Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who questioned the reflection of an individual. However, Kierkegaard was most known for fighting against the perversion of the individual by the Christendom (83). He believed the Christendom was ruining the overall essence of how to be a true Christian. Kierkegaard then came up with the belief that the Christendom, which he calls the crowd, is the untruth. This is because he believes the only way to be a true Christian is to be an individual, which is the truth. Regardless, Kierkegaard argues and believes that there is untruth within the crowd, and truth within an individual. He supports his argument through the examples that the Christendom creates the illusion of the truth, false courage, cowardliness,
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False courage is towards those individuals who acknowledge the truth but still follow the untruth. Cowardliness is for those individuals who are afraid of the untruth, thus they flee towards the crowd. The reasons why Kierkegaard believes that the Christendom creates false courage will be introduced first. To begin, since the crowd is full of individuals who all believe the same idea, the individual who knows the truth will be still follow the untruth because of the power the crowd obtains, for Kierkegaard writes, "...wherever there is a crowd there is untruth, so that even if every individual, each for himself in private, were to be in possession of the truth, yet in case they were all to get together in a crowd...untruth would at once be in evidence. For a 'crowd' is the untruth" (94). Kierkegaard is claiming that the Christendom and its followers are intimidating the individuals who know the truth, therefore they remain silent and follow them. The reason why Kierkegaard believes this strongly is the example that since the Christendom is the crowd, the individual is seen as weak, for the individual cannot stand up for the truth among those who disagree. The individual does not want to be seen as an outsider, and neither to be judged negatively, for the crowd is convinced the untruth is the truth. …show more content…
Since the crowd is full of cowardliness made up of cowardly individuals, this leads to them also hide behind anonymity. Hiding behind anonymity is the concept of how individuals can be anonymous. But also not to have responsibility for what they do because no one knows their identity. Kierkegaard insists this through the example that there is no responsibility the individuals have within the crowd. They hide behind the Christendom in hopes they have nothing to do with responsibility, which makes their lives easier to live, especially with the untruth. He agrees when he writes, "...a crowd in its very concept is the untruth, by reason of the fact that it renders the individual completely impenitent and irresponsible, or at least weakens his sense of responsibility by reducing it to a fraction. Observe that there was not one single soldier that dared to lay hands upon Caius Marius-- this was an instance of truth" (95). The essence of Kierkegaard's argument is that the individuals within the crowd cannot take responsibility on what the Christendom preaches, which makes the crowd untruth. In order to attain the truth, the individual in the crowd needs to take responsibility without others interfering. The individual is solely supposed to be responsible for how they attain the truth
False courage is towards those individuals who acknowledge the truth but still follow the untruth. Cowardliness is for those individuals who are afraid of the untruth, thus they flee towards the crowd. The reasons why Kierkegaard believes that the Christendom creates false courage will be introduced first. To begin, since the crowd is full of individuals who all believe the same idea, the individual who knows the truth will be still follow the untruth because of the power the crowd obtains, for Kierkegaard writes, "...wherever there is a crowd there is untruth, so that even if every individual, each for himself in private, were to be in possession of the truth, yet in case they were all to get together in a crowd...untruth would at once be in evidence. For a 'crowd' is the untruth" (94). Kierkegaard is claiming that the Christendom and its followers are intimidating the individuals who know the truth, therefore they remain silent and follow them. The reason why Kierkegaard believes this strongly is the example that since the Christendom is the crowd, the individual is seen as weak, for the individual cannot stand up for the truth among those who disagree. The individual does not want to be seen as an outsider, and neither to be judged negatively, for the crowd is convinced the untruth is the truth. …show more content…
Since the crowd is full of cowardliness made up of cowardly individuals, this leads to them also hide behind anonymity. Hiding behind anonymity is the concept of how individuals can be anonymous. But also not to have responsibility for what they do because no one knows their identity. Kierkegaard insists this through the example that there is no responsibility the individuals have within the crowd. They hide behind the Christendom in hopes they have nothing to do with responsibility, which makes their lives easier to live, especially with the untruth. He agrees when he writes, "...a crowd in its very concept is the untruth, by reason of the fact that it renders the individual completely impenitent and irresponsible, or at least weakens his sense of responsibility by reducing it to a fraction. Observe that there was not one single soldier that dared to lay hands upon Caius Marius-- this was an instance of truth" (95). The essence of Kierkegaard's argument is that the individuals within the crowd cannot take responsibility on what the Christendom preaches, which makes the crowd untruth. In order to attain the truth, the individual in the crowd needs to take responsibility without others interfering. The individual is solely supposed to be responsible for how they attain the truth