The Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard is both immortal and inevitable when he says that we cannot get away from "that single individual" in our dealings with the world. This understanding makes him the instigator of modernity.

2013.07.23 | Bjørg Tulinius

"He is well aware that every human develops in freedom, but he is also aware that a person does not create himself out of nothing, that he has himself in its concretion as his task; he will once again be reconciled with existence in perceiving that in a certain sense every person is an exception, and that it is equally true that every human being is the universally human, and also an exception."

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Either-Or 1843

"It is, of course, a fantastic quote and really well spotted by Kierkegaard. He is the first to centre his thinking around "that single individual", and from this juncture, Kierkegaard goes on to become the instigator of modernity. To this day, his thinking permeates our understanding of ourselves and the world."?

This is how Ole Morsing, Associate Professor in the History of Ideas, starts his interpretation of the above Kierkegaard quote from the Danish thinker's famous work Either-Or. ??

As we celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, it is the insight, in particular, that we cannot get away from "that single individual" in our dealings with the world which makes the Danish thinker both immortal and unavoidable.

You must become who you are

In Kierkegaard's words, we all, also you, dear reader, have a central task in life. You must become who you are. You must develop your character, and when reading this, when speaking with others, in fact in everything you do, you will see yourself as something unique, as an exception. ??That is how it is. For everybody.?  ?

"And this is at the very heart of Kierkegaard's thinking. Because when something applies to everyone, then it points to what is also described in the quotation: That you, understood as "that single individual", are at the same time part of a greater whole, of the universally human," says Ole Morsing.??

"Many read him as if we have to be small private and isolated individuals. As if there are a host of free choices for the individual, and that it is through the freedom of choice that we as individuals become who we are. And that everyone is thus the master of his own fate."

Only God decides for the individual

"But this is wrong. For this is not a question of free choices in the sense of random choices. Choice and freedom are conditions given to us by virtue of the fact that we are created by God, as humans. Consequently, the task is one of constantly having an eye both for the exception and for the universally human," explains Ole Morsing.??

"Even though the quote comes from Kierkegaard's ethicist who defends the overlapping values of marriage and society, his point is that what is universally human is of decisive importance, but that it must not decide for the individual, only God must do that."??

Due to his radical existentialism, Kierkegaard was very sceptical about institutions; in his view, there was a risk of "that single individual" being outdone or deprived of control by such institutions.

Conviction must be transformed into action

"For Kierkegaard, communities are difficult because they can inhibit the individual. He believed in neither a state nor a national identity. He is also against ideologies for the same reason, and for him the national church is pure heresy, precisely because it is an institution and does not allow for the personal views of "that single individual," explains Ole Morsing.

Kierkegaard believes that all convictions must be understood in a personal way. Then they must be transformed into action to produce a concordance between our inner and outer lives.

"In other words, everything must start and end as something which you personally can vouch for. And that also applies to the community," says Ole Morsing.