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Soren Kierkegaard's Version Of Existentialism

Decent Essays

As a theologian, Soren Kierkegaard’s version of existentialism was always going to differ from avowed atheists like Nietzsche and Camus, who emphasize a godless and cruel universe. Kierkegaard instead emphasizes the role of choice in how a person must find his or her purpose. Though he was, himself, religious and beloved that devotion to God was the highest form of living, Kierkegaard’s writings stress that the first choice a person must make is between the “aesthetic” and “ethical” spheres of living. In J.D. Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey,” Franny finds herself trying desperately to move out of the aesthetic sphere and into the ethical, even religious one.

The restaurant scene in the middle of the story (5-8) demonstrates a clear

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