Description
Book SynopsisAlthough Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard are both major figures in nineteenth-century Western thought, they are rarely considered in the same conversation. Marx is the great radical economic theorist, the prophet of communist revolution who famously claimed religion was the opiate of the masses. Kierkegaard is the renowned defender of Christian piety, a forerunner of existentialism, and a critic of mass politics who challenged us to become the single individual. But by drawing out important themes bequeathed them by their shared predecessor G. W. F. Hegel, Jamie Aroosi shows how they were engaged in parallel projects of making sense of the modern, dialectical self, as it realizes itself through a process of social, economic, political, and religious emancipation. In The Dialectical Self, Aroosi illustrates that what is traditionally viewed as opposition is actually a complementary one-sidedness, born of the fact that Marx and Kierkegaard differently imagined the impediments to the se
Trade Review"Jamie Aroosi's new book is an original and refreshing contribution to the study of Søren Kierkegaard and KarlMarx . . . Carefully argued-and skillfully written-it provides a much-needed boost to contemporary scholarship, showing how and why we must read Kierkegaard and Marx as part of the modern quest for democracy and self-determination." *
Perspectives on Politics *
"Jamie Aroosi has a nuanced appreciation for the complexities of the reception of Kierkegaard and Marx in the twentieth century. In a new, refreshing, and useful comparison,
The Dialectical Self shows how these two thinkers have much more in common than one might immediately imagine. It deserves our careful attention." * Jon Stewart, Slovak Academy of Sciences *
Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Dialectical Self
PART I. BONDAGE
Chapter 1. Selfhood
Chapter 2. Deception
PART II. EMANCIPATION
Chapter 3. Communication
Chapter 4. Law
Chapter 5. Faith
PART III. FREEDOM
Chapter 6. Subjectivity
Chapter 7. History
Chapter 8. Democracy
PART IV. PRAXIS
Chapter 9. Religion
Chapter 10. Politics
Conclusion. Love and Revolution
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
