Introduction to Kierkegaard: The Existential Problem 

Become a Supporting Member and get access to exclusive videos: academyofideas.com/members/ ======== Recommended Readings: Kierkegaard An Introduction: Stephen Evans - amzn.to/1qQawen (affiliate link) Kierkegaard's Philosophy: Self Deception and Cowardice in the Present Age: John Mullen - amzn.to/1qQai75 (affiliate link) Introduction to Kierkegaard: Peter Vardy - amzn.to/1TKuTnD

Kierkegaard the only philosopher whom i could relate to religiously, existientially and ethicly. A wise man indeed.

I so wish I had read some of Kierkegaard's works when I was a teenager, because if I had, a lot of my life would have been a whole lot clearer to me

This is easily my favorite channel on all of RU-vid

This channel quite literally saved my life.

One of the things I appreciate most about these thinkers is that yes, I agree with and also feel their ideas, but that in the loneliness of embodying these ideas, I can look back over my shoulder or look ahead and see them trudging along all around me, their gazes cast down at the ground in front of them. Paradoxically, even in walking alone, there are still companions.

Make sure to donate to this man through his website so he can keep making these! Also, I think if you enter Amazon through his website before you make your normal purchases a portion of the money goes to him. I'm not a solicitor, just a huge fan who wants to see more of these videos!

The idea of self is still a mystery to me. A lot of conformists and crowd-pleasers talk about being 'themselves', but I think they would have made Kierkegaard giggle.

This was actually incredibly insightful. I've been dealing with the existential anxiety for a while, and never learned how to handle it until recently after only gaining clarity here and there. Instead of running away from it, avoiding it, or hating myself, I learned to sit with it and understand it. What turned into a fear of fear morphed into peace. Anyway, this video actually helped me find a solution to it as I couldn't really find a purpose to aid it. Lately this channel has been indispensable for me. It's been a shortcut to something I know I would have eventually figured out, but why wait too long? I've finally been at beautiful peace with the world around me and am excited to rejoin the world. In a nutshell: thank you for your contribution.

Kierkegaard changed my life's path. I became utterly absorbed in him but still there was much beyond my comprehension. I still love his journals. Nice video.

Great work. Love philosophy but the ideas are easily forgotten in the mundane, mechanistic and energy zapping day to day world we live in. So these videos are a lovely reminder of the power and beauty of human thought. Something society unfortunately tries to irradicate from the earliest opportunity.

My Philosophy teacher always told the class to read Kierkegaard's. I can now grasp this sense of his uniquely interesting character.

For me, there is something so true about Kierkegaard's perspective, even though it goes against some to the spiritual truths I have come to accept. His perspective, particularly about anxiety and despair, gives me some hope and some self-acceptance as well. I keep coming back to the realization of the truth behind all seeming opposites and paradoxes. It is all paradox to me; both existence and non-existence, self and non-self, someone and no-one, love and emptiness, clarity and recognized confusion, striving to come to rest in what simply is already.

The key to appreciating Fight Club more fully begins here.

You are the voice of these great philosophers. They are thanking you for that. So am I.

It's videos like these that remind me why you're content is needed more than ever. Thank you

The existential problem is life is a horrific nightmare, but we must keep facing it

I noticed that many expositions of Kierkegaard fail to mention he was religious, and conversely religious people never mention him.

"anxiety is a dizziness of freedom" (without possibility there would be no anxiety)

But to see another human is to know that they to struggle with the same existential crisis. To know that both you and the other human share and have inherited the same world. To simply know that you are not alone in this crisis is the best comfort to have. To only think of one's self as though only you suffer these issues is denial, selfish, and destructive. It's not just your fight it's all of ours

This is astonishing. A person listening to this suddenly awakens ! Thank you.

What I find especially fascinating about Kierkegaard's views on existentialism and religion is that he was really just resurrecting a dormant but always present perspective in Jewish/Christian thought. Specifically the book of Ecclesiastes is an existentialist perspective written >2000 years before the movement seemed to formally coalesce.

