Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue Authorship as Edification [Hardcover]

In contrast to recent postmodern and deconstructionist readings, Mark A. Tietjen believes that the purpose behind Kierkegaard's writings is the moral and religious improvement of the reader. Tietjen defends Kierkegaard against claims that certain features of his works, such as pseudonymity, indirect communication, irony, and satire are self-deceived or deceitful. Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue reveals how they are directly related to the virtues or moral issues being discussed. In fact, Tietjen argues, the manner of presentation is a critical element of the philosophical message being conveyed. Reading broadly in Kierkegaards writings, he develops a hermeneutics of trust that fully illustrates Kierkegaards aim to evoke faith in his reader.

Mark A. Tietjen is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of West Georgia.

Tietjen's critique of deconstructionist readings of Kierkegaard along with an emphasis on employing a hermeneutic of trust clearly distinguishes his work from other treatments of Kierkegaard as a virtue ethicist and edifying writer.

Acknowledgements
Sigla
Introduction: Philosophy and Edification

Part I. Jest and/or Earnestness
1. Blunt Reading
2. Alternatives to Diff?rance
3. Communicating Capability

Part II. Suspicion or Trust
4. Deconstructing The Point of View
5. Trusting The Point of View

Part III. Faith and Virtue
6. The Pseudonymous Dialectic of Faith, I
7. The Pseudonymous Dialectic of Faith, II
Conclusions: Kierkegaard, Virtue, and Edification

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Mark A. Tietjen's book makes an important contribution towards clarifying a debatable issue, which is pivotal to the interpretation of Kierkegaard's writing, namely: how should one evaluate the diversity of voices and other literary devices characteristic of Kierkegaard's method of 'indirect communication'?