Communication and subjectivity in the thought of Søren Kierkegaard

Abstract

Although there exists a fragment on The Dialectic of Ethico-Religious Communication in Kierkegaard's Papirer, we need to approach the works as a whole in order to find any comprehensive dialectic, when Kierkegaard speaks of communication it is about the communication of subjectivity which he is thinking. According to him Subjectivity is Truth; where the individual, instead of being related to an objective body of knowledge which is considered as "the truth", is related to himself in inwardness. He who sets about the ethical task of becoming subjective soon finds that he is involved in religious categories, but at the end of it all, because of the consciousness of guilt, he discovers that within the limits imposed by his subjectivity and immanence, he can neither be fully related to himself nor to God; although a relationship of a kind does exist. In order to be truly related to the self, which is what Subjectivity is, the individual requires to be rooted and grounded in the Power which posited his self. This can only happen in Christianity when God bestows upon him the condition for belief in the Absolute Paradox, which belief can only take place after he has chosen to overcome the various forms of offence associated with Him. It is only in Christianity that the individual really becomes related to himself and the thesis:Subjectivity is Truth becomes completely valid.In the sphere of objective knowledge the appropriate form of communication is through direct expression, but where Subjectivity is concerned any such direct communication would be a contradiction. By definition that which is inward cannot be made outward and still remain the same. The only feasible way of communication In the ethico-rellgious sphere is by indirect means, whereby the subjectivity of both communicator and recipient is fully respected. But still the contradiction persists because there has to be some expression even although it is only indirect. There is a communication of a kind, but it is not a true communication of Subjectivity.In Christianity the situation is more complicated for here there are two aspects involved in the communication of Subjectivity - a direct and an indirect - which do not necessarily occur through the same communicator. Firstly there must be a direct communication of historical- fact about God's primary communication in Christ : secondly the indirect communicatior of God's primary communication which flows through the communicator, this is Christian love, the Implications of this are fully worked out in Works of Love where we find that the individual can only become truly subjective as he communicates love to all men. This is not to give expression to his own subjectivity which is preserved through communicating but only to the love of God which is deeper than that, communication is therefore an essential part of subjectivity. Thus for the christian Communication and Subjectivity are synonymous.