Reddit reviews Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics)

Fear and Trembling - Soren Kierkegaard

The book I always recommend people start out with is Sophie's World, not because it's the most in-depth, but because it's the most accessible for a newcomer. It's also the most entertaining I've read. If you want something more in-depth, Russell's History of Western Philosophy is generally this subreddit's big recommendation, although I personally wouldn't say it's a great starting point. His reading of some thinkers is not great, and he's not quite as good at dumbing down certain ideas to an introductory level.

A good summary of philosophy will help you for a couple reasons. One, it will give you enough information to find out what thinkers and ideas interest you. If you're interested in a particular question or thinker, then that's obviously where you should go. Philosophy of religion? Logic? Aesthetics and art? Language? There's plenty written on all these topics, but it can be a bit overwhelming to try and just attack all of philosophy at once. Like any other field, there will be parts of it that click with you, and parts that don't really seem all that appealing. Find your niche, and pursue it. In addition to giving you an idea of where to go, a good overview will put ideas in context. Understanding Augustine and Aquinas will make more sense if you know that they're working with a foundation of the Greek thought of Plato and Aristotle. Descartes wrote his meditations during the enlightenment, and was a major contributor to much of the emphasis on reason that defined that era. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard's existentialist ideas become more powerful when you realize they're critiquing and challenging the technicality of Kant and Hegel. Ideas don't exist in a vacuum, and while you can't be expected to know all the details of everything, your niche area of interest will make more sense if you understand it's context.

As for easier texts that I'd recommend trying out (once you find an area of interest), here's a few that are pretty important and also fairly accessible. These are texts that are generally read by all philosophy students, due to their importance, but if you're just into this for personal interest, you can pick and choose a bit. Still, these are important works, so they'll be very good to read anyways.

Plato - Apology: not terribly dense, but an accessible text in which Socrates basically defends his pursuing philosophical thought. I'd recommend this as an accessible introduction that will get you to feel like philosophy matters; think of it as pump-up music before a big game.

Plato - The Republic: this is arguably Plato's most important work. In it, he talks about the nature of men, politics, education and art.

Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics: a text that deals with leading a life in accordance with virtue. Aristotle's style is a bit dry and technical, but he's also very important.

Augustine - On Free Choice of the Will: a dialogue similar to Plato's in which Augustine argues that the existence of God does not conflict with man having free will.

Aquinas - Selected Excerpts: he wrote a lot, so you don't wanna try reading a whole one of his works. This selects his key ideas and puts them in bite-sized chunks. He's a big Christian thinker, arguing for the existence and goodness of God and related theological concepts.

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy: Descartes uses reason to prove he exists, along with some other things. Pretty easy to read, although it sparked a revolution in thought, making epistemology a central problem of philosophy.

Kant - Grounding for Metaphysics of Morals: one of his easier works, but it's still one of the more technical works I'm recommending, in which Kant demonstrates that morals are a priori.

Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling: one of my favorite books, Kierkegaard writes about the nature of faith using the story of Abraham and Isaac as his starting point. A huge critic of Kant's obsession with pure reason, he is generally considered to be the first existential thinker.

Nietzsche - Beyond Good & Evil: Nietzsche is one of the more controversial thinkers in history. Also a critic of Kant, he is one of the most profound critics of religion. This book is one of his more important, in which he talks about his problems of religion, the culture around him, and at times points us in the direction he wants us to go. Know that he doesn't write in a terribly direct manner, so if you choose to read him, come here for assistance. He's a bit different to read, and can be challenging if you're not ready.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and having a good reference to help you along will be very helpful.

I've only read two works by Kierkegaard (so I'm no expert) but I do have a few thoughts to consider and a recommendation.

1. First, being cited by a false teacher does not make one a false teacher by proxy. The Biblical authors are often quoted by heretics, and yet the Biblical authors themselves were not proposing heresy.
   
   
   
2. Second, remember that Kierkegaard is a philosopher first and foremost. Just as we wouldn't read the Psalms in the same way we read Romans, we shouldn't read Existential Philosophy in the same way we read Reformed Theology or Christian Apologetics. Kierkegaard's goal in much of his writings is to take his reader on a thought experiment, and so that should be remembered when pulling quotes from his works or reading them at face value.
   
   Now as far as what to read first I'd recommend "Fear and Trembling." It isn't a long read and it deals with the familiar Biblical account of the binding of Isaac. It would be a good introduction to Kierkegaard and would be helpful in seeing if his works are for you. This was my first Kierkegaard book and I liked it enough to pick up "The Works of Love."
   

Do you want the intentionally vague and obscure answer that most people want when they ask about existentialism? "It may be true that there is no ultimate purpose to life. But that is irrelevant either way since it is fundamentally unknowable."

The big idea is to seek out your own purpose, to find something bigger than yourself and devote yourself to it. Whether that something is an established thing like a religion, or if it is something like bringing vaccines to areas of the world without them, BOTH of those options are pretty big ideas. Can't find an already existing idea that is big enough? I guess you'll just have to create something.

>There's nothing bigger than myself to dictate my actions, and I haven't found anything that really ignites my passions.

That just kills me. Nothing? Really? There's NOTHING bigger than yourself? I'm not sure how much of an ego you've got on you, but it sounds like you have no problem finding a passion. It is just a selfish ambition that ignores that there are other people to be concerned about. If you REALLY think that there is NOTHING bigger than yourself out there, and there are no other people to be concerned about, no other events to get involved with, then existentialism and philosophy as a whole would like you to kindly remove your head from your hindquarters.

Is the study of philosophy not big enough? Or do you already encompass it? Is writing a novel something too easy for you that you can bang one out with no troubles?

