La flecha y la trampa. Figuras de la finitud en un discurso fúnebre de Kierkegaard

Translated title of the contribution: The arrow and the trap. Figures of Human Finitude in a Funerary Discourse by Kierkegaard

Rodrigo Figueroa-Weitzman*, Jorge Mittelmann*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper describes Kierkegaard’s position on death as it appears in an exhortative writing belonging to his collection of Edifying Discourses. It is argued that the original position elaborated in this Discourse both (i) draws on Epicurus’ famous argument against the fear of death and (ii) refutes that argument by highlighting its phenomenological inadequacy, rather than invalidating its deductive structure. The central element of Kierkegaard’s refutation consists in enabling a reference to death that forsakes its hypothetical character by turning extinction into a pervasive danger, that is coextensive with life as a whole. Such a reference is what the philosopher names “the serious thought of death”, i.e., an intentional state which manages to subtract the limit of existence from its peripheral and anonymous condition. From an Epicurean standpoint, death is peripheral insofar as it circumscribes existence without ever being a part of it; and death is anonymous insofar as it befalls the species as such, or the individual only insofar as it is a member of the species. Kierkegaard’s antidote to Epicurus’ argument personalizes death and turns it into an impending menace to be felt at every moment.

Translated title of the contributionThe arrow and the trap. Figures of Human Finitude in a Funerary Discourse by Kierkegaard
Original languageSpanish
Pages (from-to)145-155
Number of pages11
JournalAnales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofia
Volume42
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2025
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

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