Essay Questions

What are the three types of despair described by the author in ‘The Sickness unto Death’?

The Anti Climacus describes 'Sickness unto Death' as a kind of hopelessness and misalignment. According to Anti-Climacus, people live a lie and run away from the realities of life. For instance, most people believe that life is all about making money and living luxurious lives. Anti-Climacus classifies hopelessness into three categories, namely inauthenticity, false assumption, and infinity. The first kind of distress is caused by intellectual fuss, making individuals fail to comprehend their destiny. The second type of despair is False assumption caused by limited self-acceptance, which makes people disregard the realities of life. The last kind of discomfort is related to human experience, which makes an individual think that he can survive independently without relying on others.

How does reduced egoism emerge as the main theme in ‘The Sickness unto Death’ by Soren Kierkegaard?

According to the author, limited self-countenance and self-cognizance are due to hopelessness. Kierkegaard narrates how hopelessness impacts negatively on an individual's personality. The title 'The Sickness Unto Death' is emblematic to represent human limitation and fear of anxiety. The author takes readers back to the story of creation to refresh their minds about sin's origin. When human beings realized that death is a reality, he became hopeless because one does not live to infinity.

What is the primary cause of despair, according to the author?

Despair is driven by fear and failure to believe that there is a supernatural being overseeing humanity's action. Christians are hopeful that the is God to take control of their worries. Similarly, Christians also believe that there is life after death because the faithful ones will be resurrected. Unfortunately, agnostic people do not believe in the existence of God and life after death. Therefore, pagans live a more doubting life full of hopelessness. A pagan knows that death is the end of life, and this makes him desperate. According to the author, life has little meaning for a pagan, so death is his greatest catastrophe.