Controverting Kierkegaard

This is the first English edition of a major work by the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905-81). It is the culmination of his critical engagement with Kierkegaardianism, which had begun almost 20 years earlier. In this text, Løgstrup focuses on four main themes in Kierkegaard: his understanding of Christ and thus of Christianity; his understanding of suffering in human existence; Christian vs. secular ethics; and Platonistic influences on Kierkegaard's position, which Løgstrup characterises as nihilistic.

Løgstrup presents his own alternative conception in response: that Christ revealed universal ontological ethical structures that put Christians and non-Christians on a par; that suffering is a basic human experience and so there is no such thing as a particular Christian suffering; that sovereign expressions of life such as trust, sincerity, and compassion are the fundamental phenomena of ethics that enable our lives to function, and are thus given as a gift of creation, not of faith; and finally that human existence as created is meaningful and holds value and so is not a Kierkegaardian 'nothingness' of mere relativity. As well as offering a classic and yet controversial critique of Kierkegaard, this text also develops Løgstrup's conception of the sovereign expressions of life, which was to become central to his later ethics, further deepening his distinctive understanding of the human condition. Here translated in full for the first time, it will now be possible for English-speaking readers to explore the issues that drew Løgstrup into his controversion with Kierkegaard.

K. E. Løgstrup

Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He has recently published the first monograph in English on Løgstrup, entitled The Radical Demand in Løgstrup's Ethics.

Bjørn Rabjerg is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion at Aarhus University, Denmark, where he has been since 2010. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology and an MA in Philosophy. He has worked extensively on Løgstrup since 2004 and has been Head of the Løgstrup Archive at Aarhus University since 2013. His most recent publications have been on Løgstrup, Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Luther, and Karl Ove Knausgård.

Kees van Kooten Niekerk was formerly Associate Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Aarhus. He was in charge of the Løgstrup Archive and the editor of its newsletter between 2000 and 2013. He has published works on the relationship between theology and science, bioethics, and K. E. Løgstrup.

Hans Fink is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Aarhus. He is the co-editor of What Is Ethically Demanded?: K. E. Løgstrup's Philosophy of Moral Life (Notre Dame 2017, with Robert Stern).