religions Article
The Thought Experimenting Qualities of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling Ingrid Malm-Lindberg Department of Theology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Box 511, 751 20, Sweden; ingrid.malm.lindberg@teol.uu.se Received: 4 May 2019; Accepted: 18 June 2019; Published: 19 June 2019
Abstract: In this article, I examine the possible thought experimenting qualities of Søren Kierkegaard’s novel Fear and Trembling and in which way (if any) it can be explanatory. Kierkegaard’s preference for pseudonyms, indirect communication, Socratic interrogation, and performativity are identified as features that provide the narrative with its thought experimenting quality. It is also proposed that this literary fiction functions as a Socratic–theological thought experiment due to its influences from both philosophy and theology. In addition, I suggest three functional levels of the fictional narrative that, in different ways, influence its possible explanatory force. As a theoretical background for the investigation, two accounts of literary cognitivism are explored: Noël Carroll’s Argument Account and Catherine Elgin’s Exemplification Account. In relation to Carroll’s proposal, I conclude that Fear and Trembling develops a philosophical argumentation that is dependent on the reader’s own existential contribution. In relation to Elgin’s thought, the relation between truth and explanatory force is acknowledged. At the end of the article, I argue that it is more accurate to see the explanatory force of Fear and Trembling in relation to its exploratory function. Keywords: thought experiments; Søren Kierkegaard; theology; philosophy; faith; Socratic method; explanations; literary cognitivism; Noël Carroll; Catherine Elgin
1. Introduction The aim of this article is to examine the possible thought experimenting qualities of Søren Kierkegaard’s novel Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard 2013). In addition, I intend to explore in what way (if any) this specific kind of thought experimenting can be considered to be explanatory. The typical philosophical or scientific thought experiment is constituted by a short fictional narrative that provides evidence in favor of or against a theory, illustrates abstract states of affairs or fulfills specific functions within a theory. Very much like scientific models, such minimalist fictions manipulate and constrain the circumstances of an idealized scenario, so that selected patterns and properties stand out. By visualizing a proposed hypothetical scenario, the thought experimenting agent is able to intuitively draw certain conclusions about a particular target area. This activity is, nonetheless, constrained by the theoretical requirements and the underlying background assumptions that each discipline and problem area sets. In philosophy, one of the most well-known thought experiments is, for example, Hilary Putnam’s presentation of a “twin world” that is almost identical to earth, except for lakes and oceans that are filled with XYZ rather than H2O. As a result, when a person living on earth uses the word “water”, it means something else than when an inhabitant of the twin world does so. Accordingly, the aim of Putnam’s thought experiment is to give support to the theory of semantic externalism, according to which the meaning of words and sentences are influenced by our external environment (Putnam 1973). In science, for instance, we have the thought experiment “Schrödinger’s cat”, the aim of which is to show that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics leads to absurdity when applied to Religions 2019, 10, 391; doi:10.3390/rel10060391
www.mdpi.com/journal/religions