The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates

THE CONCEPT OF IRONY
WITH CONTINUAL REFERENCE TO SOCRATES

KIERKEGAARD’S WRITINGS, II

THE CONCEPT OF IRONY
WITH CONTINUAL REFERENCE TO SOCRATES

by Søren Kierkegaard

together with
NOTES OF SCHELLING’S BERLIN LECTURES

Edited and Translated
with Introduction and Notes by

Howard V. Hong and
Edna H. Hong

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Copyright © 1989 by Howard V. Hong
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813-1855.
The concept of irony, with continual reference to Socrates.
(Kierkegaard’s writings; 2)
Translation of: Om begrebet ironi.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Irony. 2. Socrates. 3. Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-
1854. I. Hong, Howard Vincent, 1912- . II. Hong, Edna Hatlestad,
1913-. III. Title. IV. Series: Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813-1855. Works. English. 1978; 2.
B4373.042E5 1989 190 89-3642
ISBN 0-691-07354-6 ISBN 0-691-02072-8 (pbk.)

Second printing, with corrections, and first paperback printing, 1992

Preparation of this volume has been made possible in part by a grant
from the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment
for the Humanities, an independent federal agency

Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources

Designed by Frank Mahood

http://pub.princeton.edu

Printed in the United States of America

11 13 15 16 14 12

ISBN-13: 978-0-691-02072-3 (pbk.)

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

The Concept of Irony,
with Continual Reference to Socrates

THESES

Part One
THE POSITION OF SOCRATES
VIEWED AS IRONY

INTRODUCTION

I The View Made Possible

II The Actualization of the View

III The View Made Necessary

APPENDIX
Hegel’s View of Socrates

Part Two
THE CONCEPT OF IRONY

INTRODUCTION

OBSERVATIONS FOR ORIENTATION

The World-Historical Validity of Irony, the Irony of Socrates

Irony after Fichte

Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony

Addendum

NOTES OF SCHELLING’S BERLIN LECTURES

SUPPLEMENT

Key to References

Original Title Pages of The Concept of Irony

Original First Page (manuscript) of Notes of Schelling’s Berlin Lectures

Selected Entries from Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers Pertaining to The Concept of Irony

EDITORIAL APPENDIX

Acknowledgments

Collation of The Concept of Irony in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard’s Collected Works

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

INDEX

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

On October 30, 1830, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard entered the University of Copenhagen. On September 29, 1841, he publicly defended his dissertation, The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates. For about eight of those eleven years, he appeared to be a typical perennial student. In the last three years, however, he not only completed intensive preparation for the climactic degree examination but wrote the 350-page dissertation and a considerable portion of Part II of Either/Or. In the midst of this concentrated work, he became engaged to Regine Olsen (September 10, 1840) and terminated the engagement within a fortnight after the dissertation defense.

Although the student years stretched out inordinately, Kierkegaard was not idle. He attended lectures and read extensively and intensively, but his mind was more preoccupied with his own creative thoughts than with formal study and completion of work for a degree. Four themes were of continuing interest: the ideas symbolized by Don Juan, Faust, the Master Thief, and the Wandering Jew.1 During the period 1834-1838, he wrote a number of pieces for Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post,2 an unpublished and unproduced play, The Battle between the Old and the New Soap-Cellars, and his first book, From the Papers of One Still Living3 (on Hans Christian Andersen’s Only a Fiddler). Journal entries from 1838 include indications of contemplated writing: “I would like to write a novella with my own mottoes. Motto: Fantasy for a post horn”;4 “I would like to issue a publication for παϱάνεϰϱоί [beside the dead].”5

Other journal entries and reading notes (on Jean Paul, Hamann, Wieland, Erdmann, Baur, and Grulich) from 1836 onward touch on Socrates, satire, humor, and irony,6 and an entry dated September 25, 1837, reads, “Now I know a suitable subject for a dissertation: concerning the concept of satire among the ancients, the reciprocal relation of the various Roman satirists to each other.”7

No extant journal entries touch specifically on the decision to write on irony, but two important entries on Kierkegaard’s favorite teacher, philosophy professor Poul Martin Møller, point to a decision to write a substantial work. “I recall the words of the dying Poul Møller, which he often said to me while he lived and which, if I remember correctly, he enjoined Sibbern8 to repeat (and in addition the words: Tell the little Kierkegaard that he should be careful not to lay out too big a plan of study, for that has been very detrimental to me): You are so thoroughly polemical that it is quite appalling.”9 Møller’s death on March 13, 1838, seemed to be an activating and integrating occasion that brought Kierkegaard’s far-ranging mind back to his initial resolve to write a dissertation. “Such a long period has again elapsed in which I have been unable to concentrate on the least little thing—now I must make another attempt.