Concluding Unscientific Postscript

“For if passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists, and certainty and passion do not go together.”

For Kierkegaard, passion is the motivating force for life, leading to both knowledge and faith. Passion, paradoxically, increases in the presence of uncertainty; passion impels us to hold fast to a belief that seems to contradict reason and common sense.

“Christianity is spirit, spirit is inwardness, inwardness is subjectivity, subjectivity is essentially passion, and in its maximum an infinite, personal, passionate interest in one’s eternal happiness.”

This is a succinct statement of Kierkegaard’s views on the relationship between Christian faith, passion, and subjectivity, which are all oriented toward the individual’s eternal happiness. This view opposes the idea that Christianity is essentially an assent to objective doctrine or the performance of ethical action. Rather, Christianity is an inner relationship with God and his promises.

“[E]xistence is a constant process of becoming […].”

One of the key concepts of the Postscript is that to exist as a human being is to be a work in progress—to be constantly developing. Kierkegaard rejects a conception of life as static, or a completed project. Rather, life is a constant striving to hold fast to our ideals and reach our goal of eternal happiness through our actions in time.

“The true ethical enthusiasm consists in willing to the utmost limits of one’s powers, but at the same time being so uplifted in divine jest as never to think about the accomplishment.”

This quote comes in the course of a discussion about the meaning of the ethical. Ethical passion (or ethical enthusiasm) consists of willing the good for its own sake, not for the sake of some effect it may have in the external world. The ethical person is humble, not self-aggrandizing or fame-seeking. They concentrate on the intrinsic virtue of an action and how virtue builds up their soul and inner life.

“[T]he ethical is and remains the highest task for every human being.”

Kierkegaard is contrasting the ethical—having to do with our relationship to the good, and especially the highest good, God, and eternal happiness—with such things as science and scholarship, which are more external and finite in nature. However, these too should adhere to ethical norms and values, making the ethical the highest and comprehensive task of life.

“It is a strange circumstance in connection with the simple, that it can be so complicated.”

This is one of many paradoxical or ironic statements in the book. Kierkegaard is drawing attention to the fact that when we attempt to do something in the ethical or spiritual realm in a truly serious, conscientious, and thorough manner—e.g., prayer or the examination of conscience—it opens up all sorts of new avenues of thought and consideration and so becomes the main task of life, leaving no time for more external activities.

“To be finished with life before life has finished with one, is precisely not to have finished the task.”

Kierkegaard is alluding to Hegelianism’s pretensions to discovering the secret to all knowledge by means of a codified, closed system—thus giving one the illusion that one has finished everything. By contrast, Kierkegaard compares life to a school exam in which the time is itself part of the test, and we must use all of it to the fullest. This relates to Kierkegaard’s key theme of existence as a constant process of becoming.

“Subjectivity is the truth.”

This is the emblematic statement of the book, encapsulating Kierkegaard’s beliefs about the primacy of individual existence. Truth is truth by virtue of its relation to an existing individual (a “subject”). The essential paradox of truth consists in the fact that it is eternal yet relates itself to a finite subject existing in time. We best understand truth when we relate it to our own existence rather than seeing it as abstract and external to us.

“For the absurd is the object of faith, and the only object that can be believed.”

One of Kierkegaard’s major claims is that belief necessarily involves an element of the absurd. Something that is rationally probable is not believed, but more or less certainly known. Christianity includes claims that elude reason and common sense—e.g., the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus. We must in faith hold fast to these “paradoxes” or “absurdities” because that is what belief requires by definition. Christianity asks us not so much to have knowledge as to make a leap of faith.

“Formerly a Christian was a fool in the eyes of the world, and now that all men are Christians he nevertheless becomes a fool—in the eyes of Christians.”

Kierkegaard argues that many Christians have lost the inward passion of being Christian. Society now takes Christianity for granted, and instead of seeking to intensify Christianity’s inner significance for them, many purported Christians pursue a speculative philosophy that tries to “go beyond” Christianity. In such an environment, those who seek genuinely to intensify their Christian faith appear strange, much as the first Christians did. This quote shows Kierkegaard’s concern with preserving the purity and authenticity of early Christian faith.

“[A]n existing human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite situated in time […].”

This quote expresses another aspect of Kierkegaard’s concept of existence. Human beings are made for eternal happiness, yet they must work out their relationship to this in the context of their daily lives—that is, in time. This for Kierkegaard constitutes the paradox of being human. One implication of this is that philosophies that treat human beings as if they were godlike and eternal—especially in their supposed objectivity—are mistaken.

. “There has been said much that is strange, much that is deplorable, much that is revolting about Christianity; but the most stupid thing ever said about it is, that it is to a certain degree true.”

