Kierkegaard, Virtues and Vices

Dear Colleagues,

Scholars have been divided on what to make of Kierkegaard’s relation to the virtues tradition. Some, such as Sylvia Walsh (2018), have been highly sceptical of thinking of Kierkegaard as a kind of “virtue ethicist.” Others, such as Robert C. Roberts (2022), have seen Kierkegaard as firmly rooted in the virtues tradition, while Pieter Vos (2020) sees Kierkegaard as part of a broader tradition of Protestant theological ethics that both reveals basic virtue ethical characteristics and makes a distinct contribution to contemporary virtue ethics. On specific virtues, C. Stephen Evans (2019) has recently argued that the virtue of accountability is central to Kierkegaardian spirituality, while John Lippitt (2020) has drawn on Kierkegaard to explore the relationships between forgiveness, love, justice, humility, and hope.

Certainly, there are profound reflections to be found in Kierkegaard’s writings on virtues or “spiritual qualities” (Walsh’s preferred term) such as courage, forgivingness, gratitude, hope, humility, honesty and patience, as well as more unusual qualities such as “joy” [glæde], contrition, earnestness and sobriety. Furthermore, while Kierkegaard does not explicitly explore faith, hope and love as the three “theological virtues,” all three notions play important roles in his thought and his view of religious life. No reader can miss the centrality of faith, and scholarship over the last two decades or so has increasingly recognized the importance and profundity of his thought on love. The question of what it means to love well is one that runs through much of the authorship, pseudonymous and signed. Love arguably has its own epistemic standards connected to other putative virtues such as generosity of spirit, trust and hope. Hope – which Kierkegaard most commonly discusses under the name of “expectancy” [Forventning] - may be seen as the antithesis of that central Kierkegaardian theme of despair, which may arguably be understood as at root the unwillingness to hope (Bernier 2015).

For Kierkegaard, the philosophical task of unpacking such qualities is almost always in service of the role they play in the religious or specifically Christian life. Kierkegaard’s approach to these qualities is typically not explicitly to talk of them as virtues (perhaps because of the influence of Luther, whose dislike of Aristotle and virtue-talk was intense). Yet, many have judged that it makes sense to do so given that each may be thought of as contributing to the formation of character. Broadly in line with the classical tradition, he typically sees each such quality as involving certain ways of thinking, feeling and seeing correctly. However, Kierkegaard holds, along with many other Christian thinkers, that some human excellence cannot be achieved without divine grace and assistance. There is a growing recognition of Kierkegaard as being a significant source of insight into understanding the role of numerous virtues in the task of allowing oneself to be “built up.” Likewise, his writings can be tapped for profound insights into such vices as pride, envy and self-righteousness.

This Special Issue seeks to explore various aspects of Kierkegaard’s relation to the philosophical and theological traditions of thinking about virtues and vices, from a range of perspectives. Articles are invited on either Kierkegaard’s relation to philosophical and theological work on virtues and vices in general, or his contribution to our understanding of specific virtues, vices and their inter-relationship—whether those commonly regarded as such or those more quirkily “Kierkegaardian.”

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]; [email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Tentative completion schedule:

• Abstract submission deadline: 28 October 2022
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 28 November 2022
• Full manuscript deadline: 30 September 2023

References:

Bernier, Mark (2015) The Task of Hope in Kierkegaard (Oxford University Press).

Evans, C. Stephen (2019) Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence (Eerdmans).

Lippitt, John (2020) Love’s Forgiveness: Kierkegaard, Resentment, Humility, and Hope (Oxford University Press).

Roberts, Robert C. (2022) Recovering Christian Character: The Psychological Wisdom of Søren Kierkegaard (Eerdmans).

Vos, Pieter (2020) Longing for the Good Life: Virtue Ethics after Protestantism (Bloomsbury).

Walsh, Sylvia (2018) Kierkegaard and Religion: Personality, Character, and Virtue (Cambridge University Press). 

Prof. Dr. John Lippitt
Prof. Dr. C. Stephen Evans
Guest Editors

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• Kierkegaard
• virtues
• vices
• virtue ethics
• character formation
• moral virtues
• theological virtues
• intellectual virtues
• faith
• hope
• love