Work
Either/Or
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About this work
Either/Or is Soren Kierkegaard's 1843 masterwork, published under a pseudonym and structured as the papers of two unnamed men. One lives for beauty and pleasure, the other for ethical commitment, and the reader is left to choose between them. It is the book where existentialism first finds its voice: the demand that you decide how to live, and own the choice.
About the author — Søren Kierkegaard
Soren Kierkegaard (1813 to 1855) was a Danish philosopher and theologian widely regarded as the first existentialist. Writing under many pseudonyms, he forced his readers to confront the anxiety and freedom of becoming a self.
3 quotes from this work
Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.
Let others complain that the age is wicked; my complaint is that it is paltry; for it lacks passion.
Marry, and you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way.
People also ask
What is Either/Or by Kierkegaard about?
The choice between two ways of living: the aesthetic, devoted to pleasure and the moment, and the ethical, built on commitment and responsibility. Kierkegaard stages the conflict and leaves the choice to you.
Is Either/Or worth reading?
Yes, though it rewards patience. It is the foundational existentialist text on what it means to choose yourself, and contains some of Kierkegaard's most striking writing.
What was Kierkegaard's most famous idea?
That existence is a matter of choice and commitment, not abstract reasoning, and that to become a self you must risk a genuine, anxious decision about how to live.