Kierkegaard in 90 Minutes

Kierkegaard wasn't really a philosopher in the academic sense. Yet he produced what many people expect of philosophy. He didn't write about the world, he wrote about life - how we live, and how we choose to live. His subject was the individual and his or her existence: the "existing being". In Kierkegaard's view, this purely subjective entity lay beyond the reach of reason, logic, philosophical systems, theology, or even "the pretenses of psychology". Nonetheless it was the source of all these subjects. The branch of philosophy to which Kierkegaard gave birth has come to be known as existentialism. In Kierkegaard in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Kierkegaard's life and ideas, and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Kierkegaard's work; a brief list of suggested reading for those who wish to push further; and chronologies that place Kierkegaard within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.

By Paul Strathern