Soren was afraid of being hurt! that's why he wouldn't cast himself into a relationship with with Regine, his sweetheart, she in the end finally gave up on him, and married another! He wrote so much literature, but never wrote about his mother? I always wondered about that! Greetings from Denmark ;-)

I hope you're making money from this great content

This is a great overview for Kierkegaard. It has really crated a solid foundation in understanding the premise of the basic ideas he puts forward. Awesome content!

Such a wonderful video to my all time favorite philosopher! Thank you Academy! Kiekerggard is so badass, our own Creative Writing department at my college has an entire class devoted just to him!

I'm 22 too, like when Kierkegaard realized all of this. It's really hard to experience (existential crisis) but very much freeing to realize and be self-aware of who I am and what I do and all of that human conditions.

It's really interesting how much these ideas align with buddhist philosophy. Anxiety being a teacher, just as the dharma is. Lack of understanding in despair being the "worst misfortune". "Despair over the Earthly" being the same as the buddhist poison of attachment. It's almost like the ultimate truth of life is philosophy agnostic, and embedded within each one of us already. Like our soul thirsts for it, and we just have to look in the right place.

I've watched a lot of your videos on the topics of existentialism and finding meaning in life, or at least an identity. They've all been fascinating and can relate to them all. And they all offer their own solutions to how to escape or at least live comfortably with existentialism. But the one thing I find myself continually looking for, is not just how to find a way out of existentialism, for I have done it time and time again throughout my life, but, rather - what do you do when you become fatigued with trying? No one seems to have an answer for that.

I am blown away. This literally who my personal philosophy most aligns with. Than you for the video and thank you Kierkegaard and most importantly, thank you GOD.

A voice I didn't know Now I have experienced A voice with powerful communication

My favorite philosopher.

Kierkegaard, thanks for offering an answer to this unbearable state of anxiety about the self. I have been struggling with it all my life thinking something was wrong with me...or is it something wrong?😩😵 incredible content, I love this channel!

Thank you for these posts! They open a window in my soul!

Strongest I ever felt the dread was after watching a MelodySheep video about the future of the universe. After a couple of weeks though it turned into that freedom you're talking about. It's like a pressure valve went off.

its funny. i watched so many life coach videos to help myself, went to psycchiatrist but then i find this channel and hit me harder then anything before. lot of things made clear for me. i am responsible of how i feel not my parents friends or anyone else. how i feel and what i will become depends only on me. i just subscribed to monthly membership and for all of you who watch this be kind and reword the man who shares knowledge time and effort to us.

Wauw!! Thank you so much for this. This is really needed in my fight with despair and depression. As a Dane I feel a bit embarrassed in admitting that I haven't read Kierkegaard - only read about his works. Well actually this is not entirely true - in reality I don't give a damn about nationalities. I just wish I had studied a bit into Kierkegaard earlier in life. But then again; I might not have understood him without my own experiences. Anyways; thank you for this great video.

It is important to remember that this video is infotainment and goes down too easily to be an actual life changer.Its great that you like it, now go read the books or find a free lecture series on existentialism. Watching this video is not the same as putting in very real effort and time to learn-actually sacrifice and struggle to understand. Unfortunately, it is not possible to achieve any personal growth through passively watching these little videos alone. There are no quick and easy shortcuts.I wish there were😅

Beautiful introduction to my favourite philosopher, you captured the same feeling I got when I read his works a while back.

"If you don't have sauce, your lost; but you can also get lost in the sauce" - Gucci Mane

