Was Kierkegaard a medieval thinker? Some considerations

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate, based on a fragmentary reading of Kierkegaard's work, the thesis that the Danish thinker, despite the chronology and his affiliation with the philosophical themes of the 19th century, approaches several aspects of the medieval way of doing philosophy. The investigation actually starts from a thesis stated by his own pseudonym Vigilius Haufniensis, author of the work The Concept of Anxiety. Thus, based on such an assertion presented there, the intention is to move on to other works by the author and verify to what extent his affirmation of subjectivity is, in reality, an understanding that, in his eyes, the theme of subjectivity and its deepening is, so to speak, a medieval theme. The thesis seems intriguing and seems to contrast with the consecrated affirmation that subjectivity would have its birth and affirmation in modernity. For this investigation we will use fragments of Kierkegaard's work and comments from researchers on the subject.