ABSTRACT
In 1846, Soren Kierkegaard contrasted human relationships in the modern age with those in earlier ages. In a striking passage Kierkegaard (1846) described modern relationships as follows:
A father no longer curses his son in anger, using all his parental authority, nor does a son defy his father, a conflict which might end in the inwardness of forgiveness; on the contrary, their relationship is irreproachable, for it is really in process of ceasing to exist, since they are no longer related to one another within the relationship; in fact it has become a problem in which the two partners observe each other as in a game, instead of having any relation to each other, and they note down each other’s remarks instead of showing a firm devotion [pp.44–45].
