Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination: (71 American University Studies)

Although so important to him that he calls it «the capacity for all capacities», Kierkegaard's concept of the imagination has received little in-depth attention. This study argues that implicit in Kierkegaard's writings is a dialectic of the imagination that finds its sources in his two-edged polemic against early German Romanticism and Idealist rationalism. Kierkegaard's dialectical alternative - developed by examining the imagination's varied uses in thinking and in the aesthetic, ethical, and religious spheres of existence - gives a functional and nuanced analysis of the imagination as an activity, a capacity, a style of artistic creativity, a passion, and a long-term disposition of a person.

Review :
«In this imaginative, balanced, and original work David Gouwens uncovers the hidden continuity that links Kierkegaard's apparently disparate texts. The freshness of its insight and style pleasantly contrasts with the ponderous dullness that has come to characterize much of the scholarship in this corner of the intellectual vineyard.» (Louis Dupré, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of Religious Studies, Yale University) «Gouwens is obviously very much at home with Kierkegaard, and his arguments are persuasive. ... This is an interesting and important study of a hitherto little explored facet of Kierkegaard's thought, and one measure of its s uccess is the fact that it makes this reviewer want to go back and read more Kierkegaard.» (Hall Peebles, Encounter) «...(an) admirable study, which aims successfully 'to analyze Kierkegaard's dialectic of the imagination by allowing his reflections to stand out clearly in their interconnectedness'.» (Eric Ziolkowski, Lafayette College, The Journal of Religion) «David Gouwens has ... succeeded in providing Kierkegaard scholarship with a genuine and timely contribution.» (Roy Martinez, Canadian Philosophical Reviews) «...this is a book that will help scholars understand the historical background to the concept of imagination in Kierkegaard and to organize his use of that concept through the appropriate volumes of his work. It will come to be, I believe, one of the standard studies within Kierkegaard scholarship.» (Ronald E. Hustwit, Journal of the American Academy of Religion)