ABSTRACT
The Danish word Tilnærmelse means approximation or approach. Throughout his corpus, Kierkegaard uses both Tilnærmelse and Approximation in order to convey either the idea of an epistemological estimation (knowledge that is limited in accuracy or that is possibly inexact in its representation) or the idea of an individual approaching another in nearness of relation.1 Kierkegaard’s own 1833 edition of Molbech’s Danish Dictionary, under the entry for Tilnærmelse, includes the word Approximation in parentheses.2 The word Tilnærmelse is a combination of the prefix til meaning “toward,” and the word Nærmelse meaning proximity.
