Abstract
The article provides a reconstruction of Kierkegaardʼs conception of self-knowledge, mainly in the light of The Concept of Irony, The Sickness unto Death, Philosophical Fragments and selected upbuilding discourses. The concept of self-knowledge, which in Kierkegaard goes beyond mere epistemology, is shown in its duality, as a process which is for Kierkegaard both substantial and relational: to know oneself is for Kierkegaard both an ethical claim upon man and a religious act whose accomplishment is dependent on Godʼs intervention. The article next discusses how self-knowledge involves a relationship to and “knowledge” of God. Finally, it is shown that self-knowledge presupposes not only that one believes himself or herself to be known by God, but also by his or her fellow human beings: self-knowledge requires engagement in the lived world and with others.
A version of this text was published in Czech language in Reflexe. Filosofický časopis, no. 57, 2019, pp. 35 – 58.
I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Pavel Kouba, and to E. Obermueller and L. R. Bear.
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