Because Christianity makes infinite claims about the universe that affect one’s eternal happiness, it is “stupid” to say that it is merely true to a certain degree; rather, it is either true or false. Kierkegaard suggests that the same is true of concepts like love and enthusiasm; one must embrace them with one’s whole being or else reject them. Anything else is a lukewarm, mediocre compromise—a form of “prostituting oneself.” The statement is typical of Kierkegaard’s embrace of passion as the decisive factor in life.

“[O]n account of our vastly increased knowledge, men had forgotten what it means to EXIST, and what INWARDNESS signifies.”

Kierkegaard identifies the root cause of the loss of inwardness in modern life and culture: It is due to an increase in knowledge, information, and education. This increased knowledge tends to distract, leading one to concentrate on “just the facts” instead of what the facts might mean for one’s inner life.

“Essentially it is the God-relationship that makes a man a man […].”

Kierkegaard considers the “God-relationship” the sign of true, inward religiosity (as opposed to a merely rote religion based on the recitation of doctrine, for instance). Because God is the highest good and the source of our being, forming a relationship with him makes us truly human.

“Only the truth which edifies is truth for you.”

Kierkegaard quotes this sentence from the ending of his work Either-Or. For Kierkegaard, truth is not something external and indifferent but bears an essential relationship to the individual knower. Truth, while certainly objective in the sense that our opinions or whims do not determine it, affects us personally. To edify is to build up in a spiritual sense; thus, truth builds up a person’s inner being. In fact, for Kierkegaard it is this very relatedness to a human subject that makes the truth true.

“[I]nwardness is when the thing said belongs to the recipient as if it were his own—and now it is his own.”

As in the previous quote, Kierkegaard emphasizes the inner, existential dimension of knowledge. We must not regard knowledge as something remote and objective; rather, it must make a difference for us personally—must become a part of us. This affects the way we communicate knowledge to others, which will become a humble, indirect process that respects the other person’s freedom.

“It is always good to be distinguished by something; I ask nothing better than to be pointed out as the only one in our serious age who is not serious.”

This is an ironic statement by Kierkegaard alluding to the fact that he does not belong to the Hegelians, with their ultra-systematic approach to philosophy. Kierkegaard contrasts this kind of rationalistic “seriousness” and its pretentious to solving all the mysteries of the universe with the humble, ironic and humorous approach of faith and inward reflection.

“Abstract thought is disinterested, but for an existing individual, existence is the highest interest.”

Kierkegaard contrasts abstract thought, with its pretentions to disinterestedness and objectivity, with the passionately involved nature of subjective or existential thought. The signal feature of such thought is that the individual feels themself to have a stake in a definite goal: eternal happiness.

“What is abstract thought? It is thought without a thinker.”

This is a pithy and ironic statement of Kierkegaard’s opposition to abstract thought—a running theme in the book. In abstract thought, the thinker leaves out all consideration of themself and their existence. For Kierkegaard this is wrong because as existing individuals we should be involved and interested in the question of truth.

“Existing is an art.”

Kierkegaard concisely states his belief in the importance of existence. Far from being a mundane fact that we all share, existence in the highest sense takes all one’s effort and is the work of a lifetime. Kierkegaard also implies that the existing individual tries to imbue their life with beauty and aesthetic content—as if it were a poem, for instance. This contrasts with the “scientific” emphasis of those devoted to systematic philosophy.

“[I]t is easier to become a Christian when I am not a Christian than to become a Christian when I am one […].”

This is one of Kierkegaard’s many paradoxical statements in the book. His point is that owning one’s Christian faith through personal appropriation and inward reflection—maintaining a serious personal relationship with God and eternal happiness—is an arduous task. It is therefore harder to become a true Christian than it is to pass from being a nonbeliever into accepting Christianity in a formal sense.

“The less outwardness, the more inwardness.”

Throughout the book Kierkegaard contrasts one’s inner disposition with the way that disposition expresses itself externally and visibly. He uses the example of baptism as the outward expression of joining the Christian faith. The inner disposition is always more crucial because it expresses the true existential reality of the situation: Outwardness can express the inward disposition, but the inward disposition must be there first. Outwardness can also be mere show without any inner meaning.

“[O]ne proves God’s existence by worship…not by proofs.”

This statement underscores Kierkegaard’s opposition to the rationalistic approach to religious knowledge. It is, in a sense, an insult to God to seek to “prove” his existence since he is always present. Such an attitude assumes a superiority over God. Instead of treating God like a “thing” to be proved, Kierkegaard says, we should honor him by praying to him and worshiping him in humility and thanks.