ABSTRACT
The concepts of health and sickness deserve a broader consideration, especially so in our age of health and performance obsessed society. Drawing from Kierkegaard and Hegel as the main historical-philosophical sources, this paper argues against the trivial duality of health/sickness and introduces a more dialectical notion of their relationship. Kierkegaard is well known for his analyses of despair as the sickness of the spirit. Much attention has also been devoted to his views on sickness, albeit none to his views of health. Rectifying the omission is another goal of this contribution. In investigating the idea of health in Kierkegaard, critical assessment of his ‘diagnosis’ and ‘therapy’ will be provided, arguing that the author is an excellent and valuable diagnostician of the human condition, but a harmful therapist. Kierkegaard allows for a highly useful ‘diagnostic anthropology’ which breaks down the reductive views of health and sickness. Finally, the holistic and dialectic view of the human condition typical of Kierkegaard will be compared to the much-discussed idea of mindfulness and the strengths and shortcomings of Kierkegaard’s position will be highlighted. In conclusion, it is argued that Kierkegaard’s anthropology allows for a profound and suitable relating to the problem of suffering or chronical illness and provides a valuable conceptual basis for the study of said phenomena.
