Either ... or

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Ducks - Eller , title page of the first Danish edition from 1843

Either - Or is the first and most famous work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard . He published it in 1843 under the pseudonym Victor Eremita ("the victorious hermit"). The Danish title is ducks - Eller. Et Livs fragment, udgivet af Victor Eremita , German (by Otto Gleiß and Alexander Michelsen ): Either - or. A fragment of life, edited by Victor Eremita .

In this work Kierkegaard juxtaposes two possibilities of existence or views of life: an aesthetic and an ethical one . The literary design of the two-volume work is very complex. The fictitious editor pretends to have compiled texts and letters discovered by chance, some of which refer to each other.

Fictitious editor, fictional writer and text creator

Victor Eremita calls himself editor and claims to have found various papers in an acquired secretary which, according to him, can be assigned to two authors. He calls the first, who remains completely anonymous, A, the second, who calls himself Wilhelm and is a judge-advisor, B. The character of the fictional authors is expressed in the form of the text.

A's papers consist of several treatises that deal in particular with love, as well as an upstream collection of aphorisms , some of which come from Kierkegaard's diaries and which he calls Diapsalmata (intermediate psalms ). The last text, the diary of the seducer , written in the first person by a young man named Johannes , is said to have only been published by Victor Eremita.

B's papers, on the other hand, are in the form of letters that are addressed to A and in which he suggests an ethical view of life to his friend A. The last letter is supplemented by a sermon not written by B.

In the unscientific postscript , a review of either - or , Kierkegaard justifies the use of pseudonyms as follows: "The fact that there is no author is a means of keeping away." Victor Eremita had already indicated this in the foreword of either - or . He adds another motif there by writing about it that the diary of A's seducer was supposedly only published, not written: “This is an old novellist trick [...]. I only want to remark that the mood that prevails in A's preface in a certain way betrays the poet. It is really as if A was afraid of his poetry himself [...]. "

content

  • Introduction (Victor Eremita)
  • Part 1 (A)
    • Diapsalmata
    • The musical-erotic , in which Mozart and his Don Giovanni in particular are extensively honored
    • The reflex of the ancient tragic in the modern tragic
    • Silhouettes. Psychological pastime
    • The unlucky one
    • First love. Comedy in one act by Scribe
    • The exchange economy. Attempt a social wisdom doctrine
    • The seducer’s diary contains both notes and letters from a young man named Johannes, as well as three letters from his lover or fiancée Cordelia (allegedly edited by the alleged author of Part A). Right from the start Johannes has been a hedonistic character and esthete - in the sense of Kierkegaard - and is out to seduce Cordelia, but not with the clumsy means of deception or even violence, but by developing the young girl's ability to love in a pedagogically clever way and finally in light Sets flames. He plans his approach in detail and makes Cordelia the object of psychological tricks. After he has finally become engaged to her, he causes her to break this engagement again by making her realize that love is only really love when it breaks free from all bonds, including those of civil marriage planning. Like his namesake Don Juan or Don Giovanni, Johannes also loses interest in Cordelia the moment she surrenders to him.
  • Part 2 (B)
    • The aesthetic validity of marriage . The ethicist and husband B writes a statement to the aesthetician A, in which he provides an aesthetic justification for the marriage. He describes how commitment in marriage can be used to build deep trust. Marriage thus offers protection from abuse, egoism and moodiness, so that trusting devotion and love can develop in a way that is never possible in even the most violent intoxication.
    • The balance between the aesthetic and the ethical in the development of personality
    • Ultimatum. The edifying part of the thought that we are always wrong with God

interpretation

According to common interpretation, the work is not intended as a sober comparison of the two attitudes towards life; Kierkegaard does try to get the reader to adopt an ethical attitude or even a religious belief, but abstains from direct comment and instead tries to let the attitudes speak for themselves. Other interpreters, such as Tilo Wesche, are of the opinion that the text points beyond itself and that both life plans are to be rejected.

swell

  1. ↑ Sören Kierkegaard: Philosophical crumbs and unscientific postscript , Munich: dtv 1979, p. 402.
  2. ↑ Sören Kierkegaard: Either - Or. Part I and II. Munich: dtv 1975, p. 18.
  3. ^ Asa A. Schillinger-Kind: Kierkegaard for beginners. Either ... or. An introduction to reading. Munich: DTV 1998, ISBN 3-423-30656-4
  4. ^ Tilo Wesche: Kierkegaard. A philosophical introduction. Stuttgart 2003 (= RUB 18260), ISBN 3-15-018260-3

literature

  • Sören Kierkegaard: Either - or. A fragment of life, edited by Victor Eremita , dtv, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-423-02194-2 .
  • Theodor W. Adorno : Kierkegaard. Construction of the aesthetic , Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 2003, ISBN 3-518-29302-8 .
  • Franz-Peter Burkard: Self-election. On the relationship between people and themselves in Sören Kierkegaard , in: Structure and Freedom. Festschrift for Hans-Eduard Hengstenberg on his 85th birthday, ed. by Gotthold Müller, Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 1990, ISBN 3-88479-433-7 .
  • Helmut Fahrenbach : Kierkegaard's existential dialectic ethics , Klostermann, Frankfurt a. M., 1984, ISBN 3-465-00467-1 .
  • Asa Schillinger-Kind: Kierkegaard for beginners. Either ... or. An introduction to reading , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-30656-4 .

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