The Reconstruction of Human Finitude: A 'Retrieval' of Kierkegaard's Proto-Hermeneutics

Authors

Ernesto V. Garcia, University of Michigan

Abstract

According to Kierkegaard, each person faces the knotty subject, the necessity of the subjective relationship of the existing individual to her eternal happiness: the God-relationship. In this article, the author focuses on what he finds to be Kierkegaard’s essentially negative reply to the question: “Can the truth be learned?” A study of the dialectical thinking of Johannes Climacus reveals that any positive knowledge, no matter its degree of theory or skepticism, is disingenuous—a position antithetical to philosophers like Hegel and Descartes. Kierkegaard’s thought, which anticipates deconstruction and hermeneutics, shows us that certainty is deceptive and impossible. Rather, we must recognize our constant existential striving.

Recommended Citation

Garcia, Ernesto V. (1995) "The Reconstruction of Human Finitude: A 'Retrieval' of Kierkegaard's Proto-Hermeneutics," Episteme: Vol. 6, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.denison.edu/episteme/vol6/iss1/2