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Kierkegaard Essay

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Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard felt that subjective reflection was more crucial to the individual life than objective reflection because it focused on passion and human existence instead of logic and impersonal truth. The objective world is the world of facts and truth independent of the perceptions of humans. Objective reflection focuses on what actually is, in the objective world. Objective reflection centers on the things and ideas in the world that can give meaning to life. The subjective world is the world of human thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. It focuses on the relationship between people and their thoughts, feelings, and perceptions in respect to their lives. It centers on how meaning in life is viewed subjectively, or how …show more content…

The objective world is based in reason, while the subjective world is based in passion. Kierkegaard believed that subjective reflection was the key understanding meaning in life. He kind of complains with the objective reflection stating that it is impersonal and an indifferent relation to existence. As a matter of fact, this terminology as I shall call it, defines just what the objective world and objective reflection is: being independent of any human subjectivity. Subjective reflection naturally focuses on human existence in a personal, inward way without 'detachment' as Kierkegaard put it. Kierkegaard goes on to use the knowledge of God as an example to show why subjective reflection is more important. He believes that there is the objective reflection that states that this is the true God, but subjectively, the relation to God that the person has, is a God-relation. He makes sure to point out that there really is no truth in the situation without the relation to God because the relation to God is more important than the objective proof of God's existence. So with that in mind, to treat God objectively is to treat Him as an object. However, God is a subject and therefore can only be related to subjectively in inwardness. So it is the HOW which is important to Kierkegaard, not the WHAT. The strongest example of his reasons for this comes in his

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