Companions in guilt: aestheticism and Cartesianism as two sides of the same coin
Companions in guilt: aestheticism and Cartesianism as two sides of the same coin
In Either/Or I, the aesthete, A, gives us the following diagnosis of his predicament: ‘I think I have the courage to doubt everything; I think I have the courage to fight everything. But I do not have the courage to know anything, nor to possess, to own anything’ (E/O I 45). In this paper, I explore A’s fascinating claim that knowledge requires courage by way of juxtaposing the aesthetic life with Cartesian sceptical doubt. I show that just as the Cartesian doubter seeks refuge from radical scepticism in the safety of introspective knowledge – what is directly present to consciousness – so the aesthete seeks solace in the moment and what is sensuously present to him. Both methods ultimately prove ineffective and spurious, however: Cartesian introspection imprisons us in a mental cage with no beyond, just as aestheticism holds us captive in a self-spun world where our self dissolves. Consequently, what both the aesthete and the Cartesian need to do is to develop the strength to confront and overcome the anxieties that have motivated the flight from ‘the outer’ (the flight from the world) in the first place.
Kierkegaard, Scepticism, Aesthetic Existence Sphere, Doubt, Cartesianism, Seducer's Diary
62-78
Cambridge University Press
Schönbaumsfeld, Genia
586652b5-20da-47cf-9719-4fc587dfa4e8
November 2023
Schönbaumsfeld, Genia
586652b5-20da-47cf-9719-4fc587dfa4e8
Schönbaumsfeld, Genia
(2023)
Companions in guilt: aestheticism and Cartesianism as two sides of the same coin.
In,
Kemp, Ryan and Wietzke, Walter
(eds.)
Cambridge Critical Guide to Kierkegaard's Either/Or.
Cambridge University Press, .
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Abstract
In Either/Or I, the aesthete, A, gives us the following diagnosis of his predicament: ‘I think I have the courage to doubt everything; I think I have the courage to fight everything. But I do not have the courage to know anything, nor to possess, to own anything’ (E/O I 45). In this paper, I explore A’s fascinating claim that knowledge requires courage by way of juxtaposing the aesthetic life with Cartesian sceptical doubt. I show that just as the Cartesian doubter seeks refuge from radical scepticism in the safety of introspective knowledge – what is directly present to consciousness – so the aesthete seeks solace in the moment and what is sensuously present to him. Both methods ultimately prove ineffective and spurious, however: Cartesian introspection imprisons us in a mental cage with no beyond, just as aestheticism holds us captive in a self-spun world where our self dissolves. Consequently, what both the aesthete and the Cartesian need to do is to develop the strength to confront and overcome the anxieties that have motivated the flight from ‘the outer’ (the flight from the world) in the first place.
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Companions in Guilt - Aestheticism and Cartesianism as Two Sides of the Same Coin
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Accepted/In Press date: 2023
Published date: November 2023
Keywords:
Kierkegaard, Scepticism, Aesthetic Existence Sphere, Doubt, Cartesianism, Seducer's Diary
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Local EPrints ID: 474512
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474512
PURE UUID: 2968c1a1-9bf3-47f4-9b57-b64f2fcf11e8
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Date deposited: 23 Feb 2023 17:45
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 00:18
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Contributors
Editor:
Ryan Kemp
Editor:
Walter Wietzke
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