Challenging Identity: Kierkegaard, Bias, and Intersectionality

Abstract

Kierkegaard was deeply biased and his philosophy is marred by these biases. The argument of this article is that we need to address Kierkegaard’s biases in order to bring out the relevance of his work on human identity in the 21st century. Rather than investigate a specific biased topic, I want to articulate the way in which Kierkegaard’s biases present a serious problem for his account of identity, in particular with regard to his concepts of eternity and freedom. I spend the first part of this article examining problems in Kierkegaard’s approach to identity before turning to the strengths of his work in the second part. I use Theodor W. Adorno’s critique of Kierkegaard and Michael Theunissen’s development of this critique to bring out both the weaknesses and the strengths of Kierkegaard’s approach to the challenges of human identity.

Keywords

• Kierkegaard
• bias
• intersectionality
• identity
• freedom
• Adorno