ABSTRACT
Traditional logic is developed on the basis of the three postulates: the laws of identity, contradiction, and excluded middle. The principles were first formulated in Metaphysics IV, where they are given a prominent role as “first principles” of metaphysics. In this way Aristotle significantly impacted a whole tradition of logic, a tradition that had few rivals before it was challenged by Hegel and his followers in the nineteenth century. Kierkegaard arguably refers to the Aristotelian tradition when he writes about the “law of contradiction” and the “either/or,” and in most cases his appeals to logical principles come in tandem with polemics against a Hegelian principle or spokesman. This is perhaps why it has become a sort of cliché in the secondary literature that Kierkegaard armed himself with Aristotelian logic in his battle with Hegelian dialectics. As we shall see, there are strong reasons to reject this all too common view, or at least to substantially modify it.