So here are the notes: facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=890094061121139&set=a.409712675825949.1073741828.100003616618834&type=3 But I'll also post them here. Søren Kierkegaard is the Father of Existentialism. Basically it works like this. Lets start with some basic terms. *Infinite -* This refers to a conceptual state of being, and the possibilities of what a person could be. Love, inspiration, potential, eternity, actualization, hope, ambition, achievement, and so on. Basically: Head in the clouds. *Finite -* This refers to a practical state of being, and what actually is right now. Relationships, owning a house, having a job, paying the bills, filing a mortgage, and so on. Basically: Feet on the ground. Humans are a synthesis of opposites in this manner: Infinite = finite temporal = eternal freedom = necessity But among these, a balance of infinite and finite are the focus. *Self -* Is the balancing the finite and the infinite properly, in order to live a happy life. You don't want your head in the clouds so that you never get settled and take on responsibility, but you don't want to only always be looking at the ground ahead of you and miss all the wonders. *Dread -* Is the feeling of both attraction and repulsion at realizing your infinite potential. This causes a lot of anxiety. This is often linked to the "mid-life crisis", where someone suddenly becomes aware of all the things they could potentially have done, and can still do. *Despair -* the act of giving up on the infinite and picking a boring life to avoid feeling dread. According to Kierkegaard, being unaware of this is worse than being aware of it. The more aware you are of the infinite, the more "dread" you will feel - but this also means you're closer to actualizing a balance between finite and infinite - and thus achieving the right balance for a happy life. The above is not all-encompassing... for example, risk-aversion is not entirely explained by dread and despair, as Kierkegaard defined them. He's only explaining them in the context of the situations put forward. Everyone still on board so far? Okay, consider that you have a box. In the box are all items that make you who and what you are. For example: I'm a woman, a survivor, a sister, a teacher, a mental health specialist, an athlete, and so on. Having numerous things in my box that help define who I am gives me a more distributed sense of self. If I had only a few things in the box - say, it was mostly just me being an athlete - then I would focus most of my resources on just that one thing, which would also eventually become a liability. Anytime someone insulted me for not being the best athlete, I would take it overly-personal and be greatly bothered. If I have more items that define who I am, I can more easily accept that I might not be the absolute best at any one of them. Moreover, you want a mix of items that is both finite and infinite. Having a range of only finite (remember: earthly) items is better than having only a few finite items, but it's best of all to have a range of finite and infinite items that contribute towards your sense of self. Now then... Existentialism puts forward that humans have free will for the reason that if we did not, then we could not make choices between the finite and infinite, and therefore there would be only despair. Hard-determinist will put forward that a person makes choices only due to their history, their experience, their thoughts, and what they're currently feeling, and if any of these change, then the choices change, so hence no free will. The mistake is to think that any of those items mentioned are somehow separate from myself. What am I, other than a composite of different things, including my history, experience, thoughts and feelings? All of these are in flux, but that's because I'm always changing. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle later comes along and reinforces free-will even further, but I'm trying to keep this as a simple guide, so we'll stop there. TL;DR for this section - you have free will, and can make choices between things like the finite and infinite and what you do with your life! Okay, more terms! Kierkegaard divided folks up into different categories. *Philistine =* This guy is non-thinking, unexamining, and goes along with the crowd. Does not really use critical thinking or examines their choices, believes whatever is popular, does whatever others are doing. Basically: a Hillary supporter. *Aesthete =* this is someone who first becomes aware of the "self", and begins trying out new life experiments and new roles. They realize they have life choices, and begin exploring. In practical terms this may happen anytime a person experiences a serious change in life - such as experimenting with new relationship rolls after transitioning, or even after a job promotion. An Aesthete can settle back into being a Philistine if they're not careful. An important note to insert in here: according to Kierkegaard, relationships always diminish freedom. Having more relationships means you cannot simply go where you want, when you want, how you want. If you're an employee, you must adhere to the schedule of others in some sense. Same with marriage. *Vulgar Aesthete =* someone who uses only freedom for base pleasures. Leads to over indulgence and boredom. *Refined Aesthete =* goes between novel sources of enjoyment, and tries out new things. Described as having a "fanatical hope of an endless journey from star to star". This is better than being a Vulgar Aesthete, but they're both still in the same boat. Both still lead to despair... it's an imbalance of self, as it lies more towards the infinite, and by definition may also be an effort to avoid "dread". *Ethicist =* Described as the "holiest thing of all is unifying power of personality" - and hence a continuous identity is most important, as this is the groundwork for relationships, rather than the focus being on relationships, which then mandate a particular form of behavior from you, thus putting you towards the finite and ruining balance of self. Ethicist is different from Philistine, because they are self aware, examined, and fit themselves into the social order in a way that they can use their individuality to the greatest extent. Another way of looking at it: *Ethicist =* has job, wife, and kids because he is self examined, and this is what he really wants. *Ideal Ethicist =* has done it all perfectly and everyone admires them. The problem with ethicist is that it doesn't go far enough in examination, and relies on examining self and fitting into society. It does not then examine society and the world at large. You can be an Ideal Ethicist in Nazi Germany and have it work out fine... well, for you at least. Now up to this point, I had some thoughts. And I guess I'll make these in another post.