You could devote yourself to becoming the Ubermensch, but why? You still need to answer the question for yourself "why bother?" What makes that your ideal goal instead of the Knight of Faith? Why become either when you can merely float along and exist? It would certainly be easier.

Why are you assuming that the bigger thing would have to dictate your actions? They can influence, or guide you, but you can also influence the ideas and help form them. Some big ideas are SO formless that they don't seem like a coherent thought at all. You could jump in and help clean them up.

I generally don't recommend reading existentialist texts. Especially to help find a purpose. I'm sure there is some great stuff out there, but it also helps give philosophy a bad name. Read someKant and devote yourself to being abel to understand what the hell he was trying to say in this. If you absolutely MUST read existentialism, read Kierkegaard or something. I don't know. Existentialism is one area that I just steered clear of because everything I read in there just sounded like a lot of angsty teenagers.

Your examples aren't really drawing a clear picture.

> My car is pretty dirty, so I should probably for 30 minuts or so take up the cause of cleaning it. But why bother if I don't really care?

You ought to bother because if you live anywhere that puts salt on the roads, regular cleaning will help maintain your car better. Also, if you ever go to pick someone up, it is SUPER nice to be able to get in and out of a person's car without getting the bottoms of your pants dirty.

>I could make a point to really try and be the best man I could by working out and dressing nice, etc. But I just don't care enough. So what if I'm skinny as hell and just wear jeans and a tee-shirt everywhere?

Working out and dressing nice makes EVERYTHING a lot easier. Until you do it, you have no idea how much easier it is to move around, open heavy doors, carry groceries, breathe, etc. And dressing nice makes people want to talk to you more. If your T actually fits and goes with your pants and is maybe even clean, that goes a LONG way to making you more approachable. And once someone approaches you, then suddenly you get to talk to them about philosophy!

So it isn't really about YOU at all. A good chunk of what we do, including philosophy, is to make you a more complete citizen. And there is never a city with only 1 citizen. You need to make a bigger choice of whether it is a society you want to be part of, or not. If not, are you going to devote yourself to changing it, or are are you going to turn tail and remove yourself from it?

Actually, this format box on Amazon might be the solution. I remember having this problem with Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard because there were two different Penguin Classics covers. The format box seems to show the distinction between the one with the portrait of Kierkegaard (http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Trembling-Soren-Kierkegaard/dp/B000K1PPZO/ref=tmm_pap_title_9) and the one with the painting (http://www.amazon.com/Trembling-Penguin-Classics-Soren-Kierkegaard/dp/0140444491/ref=tmm_pap_title_4). Thanks very much for the help!

Sartre presented a lecture called "Existentialism and Humanism," which can now be found in print as Existentialism is a Humanism. It's almost like an Existentialism manefesto, per se. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus is a good treatise on existentialism (Absurdism, really, but it'll do).

I would not hesitate to start reading fiction novels that have Existentialist themes. Camus' The Stranger, Sartre's Nausea, and Dostyevsky's Notes From the Underground are just a few that will find your studies well.

As for secondary literature, the only text I can knowledgeably recommend is Existentialism For Dummies, as I'm currently working my way through it. It's actually not as bad as you might think coming from the "For Dummies" series. It doesn't go too in-depth, and ideas are very concise and oftentimes humorous.

I have also heard good things about David Cogswell's Existentialism For Beginners, though I have never read it myself.

If your niece feels comfortable with this level of writing and philosophical examination, it is almost imperative to read Kierkegaard's Either/Or and Fear and Trembling, Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, and Sartre's Being and Nothingness, among others. It is good to have some background understanding of Kant and perhaps have a few essays by Schopenhauer under your belt leading up to the more rigorous academics like Heidegger and Hegel.

Good luck, and happy reading!

Here's a pretty good online summary of his faith/reason thinking.

Hit up Fear and Trembling for a primary source.

Plenty of Christian apologists were convinced by Christianity. What do you think would cause a staunch atheist to convert?

>Why do we distinguish between apologetics and philosophy?

Often we don't, and oftentimes a philosopher is an apologist and vice versa.

> Why are so few philosophers theists?

This wasn't the case for most of human history, and I don't think it's fair to draw the conclusion out of the current state of secularization in academia.

>If you think you've got something good then by all means share it, but I don't expect to be surprised.

Have you read the following?

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - Lewis was an atheist for most of his life, but later became the most well-known Christian apologist. You might also want to read his autobiography, Surprised by Joy.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller.

The Language of God by Francis Collins -
This one is more about how science and religion relate, and it's written by one of the leading scientists of the modern day.

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas This is the original apologetic. If you're alright with some more-serious reading, this would be a great book to have read, both from an intellectual and historical perspective.

Descartes' Meditations While I'm not really convinced by his arguments, Descartes is known as the "Father of Modern Philosophy" for popularizing rationalism, or the use of reason/logic as the chief source or test of knowledge.

Pascal's Pensees

The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant This is known as "one of the greatest works in the history of philosophy" Quite the opposite of Descartes, Kant actually argues against the notion that we can use reason alone to understand the universe.

Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard - This is definitely not apologetics. However, he was an incredibly Christian philosopher, and is known as the Father of Existentialism (interesting that the founder of existentialism was a devout Christian, though now it is often associated with atheists such as Sarte and Nietzsche).

Kirkegaard: Fear and Trembling

If I were absolutely convinced of it, yes. I doubt I will ever have an Abraham-type experience though. My favorite book on the matter: http://www.amazon.com/Trembling-Penguin-Classics-Soren-Kierkegaard/dp/0140444491