Kierkegaard and the forms of despair

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses Kierkegaard’s theory of despair. After distinguishing despair as a conscious feeling and as a disease of the spirit, the essence of the latter is characterized in terms of willing to get rid of oneself. The main kinds of despair are subsequently considered. They are classified by Kierkegaard according to a double criterion: the degree of awareness of being in despair, and the kind of imbalance that obtains in the fundamental synthesis that constitutes human nature. Finally some difficulties of Kierkegaard’s view are addressed.