Søren Kierkegaard The Sickness Unto Death

Søren Kierkegaard is an existential philosopher, which means he places a major emphasis on an individual’s freedom and existence. In Kierkegaard’s book, The Sickness unto Death, Kierkegaard tries to offer his reader’s a complex answer to very popular question what is human nature. He concludes in his work that human beings are an embodied spirit and that our spirit is one in the same with our self. The more we use our free choice, the more we become our individual selves which is an act of self-commitment. Kierkegaard describes 3 stages of self-realization that one must go through, where one can either choose despair or choose God, and when we choose God we become our truest selves. Kierkegaard concludes that our task in life to become an intergraded self, which opposes sin and despair, because, sin separates the self. In the Sickness Unto Death, I think Kierkegaard’s philosophy of human nature is connected to faith, in that with an acceptance of God one can overcome despair. We have to overcome despair by being a true Christian in order to become ourselves in freedom. …show more content…
He states that there are two general types, not to will to be one and to will to be one. He goes on to say that we are responsible for our own despair. This relates to his idea of human nature because he believes we are all in despair until we accept God. According to Kierkegaard the key to rid us of the despair is God. If we become true Christians we are able to rid ourselves of the despair that plagues our lives. Subsequently faith is the ultimate solution to despair, as it is the opposite of sin. Kierkegaard believes that with faith we are able to avoid despair and find ourselves. Given that we are able to find ourselves with God, the more conscious of God that we are the more self we are able to attain because there is less