Philosophy and Theology

Volume 6, Issue 2, Winter 1991

Gregory Beabout
Pages 167-174

Existential Despair in Kierkegaard

This paper is a study of Kierkegaard’s concept of despair. The Danish etymology of fortvivleslse is examined in order to argue that, for Kierkegaard, despair is not simply a feeling, but is more fundamentally a willed misrelation in the self.