Either Or
This article is about the book by Søren Kierkegaard. For the 1997 album by Elliott Smith, see Either/Or (album)
Either/Or is an influential book written by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, in which he explored the "phases" or "stages" of existence.
The first volume, the "Either", exemplifies the "aesthetic" phase of existence, while the second volume, the "Or", showcases the "ethical" phase. For Kierkegaard, the phases are progressive. The aesthete, accordingly to Kierkegaard's model, will eventually find him- or herself in "despair," a state that results from a recognition of the limits of an aesthetic approach to life. The only cure for this existential despair is to make a "leap" to the second phase, the "ethical," which is characterized as a phase in which conscious choice and commitment replace the random and inconsistent longings of the aesthetic mode. Ultimately, for Kierkegaard, the aesthetic and the ethical are both superseded by the final phase, which he terms the "religious" mode.
The first volume consists of a series of writings of an author named A. The second volume is written by an author B (or judge Wilhelm as we later find out). The Editor, Victor Eremita, has named them accordingly not knowing the real name of A and unwillingly to name B but to leave A unnamed. Victor Eremita has found their writings in an old secretair he bought.
First volume, thus, represents the aesthetic stage. A series of diapsalmata, or short sayings deriving from different moods proceeds the more essaylike treatises. All the following are on aesthetical subjects. Mozarts works plays a major role, especially his Don Giovanni. However, Faust too plays an important part. This section is concluded with the demonic figure of Johannes the Seducer, in the Seducers Diary.
Aesthetic life is determined by notions of pleasant and unpleasant, leading up to the notion of First Love. Perhaps to be viewed as the aesthetic notion par exellence. What Kierkegaard means by First Love, he explains in the seducers diary ending in demonic closedness (demoniske indesluttedhed).
Second Volume, thus, represents the ethical stage. Two letters from Judge Wilhelm to author A try to incite A to make the leap to the ethical stage. First letter is about the aesthetical value of marriage, while the second is about the more explicit ethical subject of choosing the good, or one's self.
Problematic use of the term freedom, choosing one's self,etc. pervade the second volume. Introducing the ethical stage it is moreover unclear if Kierkegaard acknowleges an ethical stage without religion. The volume ends in a discourse on the Upbuilding in the Thought that for God we are Always in the Wrong.
Freedom seems to denote freedom to choose the will to do the right and to denounce the wrong. However, mourning (angeren) seems to be a religious category specifically related to the christian concept of deliverance. (Samlede Vaerker(2), II, p. 190)
To this problematical notion of interpreting what Kierkegaard wants to say in Either/ Or comes the problem of his authorship. Author A and Author B are the authors of the work. Eremita is the editor, where however is Kierkegaard in all this? One could consult Kierkegaards Papers first edition VIII(2), B 81 - 89 on his method in writing. On interpretation there is also much to be found in the On my Work as an Author and the Point of View.
