Den enskilde : en studie av trons profana möjlighet i Sören Kierkegaards tidiga författarskap

In his attempt to explore philosophically human existence, Kierkegaard frequently refers to the term "the single individual" (den Enkelte), and he explicitly states that this notion plays a prominent part in his authorship. Even if he ascribes such a significant role to the single individual he never gives a comprehensive account of how to understand this notion. The thesis is an attempt to describe the difficulties inherent in this very notion and at the same time to provide an interpretation of how one could understand it as fundamental to Kierkegaard's philosophical and theological work. The study starts by determining and interpreting Kierkegaard's own remarks about the single individual and how he himself presents it as essential to his philosophy. These remarks constitute the point of departure for the interpretation of some of his books from the years 1843-1846. The mainly biblical characters that constitute the subject matter of these books are interpreted as philosophical examples of single individuals. This procedure shows that Kierkegaard's struggle with the notion of the single individual was an underlying and homogenous theme throughout his early authorship, and further that Kierkegaard understands this notion as a complex existential category: both as a way to exist and a way to perceive. It also shows that he regarded the single individual as a prerequisite for reaching genuine faith, and yet not as an essentially religious category. It is a general human existential category, the individual's capacity to experience the unknown as absolutely unknown and the new as absolutely new.