Sixteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Soren Kierkegaard’s philosophical work in Fear and Trembling probes into the depths of the religious subject, or one could say, religious subjectivity as a concept. He does this by propagating the Judeo-Christian understanding of the patriarch Abraham and his decision to sacrifice his son Isaac. The perimeters of faith, concession to an ultimate and absolute moral authority as well as the confines of a certain kind of ethics are of utmost importance throughout this deeply metaphorical text. Emannuel Levinas has voiced his disdain for certain inclinations in Kierkegaard’s ideas, as they feature contentious thoughts on faith with regard to its particular and universal implications. Kierkegaard’s metaphorical literary style provides an opening for interesting academic avenues to be investigated. Therefore, by exploring the instances in which he propagates Abraham as an archetypal figure and a true ‘knight of faith’, we can begin to understand the ways in which Levinas and his acute criticisms of Kierkegaard have an ethical value that acknowledges a similar kind of moral weight. Both individuals were greatly concerned with religious ethics and can rightfully comment on the depths of religious subjectivity, or rather what it means to be a religious person in relation not only to God but the other or ‘neighbour’-to use their language. I explore how Kierkegaard and Levinas apprehend the ethical situation that Abraham, in his status as an important Judeo-Christian figure, creates for the general religious subject in relation to God, themselves, and the other in this moment of ‘passionate faith’.