Soren Kierkegaard 1813 – 1855

Soren Kierkegaard was a 19th-century Danish philosopher, theologian, and religious author, widely regarded as the first existentialist thinker. His pseudonymous works, including Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, and The Sickness Unto Death, dramatize the inner life of the individual confronted with anxiety, despair, freedom, and faith. Writing in opposition to the systematic rationalism of Hegel, he insisted on the priority of subjective truth and the leap of faith. He produced major contributions to the philosophy of religion, ethics, and psychology, often through indirect literary forms. His work was largely ignored during his lifetime but became foundational for 20th-century existentialism, theology, and continental philosophy.