Kierkegaard's Concept of the Interesting

The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I

Anthony Eagan

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Hardback

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English

Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
31 July 2024

Philosophy; Phenomenology & Existentialism; Philosophy: aesthetics; History of ideas

Series: New Kierkegaard Research

Volume one of Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or explores the crisis of the modern secular void—with its attendant doubt, ennui, and alienation—from the first-person perspective of an aesthete who, lacking any epistemic or moral foundations, grows increasingly obsessed with what he calls “the interesting.” In a close explication of the history of that aesthetic concept and a thorough exegesis of this volume, Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I explores the aesthete’s views on beauty, opera and music, tragedy and comedy, time, unhappiness, the difference between suffering and pain, boredom, eroticism, deception, and seduction, along with the ways in which these precipitate the ambition for increasingly interesting experiences. In this examination, Anthony Eagan thoroughly reveals Kierkegaard’s own perspective on how an exclusively aesthetic attitude can lead to an ever-more voracious tendency to interpret the world in a private, self-defeating, and unscrupulous fashion—one arising from and ultimately leading to moral solipsism and despair. This book develops a comprehensive understanding of Either/Or I that is crucial for understanding the rest of Kierkegaard’s authorship.

By: Anthony Eagan
Imprint: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 238mm, Width: 157mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 535g
ISBN: 9781666962475
ISBN 10: 1666962473
Series: New Kierkegaard Research
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 31 July 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Sigla Overture: The Crisis Chapter 1: From the Beautiful to the Interesting: The Great Gulf Chapter 2: Don Giovanni as Proto-Aesthete Chapter 3: Antigone: The Substantially Interesting Chapter 4: Shadows of Variation: The Paradox of Reflective Sorrow Chapter 5: ‘The Unhappiest One’ as an Interlude: Unhappiness is an Empty Grave Chapter 6: The Painless Misrelation: A Glimpse at Subjectivity in Pure Form Chapter 7: Novelty and Control: Doing Justice to Aesthetics Chapter 8: The Final Division: Voracious Hermeneutics Coda: A Most Interesting Man Bibliography Index About the Author

Anthony Eagan is research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute.

Reviews for Kierkegaard's Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I

“Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I—excellent and highly engaging—shows how Kierkegaard’s first book, volume one of Either/Or, sets the stage for his entire authorship through its exploration of the crisis of modernity in the ideas and character of its fictional author (named A). Anthony Eagan masterfully brings to light the unity of Either/Or I by explicating the drama of A’s increasingly desperate and ultimately futile attempts to organize his life in a satisfactory manner on the shaky foundation of the aesthetic category of the interesting. Along the way, Eagan offers insightful interpretations of such classics as Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Goethe’s Faust, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which illustrate the idea of the interesting and its role in the historical development of Western humanity.” -- Richard McCombs, St. John's College