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Kierkegaard's unifying theme was that there are three spheres of existence--the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious--in constant tension. He found the first of these, personal aesthetic enjoyment, in the fickle search for pleasure that is essentially egoistic. The second, the ethical sphere, is not egoistic; rather it is an impersonal ideal, a law based on reason rather than personal preference and convenience. In this stage, life is not a series of separate moments of pleasure but a long-range project to be organized according to rational principles. These principles include not only the rules of ultimate self-interest but also the abstract principles of morality that describe what an individual ought to do. In the third stage, that of true religious choice, no automatic, rational decision procedure can be employed, but rather a "leap of faith" provides the grounds for decision. Thus in Fear and Trembling (1843; Eng. trans., 1941) Kierkegaard retold the story of Abraham's dilemma in such a way as to present the two alternatives of an abstract ethical universal (the abstract rule that one should not kill one's child) and a concrete religious commitment (the unjustifiable but undeniable command of God to Abraham that he should slay Isaac).

For Kierkegaard, the highest level of human life consists of recognizing the need for Religion as a subjective commitment to truth, as opposed to the Hegelian philosophy of pure thought. Kierkegaard attacked what he considered to be the sterile Metaphysics of G.W.F. Hegel, who attempted to systematize the whole of existence and create an objective theory of knowledge. Kierkegaard's often repeated statement, "truth is subjectivity," should not be understood in the sense of a shallow individualism. Rather, it links truth with the subject instead of with its object, making the full communication of truth to other subjects impossible. Kierkegaard drew the only logical conclusion from his principle--that it is impossible to establish an objective system of doctrinal truths.

Although few 19th-century thinkers have surpassed Kierkegaard's influence on 20th-century thought, there is no "Kierkegaardian school" of philosophy, theology, or literary criticism. This is due largely to the fact that he did not develop an all-embracing system, but instead deliberately developed his ideas from several often incompatible points of view at the same time. The lack of an explicit following, however, is itself a confirmation of Kierkegaard's philosophy, as he insisted that the individual was the repository of truth. In fact, he requested as his own epitaph the designation "That individual." --- by Thomas E. Wren