Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments

1. Introduction

Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments (1846) is a large, ironic philosophical treatise written by Søren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. Ostensibly a “postscript” to the much shorter Philosophical Fragments (1844), it has frequently been regarded as the central text of Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous authorship and a landmark in the development of existential thought.

The work investigates what it means for an existing individual to relate to Christianity, arguing that religious truth cannot be grasped as a neutral object of speculative knowledge. Instead, Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous author develops the provocative theses that “subjectivity is truth” and “truth is subjectivity,” especially in matters of faith. Rather than offering doctrinal exposition, the book interrogates the mode in which one holds Christian beliefs—emphasizing inwardness, decision, and the risk involved in faith.

The subtitle’s characterization of the work as both “concluding” and “unscientific” is widely read as programmatically ironic. It signals Climacus’s refusal to construct a closed philosophical system and his opposition to contemporary Hegelian attempts to integrate Christianity into speculative philosophy. The Postscript has since become a major reference point in debates about faith and reason, the nature of religious experience, and the limits of philosophical system‑building.

2. Historical Context

2.1 Danish Intellectual and Ecclesial Climate

The Postscript emerged in Copenhagen in the mid‑1840s, a period marked by the reception of German Idealism and a relatively complacent Lutheran state church. Danish theologians and philosophers, influenced by Hegel and his Danish followers (e.g., J. L. Heiberg, H. L. Martensen), sought to reconcile Christianity with speculative philosophy and cultural modernity.

Kierkegaard’s work intervenes in this context as a polemical response to what he viewed as “Christendom”: a culture where nearly everyone is assumed to be Christian by birth and social convention. Proponents of the established church often construed Christianity as a doctrinal system harmonizable with rational philosophy; the Postscript calls this assumption into question.

2.2 Relation to Broader European Philosophy

In a broader European setting, the book addresses issues raised by post‑Kantian thought, especially:

Climacus’s critique of “the System” has often been read as a critical counterpart to Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit and speculative theology, while his stress on existence and decision anticipates later existentialist and dialectical‑theological reactions against 19th‑century rationalism.

3. Author and Composition

3.1 Kierkegaard and the Pseudonym Johannes Climacus

The work is attributed to Johannes Climacus, one of Kierkegaard’s most philosophically reflective pseudonyms. Climacus is portrayed as an ironic, self‑conscious thinker who explicitly denies being a Christian teacher, presenting himself instead as someone investigating what it would mean to become a Christian. Scholars generally agree that this pseudonymous stance is integral to the work’s method of indirect communication.

Kierkegaard’s decision to write under a pseudonym is commonly interpreted as an attempt to distance himself as a confessional Christian author from the more experimental, exploratory positions articulated in the Postscript, while still using them to confront readers with existential questions.

3.2 Composition and Publication

Concluding Unscientific Postscript was composed primarily in 1845 and published in 1846 in Copenhagen by C. A. Reitzel as a massive two‑volume work. It is framed as a “postscript” to Philosophical Fragments, whose author is the same Climacus.

Available evidence from Kierkegaard’s journals suggests that he envisaged the Postscript as both a clarification and a radicalization of issues raised in Fragments, particularly the notion of the absolute paradox and the problem of historical knowledge in relation to faith. The standard critical edition is Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter (SKS 7–8), with the Hong & Hong English translation often treated as the principal scholarly reference in the Anglophone world.

4. Structure and Organization of the Work

The Postscript is notable for its sprawling, carefully staged structure, which combines systematic‑seeming divisions with pervasive irony.

4.1 Main Divisions

4.2 Internal Organization and Style

Within these main parts, the text is divided into chapters and sections that often mimic the formal categories of academic philosophy (e.g., distinctions, theses, and sub‑theses). Yet the style is consistently anti‑systematic: digressions, irony, and self‑reflexive comments draw attention to the impossibility of a completed “system of existence.”

Scholars observe that the two parts move from more theoretical analyses (truth, knowledge, system) to more existential‑practical descriptions (stages, approximation, becoming a Christian), preparing the way for the book’s climactic formulations about subjectivity and faith.

5. Central Arguments and Key Concepts

5.1 Objective vs. Subjective Truth

A core distinction is between objective truth (impersonal propositions, historical facts, logical relations) and subjective truth (the individual’s mode of existing in relation to what is believed). Climacus famously claims:

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“Subjectivity is truth” and “truth is subjectivity,”

— Johannes Climacus, Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Proponents of “existential” readings argue that this means that, in religious matters, truth concerns how one believes—passionately, repentantly, in obedience—rather than what one can demonstratively prove. Critics worry that such claims verge on relativism or fideism, and various interpreters have tried to show how Kierkegaard preserves a role for objective content while privileging subjective appropriation.

5.2 The Absolute Paradox and the Offense

The Postscript reiterates and expands the notion of the absolute paradox: that the eternal God became a particular human being (the God‑man). This claim is said to offend reason and cannot be mediated within a speculative system. Proponents of this interpretation see Kierkegaard as challenging Hegelian attempts to subsume Christianity under rational categories; others argue that it represents a more general critique of rationalist theology.

5.3 The Existing Individual and the System

Climacus maintains that no system of existence is possible, because existence is lived in time by finite individuals. Philosophical systems may describe logical relations, but they cannot capture the becoming of a concrete person. This argument is often seen as a major critique of Hegelian system‑building and as a precursor to later existential emphases on historicity and finitude.

5.4 Faith, Leap, and Decision

Faith is characterized as a passionate, qualitative decision that cannot be deduced from historical or logical premises. Historical inquiry can at best provide an “approximation” to the Christian claim; it never removes the need for a risky leap. Some theologians view this as a profound account of faith’s freedom and commitment, while others argue that it unduly severs faith from evidence, tradition, or rational warrant.

6. Legacy and Historical Significance

The Postscript’s long‑term impact spans philosophy, theology, and religious studies.

6.1 Influence on Later Thought

Many interpreters credit the Postscript with helping to inaugurate a distinctively existential approach to religious belief, where the central issue is not the theoretical proof of doctrines but the individual’s mode of existence.

6.2 Scholarly Debates and Ongoing Reception

Subsequent scholarship has highlighted both the work’s originality and its ambiguities. Debated issues include:

• How to interpret “subjectivity is truth” without collapsing into relativism.
• The extent to which the pseudonymous Climacus speaks for Kierkegaard himself.
• Whether the critique of historical proof jeopardizes Christianity’s historical grounding.

Despite such disputes, the Postscript is widely regarded as one of Kierkegaard’s most significant and demanding works, central for understanding modern conceptions of selfhood, faith, and the critique of system‑building philosophy.