This channel is of vital importance for the well-being of humanity

I love philosophy

I read all of this while working in law school library. I found that all philosophies were nothing more than philosophical boxes. If you can get outside the box, then the philosophy becomes inadequate. i.e. . Existentialism is all about what is going to happen when your outcome is oblivion. That is the hard thing to accept ! But is the most probable probability. Cheers.

I realy needed that! Maybe I'll once be able to overcome my despair and live as an induvidual with my anxieties, not against.

This is a great video and I can't wait for the second part, since this really spoke to me. I have an unorthodox opinion on politics for most people and whenever I write a comment/post about it on Facebook or RU-vid I would get a reply and whenever I get a reply I get scared and it takes me from a minute to a whole day to build up the courage to look at it at which I would respond.

Thanks for your work! :) Philosophy has always been my biggest interest but is so hard to study myself your videos really help me a lot in understanding their ideas!

Kierkegaards description of the finite and infinite is such a brilliant antecedent of the psychological phenomenon known today as "splitting"

You are my favourite chanel on philosophy. Thank you so much especially in Nietzsche and Shopenhauer.

I can relate to the anxiety and to an extent it is always with me. For me self- actualization is the most important journey each human being can travel. It is not easy and it would be more secure and comfortable to follow a crowd or tribe. I believe an individual can still be part of a community and still follow a solitary path of self-discovery.

Uhm, mate, i love your videos, thank you for this, this is one of the most usefull things i have ever found on the internet, what you are saying this video is stuff i have noticed during my lifetime, but there isnt many people you can talk to about it, and lets be real, people don't really wish to know themselves let alone be conscious, anyway ty for the video.

The part of indirect communication is something that I find very helpful in this video. I have to communicate a hard truth to a relative and I think that is the way to go. The plain truth can be too much. Thanks!

Dude, Your videos are awesome, I have always been interested in philosophy and lately existentialism. You break down the concepts into great segments of positive knowledge. It would be cool if you did longer segments or more series of segments here and on your podcast. Rock on brother!

“No, an illusion can never be destroyed directly, and only by indirect means can it be radically removed ... That is, one must approach from behind the person who is under illusion.” “Most men are subjective towards themselves and objective towards all others, frightfully objective sometimes - but the task is precisely to be objective toward oneself and subjective towards all others.”

Kierkegaard was horribly smart

This is a great introductory video. Kudos to you actualizing your self :)

This is brilliant !!!!!! Thank you so much, continue the great work.

the feel when this makes u get anxious

This video is excellent as I found The Sickness Unto Death difficult to read, but I will give it a another try some time. Thanks for making and posting it on RU-vid.

This is one of your best videos, IMO!

Shit load of wisdom here. Its fascinating

Kierkegaard is Deep, Profound, Insightful.

we fall back on the actions of others not out of choice but out of limitation

It could be a great podcast series too!

Thoroughly enjoying your videos. Great summations of major ideas.

@Academy of ideas Although I enjoy watching your videos as I feel I learn a great amount from them I feel as if there is a lack of coverage in the ideas and topics discussed by prodigious eastern philosophers like Ibn Sina, Ghazalli, Ibn Rushd etc plz try to cover these men as well.

Melanie Klein said that we are all born in a high state of anxiety. We feel we are responsible for everything disasters mishapsand so forth. I think Kierkegaard puts this in philosophical perspective. This a valuable extension of existentialism.

man I choose to read / analyse one of his books for a history assignment.. Didnt understand it at all..

