ABSTRACT

From the Latin resignare, meaning “to remove a seal.” For example, one might open, remove, and destroy the seal on an important document to prevent another from reusing it. In Danish, the verb refers to one’s abandoning of demands, goals, or hopes, and accepting the situation, since there is no conceivable possibility of changing it. The noun describes the feeling or emotion one has upon resigning oneself to an unalterable situation. The Danish adjectival form, resigneret, similarly expresses the awareness of having resigned and knowing this to be the case.1 But resignation, as Kierkegaard understands it, is not merely passivity, wherein one simply gives up hope, and with it all effort. Rather, resignation is a purposeful decision that requires intense commitment on the part of the individual.2