ABSTRACT
This, however, is naive. Kierkegaard’s knowledge of Aristotle’s own texts was superficial, as he confirms in a note from 1844-45,1 and his understanding of Aristotle seems to have been formed almost exclusively by secondary sources. These sources are now well documented in the commentaries in Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter. But often, it seems, Kierkegaard did not read these sources very carefully, either.2 Thus, in order to give a sound assessment of the Aristotelian influence, we must start with Kierkegaard’s own concerns and only from this starting point inquire into what reasons he had for taking an interest in a particular Aristotelian view, as this was presented in the sources. This source-sensitive approach is especially important since the interpretations of Aristotle that influenced Kierkegaard differ at some points from the way Aristotle is usually read today. In this article we shall focus on a set of Aristotelian metaphysical ideas that we believe influenced Kierkegaard in his writings up to and including the Postscript period.3
