ABSTRACT
From the Greek πολιτική (sc. τέχνη), the Danish word Politik refers principally to the study of governance and the state (Greek, πόλις).1
Kierkegaard cultivated an ambiguous attitude towards the state and the established order. Concerning politics, his views seem a little clearer, albeit predominantly censorious. They stem from his (correct) anxiety that the political could become a lethal weapon in religious or spiritual matters. More specifically, politics could imperil religious self-becoming by distracting the self from the ultimate tasks of salvation and reconciliation with God; and by prioritizing social concerns solvable solely within an alienating institutional framework and via pragmatic compromises. Although Kierkegaard’s opinions become increasingly dismissive vis-à-vis politics per se, he does not seem to advocate either a radical insouciance or an active opposition to the political dimension of human coexistence. Rather, his conceivably anomic assaults envision a particular historical period-namely, the post-1848 Europe-and point to certain catastrophic effects but only from a soteriological viewpoint.
