Mutiny of an Error: Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard on Suicide

Authors

  • Martin Klebes University of Oregon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.7.0.3664

Abstract

In their philosophical work Ludwig Wittgenstein and Søren Kierkegaard both reflect on suicide as a response to existential despair. While Anti-Climacus, the pseudonymous author of The Sickness unto Death, rejects the contemplation of suicide as an outright barrier to an “awakening” of the self to its own sinful condition, Wittgenstein’s diary notes betray a different attitude towards such thinking; while he largely concurs with Kierkegaard’s characterization of despair, Wittgenstein strikes a less confident pose concerning the possibility of a leap into faith that would all at once overcome any thought of suicide.

Author Biography

Martin Klebes, University of Oregon

Martin Klebes received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literary Studies from Northwestern University in 2003, and is currently Associate Professor in the Department of German and Scandinavian at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Wittgenstein’s Novels (Routledge, 2006) and the translator of Ernst-Wilhelm Händler’s debut collection of stories, City with Houses (Northwestern University Press, 2002). Recent publications include articles on Hannah Arendt’s theory of the reader, on narcissistic mirroring in E.T.A. Hoffmann and Poe, and on W.G. Sebald.

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Published

2015-08-23

How to Cite

Klebes, M. (2015). Mutiny of an Error: Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard on Suicide. Konturen, 7, 209–227. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.7.0.3664