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Single Idea 20313

[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth ]

Full Idea

An objective uncertainty held fast in an appropriation-process of the most passionate inwardness is the truth, the highest truth available for an existing individual.

Gist of Idea

The highest truth we can get is uncertainty held fast by an inward passion

Source

Søren Kierkegaard (Concluding Unscientific Postscript [1846])

Book Ref

'Existentialism', ed/tr. Solomon,Robert C. [Modern Library 1974], p.21


A Reaction

[Bk 711] Offered as a definition of truth, knowing how strange and paradoxical it sounds. If we view all life as subjectivity, then there can of course be nothing more to truth than passionate conviction. Personally I think thought can be objective.


The 47 ideas from Søren Kierkegaard

When we seek our own 'freedom' we are just trying to avoid responsibility [Kierkegaard]
Anxiety is not a passing mood, but a response to human freedom [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Socrates neglects the gap between knowing what is good and doing good [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
The ultimate in life is learning to be anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
Ultimate knowledge is being anxious in the right way [Kierkegaard]
Anxiety is staring into the yawning abyss of freedom [Kierkegaard]
Reason is just abstractions, so our essence needs a subjective 'leap of faith' [Kierkegaard, by Scruton]
There are aesthetic, ethical and religious subjectivity [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Kierkegaard prioritises the inward individual, rather than community [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Traditional views of truth are tautologies, and truth is empty without a subject [Kierkegaard, by Scruton]
Philosophy fails to articulate the continual becoming of existence [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Faith is like a dancer's leap, going up to God, but also back to earth [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
For me time stands still, and I with it [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
What matters is not right choice, but energy, earnestness and pathos in the choosing [Kierkegaard]
The plebeians bore others; only the nobility bore themselves [Kierkegaard]
Either Abraham rises higher than universal ethics, or he is a mere murderer [Kierkegaard]
Abraham was willing to suspend ethics, for a higher idea [Kierkegaard]
Philosophy can't be unbiased if it ignores language, as that is no more independent than individuals are [Kierkegaard]
Our destiny is the highest pitch of world-weariness [Kierkegaard]
The best way to be a Christian is without 'Christianity' [Kierkegaard]
If people marry just because they are lonely, that is self-love, not love [Kierkegaard]
Fixed ideas should be tackled aggressively [Kierkegaard]
Life may be understood backwards, but it has to be lived forwards [Kierkegaard]
We need to see that Christianity cannot be understood [Kierkegaard]
I assume existence, rather than reasoning towards it [Kierkegaard]
Nothing necessary can come into existence, since it already 'is' [Kierkegaard]
Subjective truth can only be sustained by repetition [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Life is a repetition when what has been now becomes [Kierkegaard]
The self is a combination of pairs of attributes: freedom/necessity, infinite/finite, temporal/eternal [Kierkegaard]
I recognise knowledge, but it is the truth by which I can live and die that really matters [Kierkegaard]
Kierkegaard's truth draws on authenticity, fidelity and honesty [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
The highest truth we can get is uncertainty held fast by an inward passion [Kierkegaard]
People want to lose themselves in movements and history, instead of being individuals [Kierkegaard]
God cannot be demonstrated objectively, because God is a subject, only existing inwardly [Kierkegaard]
I conceived it my task to create difficulties everywhere [Kierkegaard]
Without risk there is no faith [Kierkegaard]
Pantheism destroys the distinction between good and evil [Kierkegaard]
While big metaphysics is complete without ethics, personal philosophy emphasises ethics [Kierkegaard]
Speculative philosophy loses the individual in a vast vision of humanity [Kierkegaard]
Pure truth is for infinite beings only; I prefer endless striving for truth [Kierkegaard]
The real subject is ethical, not cognitive [Kierkegaard]
Wherever there is painless contradiction there is also comedy [Kierkegaard]
Becoming what one is is a huge difficulty, because we strongly aspire to be something else [Kierkegaard]
Faith is the highest passion in the sphere of human subjectivity [Kierkegaard]
God does not think or exist; God creates, and is eternal [Kierkegaard]
The most important aspect of a human being is not reason, but passion [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
Perfect love is not in spite of imperfections; the imperfections must be loved as well [Kierkegaard]