iwb's review against another edition
3.0
A number of reviewers (at various sites) have given uncharitable reviews to this fine edition to the Cambridge Companion series; and they are reviews that are inconsistent. For instance, some claim that the essays in this volume can be helpful for understanding some of Kierkegaard's works; but then they claim that the book's contributors are all secularists, and since the secularists who wrote and edited this book, individually and collectively, ignore the spiritual/religious aspects of Kierkegaard's thought, the result is that these secularists (so the argument goes) render the book incomplete and totally unsatisfactory. But if the book is incomplete and totally unsatisfactory, in what sense can the book be helpful for understanding Kierkegaard's works? Goofball.
Continuing with the uncharitable reviews: Some claim that those who have written this book cannot get beyond their own prejudices. Yet, just what are these prejudices of the writers and editors? The reviewers don't tells us, though presumably they think they are secular ones. I'm inclined to think that such a criticism (but that is to elevate their claim to an inappropriately lofty position) is merely aimed at accusing the contributors of precisely the failings of the accusors; but to say such a thing would be uncharitable of me.
Some uncharitable reviewers find it problematic for doing top-notch Kierkegaardian scholarship that one be a secularist. Of course, we don't know precisely what these reviewers mean by "secularist" because they don't tell us. This lack of precision leads to vagueness. The reviewers, I suppose, only want scholars with whom they are in complete concord with their particular brand of social agenda. At least two of the contributors to this volume are proclaimed Christian philosophers. So I guess the reviewers don't care if you're religious, just as long as you're not a secularist. Perhaps the reviewers could provide us with a working standard from which we can judge where the line is crossed between having prejudice and not having prejudice in one's interpretation of Kierkegaard, then we might know if one can be a secularist yet still be capable of good Kierkegaardian scholarship.
Uncharitable reviewers, furthermore, claim that the essays in this volume are hard to read because they are poorly written and poorly exegeted. I suggest that after the reviewers learn English, Danish, German, and Latin, and have spent decades teaching and publishing scholarly articles, that they then might be in a stronger position to accuse experts of possessing poor writing and poor interpretative skills, at least in this case. Contrary to the uncharitable accounts, the essays in this volume are well written and are excellent instances of scholarship aimed at an audience that is learned while yet a new-comer to Kierkegaardian thought.
Moreover, the uncharitable reviewers find the selection of topics in this volume arbitrary. They are not arbitrary. Each essay considers the main areas of Kiekegaarding scholarship, and they are strategically situated to discuss various literary aspects of his work, his historical significance as an anti-Hegelian, concerning both epistemology and metaphysics, his philosophy of religion, particularly as it relates to the ethics of belief, and other philosophical and theological areas. The uncharitable reviewers simply do not know what is appropriate for a book of this nature. I suspect the uncharitable reviewers think that the content of books ought to foremost cater to their (arbitrary) bibliophilic desires--like having no secularist contributors and giving primacy to spiritual and religious themes, instead of, say, philosophical themes. Unless these sorts of reviewers give an argument as to why we ought to give primacy to such things (in a work that is to be an overall introduction to Kiekegaard's thought), then their choices are seemingly arbitrary.
These uncharitable reviewers claim that the contributors fail to understand the "essence" of Kierkegaard. I'm sure the uncharitable reviewers have a very nice idea of what the "essence" of Kierkegaard is, (and I'm sure it's not a plausible account) but they should leave any such ideas to that of the scholars--the ones who have spent decades studying Kierkegaard's concepts, arguments, and theories, be they philosophical, religious, literary, psychological, or sociological.
These essays will introduce a reader to the salient aspects of Kierkegaard's life and thought. The book is not intended to lay out the necessary and sufficient conditions for what counts as a Kierkegaardian essence. It just a solid introduction written by well-respected scholars.
Continuing with the uncharitable reviews: Some claim that those who have written this book cannot get beyond their own prejudices. Yet, just what are these prejudices of the writers and editors? The reviewers don't tells us, though presumably they think they are secular ones. I'm inclined to think that such a criticism (but that is to elevate their claim to an inappropriately lofty position) is merely aimed at accusing the contributors of precisely the failings of the accusors; but to say such a thing would be uncharitable of me.
Some uncharitable reviewers find it problematic for doing top-notch Kierkegaardian scholarship that one be a secularist. Of course, we don't know precisely what these reviewers mean by "secularist" because they don't tell us. This lack of precision leads to vagueness. The reviewers, I suppose, only want scholars with whom they are in complete concord with their particular brand of social agenda. At least two of the contributors to this volume are proclaimed Christian philosophers. So I guess the reviewers don't care if you're religious, just as long as you're not a secularist. Perhaps the reviewers could provide us with a working standard from which we can judge where the line is crossed between having prejudice and not having prejudice in one's interpretation of Kierkegaard, then we might know if one can be a secularist yet still be capable of good Kierkegaardian scholarship.
Uncharitable reviewers, furthermore, claim that the essays in this volume are hard to read because they are poorly written and poorly exegeted. I suggest that after the reviewers learn English, Danish, German, and Latin, and have spent decades teaching and publishing scholarly articles, that they then might be in a stronger position to accuse experts of possessing poor writing and poor interpretative skills, at least in this case. Contrary to the uncharitable accounts, the essays in this volume are well written and are excellent instances of scholarship aimed at an audience that is learned while yet a new-comer to Kierkegaardian thought.
Moreover, the uncharitable reviewers find the selection of topics in this volume arbitrary. They are not arbitrary. Each essay considers the main areas of Kiekegaarding scholarship, and they are strategically situated to discuss various literary aspects of his work, his historical significance as an anti-Hegelian, concerning both epistemology and metaphysics, his philosophy of religion, particularly as it relates to the ethics of belief, and other philosophical and theological areas. The uncharitable reviewers simply do not know what is appropriate for a book of this nature. I suspect the uncharitable reviewers think that the content of books ought to foremost cater to their (arbitrary) bibliophilic desires--like having no secularist contributors and giving primacy to spiritual and religious themes, instead of, say, philosophical themes. Unless these sorts of reviewers give an argument as to why we ought to give primacy to such things (in a work that is to be an overall introduction to Kiekegaard's thought), then their choices are seemingly arbitrary.
These uncharitable reviewers claim that the contributors fail to understand the "essence" of Kierkegaard. I'm sure the uncharitable reviewers have a very nice idea of what the "essence" of Kierkegaard is, (and I'm sure it's not a plausible account) but they should leave any such ideas to that of the scholars--the ones who have spent decades studying Kierkegaard's concepts, arguments, and theories, be they philosophical, religious, literary, psychological, or sociological.
These essays will introduce a reader to the salient aspects of Kierkegaard's life and thought. The book is not intended to lay out the necessary and sufficient conditions for what counts as a Kierkegaardian essence. It just a solid introduction written by well-respected scholars.
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