ABSTRACT
In this chapter, following a lead from Soren Kierkegaard, the author discusses the scope of historical inquiry as it relates to what Kierkegaard calls ‘essential’ human questions. Kierkegaard argues that the study of history does not have a primary role in essential questions. This will come as no shock to many professional historians – they agree. According to Kierkegaard, the main task for a thinker, and indeed for all persons, is first of all to become an individual, in his qualitative sense of that word – to become a full human being. This requires that one become aware of, and then appropriate, all the ingredients of what it is to be a human. The ordinary view is that the history of philosophy consists of nothing more than a series of unsuccessful, and often contradictory, attempts to understand reality. Philosophy comes to an impasse. Kierkegaard is reminding us to be more Socratic, more vulnerable and more passionate.
