Analysis Of Soren Kierkegaard's Ethical Dilemma

In the section, Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical? Soren Kierkegaard uses the biblical passage of Abraham to analyze the difference between the ethical realm and that of the religious. Abraham’s passage serves as a metaphor that raises questions on the validity of the arguments imposed by both the ethical and religious sides. Was Abraham justified to murder his son? Under what accounts is he to be labeled as a murderer and under what light is he seen as a man of faith? In this section, Kierkegaard makes a distinction between the ethical and religious realms and helps answer the questions that arose from the Abraham story. The difference between being in the ethical realm and transcending into the glory of the religious realm lies in faith. Those who have faith suspend the telos in the hands of faith, knowing that even in the face of adversity and uncertainty, they will end up preserving their telos. …show more content…
Faith is above the universal. Faith requires that extra step in believing that God will save you despite having feelings of doubt and anxiety. These feelings are not absent in those in the religious realm, but what draws them apart from the ethical realm is that despite having these doubts, they still jumped towards God. Abraham is justified on the grounds that he is superior to the universal and has surpassed that stage because he “stands in an absolute 0relation to the absolute” (p.85). At one point, the individual had doubts and was tempted by the outside distractions (making him once subordinate) but because he had faith, he was able to suspend his purpose (teleo) on God, trusting in him his destiny. It is at this point where he enters the realm of faith and stands in front of God. “[Abraham] is higher than the universal” (p.85), because he goes beyond the universal and rational thought to the realm of uncertainty. His actions are irrationally rationalized by