The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin

Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian who left a mark on Christian thought, existentialist philosophy, psychology, and ethics. He was born in 1813 to a middle-class family in Copenhagen and went on to study theology at the University of Copenhagen, receiving a Master’s degree by 1841. Aside from a brief engagement with a woman, Regine Olsen, Kierkegaard never entered any other romantic relationship. 

Throughout his life, he remained a devout Protestant Christian and experienced what might today be diagnosed as clinical depression. Although he attended a seminary and became formally qualified to be a Protestant minister in Denmark, Kierkegaard felt that God personally called him to become a writer instead, and lived off an inheritance from his father and profits from his publications. During his lifetime, he became known for his bitter opposition to the government-run Church of Denmark and a feud with a satirical Danish magazine, The Corsair.

A prolific writer, Kierkegaard often published his works under pseudonyms. His first book was also one of his most influential, Either/Or, published in 1843. Arguing that everyone is faced with a choice between an aesthetic life, one spent pursuing one’s own personal interests, or a civic life, centered around involvement with one’s community, Kierkegaard argued that both lifestyles had risks and the only way to successfully reconcile the two choices was through faith.