Table Of ContentHumour and Irony in
Kierkegaard's Thought
John Lippitt
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Humour and Irony in Kierkegaard’s Thought
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Also by John Lippitt and from the same publishers
NIETZSCHE’S FUTURES (editor)
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Humour and Irony in
Kierkegaard’s Thought
John Lippitt
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
University of Hertfordshire
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First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0–333–77667–4
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, LLC,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 0–312–23474–0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lippitt, John.
Humour and irony in Kierkegaard’s thought / John Lippitt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–312–23474–0 (hardcover)
1. Kierkegaard, So/ren, 1813–1855—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Irony. 3.
Kierkegaard, So/ren, 1813–1855—Humour. I. Title.
B4378.I76 L57 2000
198'.9—dc21
00–026984
©John Lippitt 2000
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‘…[I]nwardness in love does not mean to get married seven
times to Danish girls, and then to go for the French, the Italian,
etc., but to love one and the same and yet be continually
renewed in the same love, so that it continually flowers anew in
mood and exuberance…’
– Johannes Climacus, Concluding Unscientific Postscript
To Jo – for showing me that Climacus is right
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Reference Key to Kierkegaard’s Texts xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Illusion and Satire: Climacus as Satirist 12
3 Moral Perfectionism and Exemplars 27
4 Climacus as Humorist 47
5 The Comic and the Existence-Spheres 72
6 Imagination, ‘Transforming Vision’ and the Comic 104
7 The Legitimacy of the Comic 121
8 Irony and the Subjective Thinker 135
9 Humour, Religion and the Virtues 158
Notes and References 175
Bibliography 196
Index 206
vii
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Acknowledgements
This study began life as a doctoral thesis in philosophy at the
University of Essex. My supervisors were Michael Weston and – briefly,
when Mike was on sabbatical – Stephen Mulhall. I would like to thank
both for their time and encouragement, and for questions and sugges-
tions that were often challenging, always helpful, and frequently both
simultaneously. David Owen read the penultimate draft, and was also
extremely helpful. Sometimes he seemed to know what I wanted to say
better than I did, and he also provided some useful points that have
forced me to shift ground slightly on one or two issues. For comments
on drafts of various parts of the study at different points of its develop-
ment, and for other forms of encouragement, I am grateful to
C. Stephen Evans, Dan Hutto, Michael Lotti, Gordon D. Marino, Jeff
Mason, Paul Muench, George Pattison and Anthony Rudd, as well as
the participants in various conferences and seminars at which I have
given papers. (Apologies to any others I have inadvertently omitted.)
I would also like to thank two libraries for awards. First, the Howard
V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library, at St Olaf College,
Northfield, Minnesota, whose residential Summer Fellowship pro-
gramme has proven invaluable, both in terms of the Library’s resources
and the opportunities it provides to meet fellow Kierkegaard scholars
from all over the globe. The world of Kierkegaard studies owes the
Hongs, together with Gordon Marino and Cynthia Lund, the Library’s
current curator and assistant curator, a tremendous debt. Second,
thanks are also due to St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden, Wales, whose
award of a Murray McGregor Memorial Scholarship enabled me to
spend several weeks working there on two separate occasions.
On the subject of awards, I would also like to express my sincere
thanks both to the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and to the
University of Hertfordshire. The AHRB gave me a Research Leave award
which, together with the ‘matching’ semester of relief from teaching
and administrative duties awarded by the University under the terms
of that scheme, has gone to make up the year’s sabbatical that has
finally made possible the completion of this book. I would also like to
thank the University of Hertfordshire for its earlier support in the form
of payment of PhD tuition fees.
ix
