the embrace of the absurd.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) concluded that since Hegel's synthesis was not from reason, he had no choice but to take a 'leap of faith' to find the answer to life. This leap was irrational since it was not based on reason but on faith without rational foundation. After Kierkegaard, existentialism spread through Heidegger, Camus, Sartre, and Jaspers, who advocated the 'final experience'—the ultimate leap of faith. This philosophical failure spread to culture, affecting art, music, and schoolrooms. The only adequate answer is that there is a God behind it all who made it so that we can live with Him forever. We do not discover this God by an irrational leap of faith but by a rational belief in what He has communicated through His prophets, scripture, and the Church.

Existentialism revises the traditional understanding of faith by redefining it as something that attends the human condition rather than being necessarily a property of religion. For existentialists like Sartre and Kierkegaard, faith is defined by vulnerability, contingency, and the requirement of lived investment. Faith names the contingency and the requirement that human existence involves decisions about the direction of our existence. Kierkegaard never used the term 'leap of faith' but instead spoke of making a 'mighty trampoline leap' between different life stages or approaches to existential reality, moving from aesthetic to ethical to religious stages.

The leap of faith is necessary because human reason cannot fully comprehend the ungraspable aspects of reality. Those who do not make this leap may fall into: (1) Nihilism - believing nothing beyond empirical verification exists; (2) Demonology - replacing the transcendent with comprehensible substitutes like objects or possessions; (3) Deification - elevating humans to divine status. Symbols (chers) - including words, myths, dogmas, and natural landscapes - serve as paths to understanding transcendence.

The teleological suspension of the ethical is the concept that there can be something higher than the ethical sphere. In the aesthetic sphere, the telos is central pleasure in the moment, while in the ethical sphere, it is acting morally in society. The question is whether there can really be something higher than the ethical sphere. Abraham suspended the ethical to a higher telos, giving up the ethical sphere for complete irrationality in faith in God. He became a knight of faith. This concept is considered the trickiest to understand and is both murky and dangerous.

Kant criticized two major ethical traditions: theological ethics and utilitarianism. Theological ethics bases morality on religious faith and divine commandments, but Kant argued authentic ethics must be autonomous and disinterested - performed for its own sake, not for rewards or fear of punishment. Utilitarianism judges actions by consequences (pleasure/suffering), but Kant rejected this consequentialist approach, arguing true morality is deontological - based on intentions and principles. The famous trolley problem illustrates this: utilitarianism would kill one to save five, but Kant rejects this because it treats people as means to ends. For Kant, an action is only truly moral if it stems from rational duty rather than external motivation or outcome calculation.

Orthodox Christianity responds that laws are means to an end (love), and if the law contradicts its own purpose, it should be suspended for the sake of the end. Soren Kierkegaard critiqued Kant by arguing morality cannot be based on universalizable maxims - it must start from the individual with aim. For Aristotle, the good life presupposed natural forms, teleology, and essential connection to the polis. For moderns (Kant), the good life leaves man as isolated, existing as an island, bound only by duty according to reason within universal law. This fundamental difference explains why modern philosophy leads to different conclusions about human flourishing.

The 'teleological suspension of the ethical' is a concept from Kierkegaard's 'Fear and Trembling.' It describes how Abraham's action of being willing to sacrifice his son can be ethically justified by suspending the ethical for a higher purpose (God's command). This suspension allows Abraham to circumvent the wrath of those who would say 'that's just so wrong.' The concept is crucial for understanding how artistic and religious actions can transcend ordinary ethical frameworks. To be an artist, you must learn to submit to a master and understand how to be driven to the point of submission, which involves understanding cruelty and darkness.

In Kierkegaard's 'Fear and Trembling,' a teleological suspension of the ethical occurs when an individual places themselves in an absolute relation to something higher than the universal ethical order, such as faith or divine command; this allows the single individual to become superior to the universal ethical framework, as demonstrated by Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac despite the ethical obligation to protect one's child, where the ethical is preserved while being transgressed for a higher purpose.