Abstract

[The contrast between individuality and existence in the hermeneutics of religious experience]. Often used interchangeably in the hermeneutics of religious experience, the concepts of individuality and existence actually overlapp only in a very partial way. The first part of this essay investigates Schleiermacher’s idea of individuality and emphasizes the non-subjective character of his concept of “feeling”, its natural openness and transcendence, with reference also to the Heideggerian interpretation of the second “Rede”. Then the essay focuses on Kierkegaard’s distinction between the “religiosity A” and “religiosity B”. The conclusion outlines a “cosmic” concept of individuality, consistent with a “metaphysics of the within”, in reference to the idea of “immanent transcendence” by Georg Simmel.