Either/Or By Soren Kierkegaard

575 Words3 Pages
In his piece, Either/Or, Soren Kierkegaard portrays two ways of life; the aesthetic and the ethical. Either/Or is more like a novel than a philosophical treatise. He aims to answer the question “How should we live”? like many other philosophers. The two different ways of life he portrays are portrayed through fictional characters, A and B. We are never told the identity of A, but B is a judge named Wilhelm. The central theme is the difference between appearances and reality. Kierkegaard says “the inner is not the outer”. Kierkegaard attempts to hide his own position behind his characters; although there is argument over which way of life he chooses. A’s approach to life is aesthetic. It is collectively agreed that the part of the book devoted