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Leap Faith Kierkegaard Soren Kierkegaard 1813- Essay

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¶ … Leap Faith Kierkegaard ( Soren Kierkegaard 1813- 1855)? How view faith differ conventional religious

Soren Kierkegard's conception of a leap of faith is decidedly distinct from that of traditional religious understanding of this notion. In most religions, particularly Christianity, a leap of faith is simply placing one's belief in a deity that does not exist. Anyone who adheres to a particular organized religion, especially monotheistic ones that include byth Judaism and Islam, in effect is taking a leap of faith because they have decided to worship a deity that they cannot see and have little empirical evidence about.

Kierkegaard's conception of a leap of faith is highly different from this point-of-view, largely due to the internal nature of his idea of this concept. Kierkegaard viewed a leap of faith as an inexplicable conviction about something that is not based on external knowledge or surroundings. Moreover, such a view or belief must be objective in nature -- something that can be achieved in measurable terms...

Because there is no rational reason for a person to adhere to such a conviction, for one to believe that one can still achieve such a tangible feat requires a leap of faith.
Yet the most important aspect of Kierkegaard's idea of a leap of faith is the degree in which he attributes such a conviction to an intrinsic sense of inner power, or inner belief, in an individual. It is not enough to simply reject or to not be concerned with external evidence regarding the accomplishing of a particular feat; rather a person must also innately fathom that he or she can do so with a power of conviction that is drawn from within. This belief in one's own inner prowess and conviction is what the philosopher regarded as "the highest" (Kierkegaard) form of truth and, with absolutely no rational, tangible reason for believing so, therefore requires a wild, "most passionate inwardness" (Kierkegaard) to truly believe.

Kierkegaard's conception of a leap of faith is highly compelling. It is…

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Works Cited

Baird, Forrest E. Kaufmann, Walter. Philosophical Classics Volume IV Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2002. Print.

Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1992. Print.
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Kierkegaard As a Person Born on May 5, 1813 in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, Soren Aabye Kierkegaard was a famous philosopher and theologian. He claimed his physical frailty was an oppressive weight that dragged down his healthy spirit, which longed for freedom. At the age of 17, Soren joined Copenhagen University and majored in the field of theology, as his father desired; however, subsequently, he shifted to the field of philosophy. While

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