Kierkegaard Either/Or Dichotomy

We read in our book that the central theme of Either/Or was the discrepancy between appearances and reality. Kierkegaard says “the inner is not the outer”. Kierkegaard is different from other philosophers in that he uses other authors to distance himself from the views explored. He also hides his own position behind the position of his characters. The first part of the book, Either which was written by A is more interesting than Or written by B, who was a judge named Wilhelm. The second half of the book called Or is not as popular as the first half. Instead of adopting A’s pursuit of pleasure, Judge Wilhelm advocates a life in which the individual chooses his or her actions. A’s approach to life is aesthetic, which includes the more refined

I also think that our culture places too much emphasis on staying busy all the time, and not enough on resting. Some boredom is okay. If someone works a forty hour work week and wants to be “bored” on a Friday night, I don’t see anything wrong with that. One of the criticisms of Either/Or is that it could be a false dichotomy because it is not told that the only ways of life are those portrayed by A and B. We read on page one hundred eighty that there may be C,D,E,F and G to take into consideration as well. It is said that Kierkegaard seems to suggest that if you reject the aesthetic the only option is ethical, and vice

It is said that Either/Or reflects the anguished position of all humanity. It is hard to pick between the two or even all of the possibilities. There is no such thing as a ‘right’ way to answer the question ‘How should I live?’ We also learn from the video that Kierkegaard was the youngest of seven and that by the time he was twenty-two all of his siblings had died except one brother. Kierkegaard mocked marriage. He thought it was impossible to have romantic, passionate love, and also be married and have children, stability, and routine. He respected both of these ways of life but didn’t believe someone could have both at the same time. We learn that Kierkegaard was in love but broke off his engagement because he thought marriage would kill the love that drew him to her. It has been said and I agree that Kierkegaard himself has had a hard time deciding between the two approaches to life himself. We read that some commentators have seen parts of Either/Or as a psychological response to his situation rather than one of philosophical interest. In the video we learn that Kierkegaard published three works in one single day once and that he was not writing for the money. I think possibly Kierkegaard himself was caught in-between choosing which life to live. It seems to me that Kierkegaard was a