Abstract

A detailed reconstruction of Kierkegaard's concept of recognition has been lacking until now in Kierkegaard research. This book attempts to derive Kierkegaard's implicit concept of recognition in Either/Or and in Works of Love from the concepts of choice and love. It seeks to show that self-choice and self-love are to be understood as elementary forms of recognition. This means that the capacity to choose for oneself and to love oneself is the prerequisite for mutual recognition.