Analysis Of Kierkegaard 's ' Fear And Trembling '

Fear is one of the most important qualities because is something everyone has and needs. Something that fear gives you is sense of caution and to think two times and there’s also moments where you should be quiet and hope for the best, like in Night, “the old men stayed in their corner, silent motionless, hunted down creatures. Some were praying. One more hour. Then we will now the verdict: death or reprise” (lines 32-36). In those lines, they knew that protesting would not do any good, so they just keep quiet. Being afraid is not bad, it could help you be stronger.

In the text “Relaxing Your Fears away,” the author presents how Joseph Wolpe, a behavior therapist, used a behavioral technique called systematic desensitization to treat anxiety disorders. Systematic desensitization is a technique that is supposed to lower a person’s level of anxiety steadily. The reason he used this technique was to see if this technique actually worked using his prior ideas that two feelings or responses cannot occur at the same time. Wolpe focused on the phobias his patients had and proposed that when his patients were in a relaxed state, then they would not respond with fear when presented with something that gave them anxiety.

I. Soeren Kierkegaard, a famous theologian of the 19th Century, wrote Fear and Trembling in 1843 in response to Hegelianism. Kierkegaard takes on the pseudonymous role of Jonannes de Silentio and speaks on modern peoples' attitudes toward doubt and faith. He believes humans are creatures entrenched in reason and doubt but not in the same sense as Descartes, a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher. Descartes doubted everything he had ever learned; his way of thinking is called hyperbolic or Cartesian doubt. According to his philosophy, within the world of ideas there is clearance sale; everybody has a shop

      The boys in the book, The Lord of the Flies, are controlled by their fear of the beast.  This fear is not of the beast itself, but of the unknown. It comes from not knowing whether or not a beast exists.

Do all living things fear something? Those with minds surely have many and various fears, but even the simplest organisms must have fear, for fear is such a powerful feeling. Fear is all around us and is felt in every corner of the earth. Fear is the emotion or feeling that a living creature gets when its physical or mental life is interrupted by a change that causes the creature concern.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Fear is the main source of superstition.” In this quote Emerson brings the reason for superstition to be present for such a common feeling for people. Elie Wiesel uses Night to symbolize the persistent feelings of anxiety and fear shown through the characters and how they react in his memoir Night. One of many example is Elie Wiesel’s “Night”, is how the Elie and his father reacted when they arrived to Auschwitz.

Fear: a simple word with an abundance of meanings. To one, fear can be losing a loved one and to another it can be being alone for their entire life. Ghandi once claimed that the enemy of every soul is not hate, but fear itself. This enemy, however, can be derived from hate, for everything you loathe is the reason for your distress. Taking the Salem Witch Trial as an example, fear portrayed an enormous role in the lives of many. During the time period of 1692 to 1693, fear controlled an entire village by manipulation and hatred. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible perfectly captures how fear is exploited by characters in the play because these characters used their hatred towards others to build up horror in the sacred town of Salem. Although this classic novel was written over fifty years ago, Miller touched on timeless societal fears that still apply to the existing world today. As seen through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, fear can prompt people to denounce their beliefs in order to save their own lives, prevent their reputation from being tarnished, and it can make one take extreme measures in order to protect the ones they love.

Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” in 1952 and about forty years later explained his purpose in an article titled “Why I Wrote the Crucible.” Miller expresses some of the emotions he went through as his book gained popularity saying, “I remember those years...but I have lost the dead weight of the fear I had then. Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth.” At first, he refers to fear as dead weight as if it was useless but still pulling him down but then he explains the importance of fear. He claimed that fear can warp our judgement which seems realistic because when people are in a situation the causes fear they are known to take out of the ordinary action. Miller also suggests that fear is a crucial part of our memory and without fear our memories can fade and the truth of the issue as well. Miller was likely fearful of the

To start of the novel Fear, by Gabriel Chevallier, Jean Dartemont is in France observing all the civilians celebrate the start of the new war. He criticizes their behavior and strongly disapproves, however, he admits a curiosity in him that convinces him to volunteer for the war for it will be a ‘remarkable spectacle.” After being approved to go to war, Dartemont heads to a training camp. There he becomes a private after failing to become an officer. Here he commands a group, but realized he finds the maintenance of soldiers to be tedious and useless work. Already he becomes quite eager to arrive at the front lines, which soon happens.

We all think children are all innocent and cute, but is that really true? We always give excuses for children’s misconduct, distracting ourselves from the real truth. Kids are capable of terrible things that adults quickly ignore. Children can be very scary because of their capabilities that most adults believe to be innocent mistakes. One story that explores this fear is Ray Bradbury’s “The Man Upstairs.”

How does the individual assure himself that he is justified? In Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, Abraham, found in a paradox between two ethical duties, is confronted with this question. He has ethical duties to be faithful to God and also to his son, Isaac. He believes that God demands him to sacrifice Isaac. But, Abraham, firmly adhering to his faith, submitted to what he believed was the will of God. By using his perspective and that of his alternative guise, Johannes de Silentio, Kierkegaard concentrates on the story of Abraham in such a way that his audience must choose between two extremes. Either Abraham is insane or he is justified in saying he will kill Isaac.

Kierkegaard’s position on faith is represented with the Knight of infinite resignation and the Knight of faith. The Knight of faith is regarded as the one who believes in that which is absurd. For, he is the knight that is able to believe in the things that are

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the meaning of subjectivity of truth was another point of contention. Hegel derived his opinion from history, noting that each successive generation changed where their knowledge came from thus making it’s origin fluid and unabsolute. Kierkegaard derived his opinion from within, another point of existentialism, and thought that truth was something an individual must discuss from within and be wholly passionate with the decision. Nevertheless, both resulted in the conclusion that truth is not absolute, but Hegel regarded the Truths of humanity with prominence, while Kierkegaard conversely regarded the truths of an individual as much more

In the book The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are helping Sir Henry Baskerville. There will be lots of fears and they will solve the mystery of the ghastly hound that has terrorized the Baskervilles for years. Throughout Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, the book develops the theme “don’t be ruled by fear,” by showing that the people fear the Hound of the Baskervilles and the dangers on the moor.

In this essay, I will try to summarize, analyze and discuss several pages of Søren Kierkegaard’s Training in Christianity. I will try to focus on his approach to sacred history, a general Christian history and Christianity, which he discusses in this work in relation to faith in God. In other parts of this essay I will attempt also to relate these pages of his work to some key ideas of Kierkegaard’s theology and philosophy and support this with some concrete quotations from the text. In the end I will very briefly compare different philosophies of Hegel and Kierkegaard and try to relate Kierkegaard’s work to a few topics, which