One must lose the self, in order to find the self -- Dogen

so amazing don't ever stop making videos. thank you

Thank you very much I really learnt a lot from this although I have been trying to read Kierkegaard as his philosophy connects with my subjectivity a lot.i look forward to next presentation.

Seems like all the videos you make have 1 single like. It's as if someone is going around disliking your videos for no reason. It is strange as you make amazing videos. Simply amazing.

Existentialism - best drug I’ve ever tried

The will to kindness creativity and peace brought about by such altered consciousness over time

The task is to be objective of one's self and subjective of all others

I wish I had a philosopher who could have helped me when I felt like I was being frozen in a timeless platonic universe. When I was unable to see chaos.

A timely message in the age of " identity politics ".

I think of altered collective consciousness through psychology and language in individual self's material and physical dermopathy

Thats an awesome video and explanation of Kierkegaard my friend 👏

This was a greatly constructed video. Thank you for creating it.

Thanks I've been meaning to revisit this

VERY interesting.. Thank you for your works.

Despairing over the fact that at times, I have to pause to understand what's actually going on in the video and in my life.

This is really great, thank you for making these videos.

This is a really great intro. Well done.

Thank you...these videos are very well put together, and not so animated that the style detracts from the substance. Keep em coming. Looking fwd to p2.

Holy shit that was a lot for 14 minutes. Thank you for this great content

The process of becoming a Self seemingly parallels Jung's archetype idea...the individual balancing the infinite with the finite is akin to the Hero operating optimally between Chaos and Order.

That 6:40 zoom. Lol. P.S. love every bit of this presentation, and the others as well.

Just wanted to say that I hope you haven't given up on the channel. In my opinion your videos are on the same level (and superior in the case of this video) to the School of Life. It's really unfortunate the channel isn't as big as it deserves to be, but I hope you persevere.

Excellent work! Looking forward to the second part.

Play speed at 0.75 seems better. Thanks

The last bit at the end made me realize something in a new way. It seems to me that this could be why we are seeing these huge movements of far left radicalized youths on college campuses. Where as people with the personality traits of conservatism would strive to become individuals and choose responsibility and self-identification, those more progressively tempered seek comfort in the group. And it just so happens to be that the only political option weighing heavily in on the value of groups at the university today are the ideologies of the far left. It makes sense then that if you are young, and scared, ill-experienced and impressionable, and someone tells you "Life is hard, but if you pick yourself up and work, you can make something of yourself, but if you do not take responsibility seriously then you will most likely fail in life" that they would be put off, if not be intimidated by such an answer and seek its opposite. And it's opposite is the idea of the group. To paraphrase Kierkegaard, the anxiety of knowing one is possibly alone and responsible for themselves and there well-being is so much to bear that the easiest option is to surround yourself with the comfort of friends. To live inside of a group so purposefully that you fully identify yourself as a person within a group, not just as a person. To surround yourself with the idea of the group, and to banish the individual. Individuality has in this way become a solely "Republican/Libertarian" viewpoint. And to believe in the importance of bearing the burden of individuality is synonymous with casting judgement upon any persons who has not lived to their truest potential. To "deny the humanity" of those who lost their ways in the pitfalls of leisure and idle time. It is to hate the poor, to hate the entire groups of people who have not achieved. Holding the sovereignty of individuality as the highest virtue is to spit in the face of all the groups of people who are not the "high achievers" of the world because you are in a way blaming them for the position that they are in rather than allowing the idea of power play between opposing groups to be the true reason why any person is "stuck" in the position that they are in. Just a random thought.

I tried reading Fear and Trembling but the writing style and archaic language was too much. I thank you for this video

Thanks man, great job a truly "guide for the perplexed". I promptly will go look for your older videos. I hope in the next video you summarize the repetition concept. Coz that had me kind of disturbed.

'mastered irony' is a superb sentiment.

All of your videos are very well done and educational without being overly didactic - thanks for the awesome work!

"Solitude is the answer to all the questions except one '- Rakesh Singh

The highest, hardest and most frightening calling.

Great amazing mazing video, Best video about Kierkegaard, I have ever seen, Thanks