TY - JOUR
T1 - Loneliness and innocence
T2 - A Kierkegaardian reflection on the paradox of self-realization
AU - Huntington, Patricia
PY - 2006/12/1
Y1 - 2006/12/1
N2 - In this paper, I explore loneliness as a primordial call to find accord with the self that, as Kierkegaard claims, is born of spirit. I put Kierkegaard's Anti-Climacan formula, "the more consciousness, the more self," to work by examining lamentation over loss of the innocent days of youth as symptomatic of primordial loneliness. In loneliness, I argue, we confound loss of naivete (a developmental change) with loss of innocence (a spiritual failing). While each person is fated to lose naivete, no person loses innocence by developmental necessity. Each person loses innocence by his or her own hand in freedom.
AB - In this paper, I explore loneliness as a primordial call to find accord with the self that, as Kierkegaard claims, is born of spirit. I put Kierkegaard's Anti-Climacan formula, "the more consciousness, the more self," to work by examining lamentation over loss of the innocent days of youth as symptomatic of primordial loneliness. In loneliness, I argue, we confound loss of naivete (a developmental change) with loss of innocence (a spiritual failing). While each person is fated to lose naivete, no person loses innocence by developmental necessity. Each person loses innocence by his or her own hand in freedom.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11007-006-9035-0
DO - 10.1007/s11007-006-9035-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33947498628
SN - 1387-2842
VL - 39
SP - 415
EP - 433
JO - Continental Philosophy Review
JF - Continental Philosophy Review
IS - 4
ER -