SOURCE: "The Logic of Søren Kierkegaard's Misogyny, 1854-1855," in Feminist Interpretations of Søren Kierkegaard, edited by Céline Léon and Sylvia Walsh, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997, pp. 69-82.

In the following essay, Watkin contends that despite the negative remarks Kierkegaard makes about women in his Journals, remarks which seem to contradict his earlier, more favorable views on marriage and sexuality, the later writings are not aimed solely at women and are not, in fact, inconsistent with his earlier statements. Watkin further explains that Kierkegaard's beliefs regarding the relationship of the self to God made it nearly impossible for him to square marriage and procreation with the need for self-renunciation.

When one reads the Journals of the last two years of Kierkegaard's life, one cannot help being struck by the negative expressions about women. We read that "woman is personified egoism. Her burning, hot devotion to...