Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation

The great Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905-81) offers a distinctive assessment and comparative critique of two key thinkers in Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation (1950). Løgstrup focuses on the central idea from Kierkegaard and Heidegger that our individuality and authenticity are threatened by 'life in the crowd' or 'das Man'. According to Løgstrup, Kierkegaard holds that the only way to escape the crowd is through a relation to an infinite demand which he nonetheless leaves empty, while Heidegger avoids offering any kind of ethics at all. Arguing against both philosophers, Løgstrup himself proposes an ethic which is not just a set of social rules, but which is also more contentful than Kierkegaard's infinite demand: namely, the requirement to care for the other person whose life is placed in your hands. This call to care for the other person becomes central to Løgstrup's position in his most famous publication The Ethical Demand (1956), so this earlier work, based on lectures given in Berlin, provides a crucial insight into the development of his thought. This is the first English translation of an original and compelling text by Løgstrup, rendered into accurate prose and paired with an introduction which explains the main themes and wider context of the work.

K. E. L?gstrup

Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously a student and then Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He recently published the first monograph in English on L?gstrup, entitled The Radical Demand in L?gstrup's Ethics (Oxford 2019).

Translators' preface
A chronology of L?gstrup's life
Introduction, Robert Stern
Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation
1. Kierkegaard and Heidegger on 'Life in the Crowd'
2. On Kierkegaard's Account of the Doubling of the Relations of Spirit
3. The Relation Between Heidegger's and Kierkegaard's Analyses of Existence
4. On Kierkegaard's Account of the Problem of Taking Over Concrete Existence
5. Kierkegaard and Heidegger on the Concept of Guilt
6. The Absolute Demand of Concrete Existence
7. Philosophy and Proclamation
8. Thinking and Existence
Editor's notes
Select bibliography