ABSTRACT
Soren Kierkegaard’s style of writing reflected a transformation he meant to effect within the world of philosophy, and one that his historical contemporary, Karl Marx, similarly sought to achieve. Unlike Marx, Kierkegaard was not interested in changing “the world” and its social structures. He was interested in changing the individuals within it. Kierkegaard’s most direct thoughts about death are found in two works, Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions and Works of Love. While Works of Love is the text that directly explores the nature of love, the primary purpose of Kierkegaard’s “indirect” works lies in cultivating such loving individuals. As Kierkegaard recognizes, love is a relationship. However, as Kierkegaard also recognizes, any relationship necessarily influences the people who are within it. In Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, Kierkegaard turns from a consideration of the relationship between love and death to reflect upon three different moments or “occasions” in the lives of his contemporaries: confession, marriage, and lastly, death.
