Abstract
In this essay, I argue that Kierkegaard endorses a “grace model” of ethical transformation – that radical normative change is not a function of agent-choice, rational or otherwise. After showing how grace functions in Kierkegaard’s account of religious transformation, I go on to argue that he offers a parallel account in the case of ethical conversion, the latter drawing from a description of transformation detailed in Kierkegaard’s Repetition. There we find an example of ethical transformation that challenges received interpretations of the mechanics of Kierkegaard’s aesthetic-to-ethical transition. In the same way that God’s love is said to transform the heart of the Christian, Kierkegaard thinks that certain ethical encounters transform the desires and commitments of the aesthete.
Carlisle, C. 2005. Kierkegaard’s Philosophy of Becoming: Movements and Positions. New York.10.1353/book4981Search in Google Scholar
Davenport, J. 2012. Narrative Identity, Autonomy, and Morality: From Frankfurt and MacIntyre to Kierkegaard. New York.10.4324/9780203125946Search in Google Scholar
Evans, C. S. 2006. “Does Kierkegaard Think Beliefs Can Be Directly Willed?”. In Kierkegaard on Faith and the Self. Ed. C. S. Evans. Baylor, 299–310.10.1007/BF00142862Search in Google Scholar
Ferreira, J. 1991. Transforming Vision. Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Franks, P. 2005. All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism. Harvard.10.4159/9780674272750Search in Google Scholar
Hansen, A. 1981–88. Holberg-Ordbog: Ordbog over Ludvig Holbergs Sprog. Copenhagen.Search in Google Scholar
Hegel. G. W. F. 1977. Faith and Knowledge. Ed./trans. H. S. Harris. New York.Search in Google Scholar
Hume, D. 1977. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Indianapolis.Search in Google Scholar
–. 2000. A Treatise of Human Nature. Eds. d. F. Norton/M. J. Norton. Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Jacobi, F. H. 1994a. Concerning the Doctrine of Spinoza in Letters to Herr Moses Mendelssohn. In The Main Philosophical Writings and the Novel Allwill: Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Ed. G. di Giovanni. Montreal/Kingston, 173–252.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1994b. David Hume on Faith, or Idealism and Realism. A Dialogue. In The Main Philosophical Writings and the Novel Allwill: Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. Ed. G. di Giovanni. Montreal/Kingston, 253–338.Search in Google Scholar
Jacobs, J. D. (ed.) 2015. Res Philosophica, vol. 92. Special issue on Transformative Expereince.10.11612/resphil.2015.92.2.3Search in Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1998. Critique of Pure Reason. Ed./trans. P. Guyer/A. W. Wood. Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511804649Search in Google Scholar
–. 1996. Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. In Religion and Rational Theology. Ed./trans. a. W. Wood/G. di Giovanni. Cambridge, 39–216.10.1017/CBO9780511809637.007Search in Google Scholar
Kemp, R. 2015a. “‘A’ the Aesthete: Aestheticism and the Limits of Philosophy”. In Kierkegaard’s Pseudonyms. Ed. K. Nun/J. Stewart. London, 1–25.10.4324/9781315234694-9Search in Google Scholar
–. 2015b. “Repetition”. In Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Tome V: Objectivity to Sacrifice. Ed. S. Emmanuel/W. McDonald/J. Stewart. London, 225–230.Search in Google Scholar
–. 2015c. “The Self-Transformation Puzzle”. Res Philosophica, 92, 389–418.Search in Google Scholar
–. 2011. “Making Sense of the Ethical Stage: Revisiting Kierkegaard’s Aesthetic-to-Ethical Transition”. Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, 323–340.10.1515/9783110236514.323Search in Google Scholar
Kierkegaard, S. 1992. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments. Ed./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.10.1515/9781400846993Search in Google Scholar
–. 1987. Either/Or: Part One. Ed./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1987. Either/Or: Part Two. Ed./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1985. Fear and Trembling. Trans. a. Hannay. London.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1987. Philosophical Fragments. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1991. Practice in Christianity. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1983. Repetition. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1967–1978. Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers: Volumes 1–6. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Bloomington.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1988. Stages on Life’s Way. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1998. The Point of View. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1983. The Sickness unto Death. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
–. 1997. Without Authority. Eds./trans. H. V. Hong/E. A. Hong. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar
Kosch, M. 2006. Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling, and Kierkegaard. Oxford.10.1093/0199289115.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. 2007. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Notre Dame.10.1515/9781400848393-039Search in Google Scholar
Malcolm X. 1994. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York.Search in Google Scholar
Martens, P. 2015. “H. H.: A Guerrilla Writer After Theologians … and More”. In Kierkegaard’s Pseudonyms. Ed. K. Nun/J. Stewart. London, 89–96.Search in Google Scholar
Maughan-Brown, F. 2014. “Imagination”. In Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Tome III: Envy to Incognito. Eds. s. Emmanuel/W. McDonald/J. Stewart. London, 195–202.Search in Google Scholar
Penelhum, T. 1983. God and Skepticism. D. Reidel.10.1007/978-94-009-7083-0Search in Google Scholar
Pojman, L. 1986. Religious Belief and the Will. London.Search in Google Scholar
Popkin, R. 1952. “Hume and Kierkegaard”. The Journal of Religion, 31, 274–281.10.1086/484179Search in Google Scholar
Rudd, A. 2008. “Reason in Ethics Revisited: Either/Or, ‘Criterionless Choice’ and Narrative Unity”. Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, 178–199.10.1515/9783110205350.1.179Search in Google Scholar
Schreiber, G. 2014. “Leap”. In Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Tome IV: Individiual to Novel. Eds. s. Emmanuel/W. McDonald/J. Stewart. London, 71–78.Search in Google Scholar
Sløk, C. 2015. “Seduction”. In Kierkegaard’s Concepts, Tome VI: Salvation to Writing. Eds. s. Emmanuel/W. McDonald/J. Stewart. London, 17–22.Search in Google Scholar
Tietjen, M. A. 2013. Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue: Authorship as Edification. Bloomington.Search in Google Scholar
Westphal, M. 1996. Becoming a Self: A Reading of Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Lafayette.Search in Google Scholar
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston