Soren Kierkegaard

Without a doubt, the most important person in Soren Kierkegaard's writings is himself. One might initially think that if a writer's main subject is himself that he must be deeply conceited, selfish and the like. However, this seems not to be the case with Kierkegaard. Instead, Kierkegaard is focused on the analysis of his own experience in part as a method of reaching out to find something universal in human experience and in part to make sense of the fact that men are, of themselves, trapped inside of themselves and unable to know the world and truly love others.

Kierkegaard, in his journals, will often speak of his "melancholy" and is clearly often depressed. For Kierkegaard, agony and despair are the fruit of his depression. His mood is not merely reduced to a negative state, but his dark emotions dwell on crucial aspects of reality. In particular...