The Sickness Unto Death
Anti-Climacus describes despair as a disturbance in the self’s relation to itself and its grounding. The book is a theological and existential analysis, not a clinical diagnosis of depression or suicidal thoughts.
Understanding the text
Kierkegaard wrote in nineteenth-century Copenhagen amid debates about philosophy, Lutheran Christianity and modern public life. His pseudonymous authors are constructed perspectives, not simple masks whose every statement expresses his settled view. Signed discourses, posthumous manuscripts and editions must be distinguished from the published pseudonymous books.
Key points
- 01
Self
The self is a relation that must relate to itself rather than a fixed possession.
- 02
Despair
Despair can appear both as refusing oneself and as attempting to be oneself without acknowledging dependence.
- 03
Faith
The pseudonym understands the opposite of despair in relation to faith, a claim to examine in its Christian context.
How to read it
Read the forms of despair as philosophical categories and avoid applying them as diagnoses of individual illness.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