Soren Kierkegaard's Argument Analysis

In Soren Kierkegaard’s The Present Age: On The Death of Rebellion, he argues that this generation, now probably considered to be the last 200 years or so in this context, is one of “understanding and reflection, without passion.” He defines passion as a demonstrative willingness to take action in advocacy or living life in such a way that is beyond aimlessness or spectatorship. Defending Kierkegaard’s argument, I will explain how it is not only sensical, but also yet relevant to our ‘present age.’ Though some arguments present information that may be considered outdated and sexist, for our time, Kierkegaard’s argument is timeless and proven often in today’s society. Although Kierkegaard’s present age would have been the 1840’s, his ideas …show more content…
There is an ingrained tension that determines passion. The desire to be a part of the indistinct community is so overwhelming that as long as nothing is very clearly at stake, there is no urgency for the common man to act outside of it; thereby, defining oneself as a unique or individual self. Of course, breaking away from the group would be detrimental to all that one has built himself up to be: part of the group. Part of this groupthink mentality is character. For example, Kierkegaard describes the present age as one that envies not even for character or art or love, but for money or other material things. The group or present age has decided, unconsciously, that envying someone for something deeper than their things acknowledges fault of the envier deeper than things. Then, we must actually deal with those faults and shortcomings. If we focus on the material things and money, we don’t have to seek anything of any real depth. In this century, we can draw our value and identity from the inventory of social media posts; shoes, bags, or clothes that we may or may not actually be able to afford; or followers on various social media