Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Kierkegaard writes in the voice of his pseudonym, Johannes Climacus. The name was apparently inspired by St. John Climacus, a sixth-century Christian monk from Mt. Sinai who wrote the mystical work The Ladder of Divine Ascent; the concept of a spiritual ascent through various types of existence will also play a role in Kierkegaard’s book.

Kierkegaard explains that the Concluding Scientific Postscript is a sequel to his earlier Philosophical Fragments and that it will define two “problems” relating to Christianity: the “objective problem,” or the truth of Christianity; and the “subjective problem,” or the relationship of the individual to Christianity.

Kierkegaard suggests that there is a marked difference between an “objective” approach to investigating the truth of Christianity and the attitude of faith. In the former, the inquiring subject aspires to a state of godlike “disinterestedness”; in the latter, the inquirer is “infinitely and personally and passionately interested on behalf of his own eternal happiness” (23). Kierkegaard signals in this brief introduction to Book 1 that the Postscript as a whole will contrast these two fundamental attitudes toward Christianity. His argument will involve taking satirical jabs at the pretensions of “objective” thought (prevalent in his day) while extolling the more personal approach of faith.