On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates
On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates is the 1841 master's thesis that launched Søren Kierkegaard's career as a philosopher. It was not a modest beginning. After three years of intensive study, Kierkegaard handed in a dissertation that dared to argue that a comedian understood Socrates better than Plato did. The questions this work raises are still worth sitting with: what is irony, really? And how do you pin down a man who may have made a career out of never being pinned down?
Aristophanes put Socrates on stage in The Clouds, and the result was not flattery. The comic playwright mocked him, turned him into a figure of ridicule, and gave Athenian audiences something to laugh at. Kierkegaard read that play and reached a striking conclusion: Aristophanes had gotten Socrates right. Where Xenophon had portrayed Socrates as a serious moral teacher, and Plato had elevated him into philosophy's great martyr, Kierkegaard argued that neither man had truly grasped the intricacies of Socratic irony. The comedian, not the philosophers, had understood the game Socrates was playing. This reversal sits at the heart of Part One of the thesis, which dwells longest on the question of how we know what Socrates actually was.
Fichte, Schlegel, and Hegel each had things to say about irony by the time Kierkegaard was writing, and in Part Two of the dissertation he turned his attention to all three. Part Two is shorter than Part One, but it widens the scope dramatically. Kierkegaard was not simply writing a work of ancient philosophy; he was entering a live debate about what irony meant to his own century. His analysis of these major nineteenth-century writers and philosophers set Socratic irony against its modern interpretations, asking whether the concept had survived its journey across two millennia intact. One English translation of the thesis also includes his notes from Schelling's Berlin Lectures of 1841, which Kierkegaard attended shortly after completing the dissertation, suggesting that his thinking did not stop the moment the thesis was submitted.
Common questions
What is On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates?
On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates is Søren Kierkegaard's 1841 master's thesis. It examines Socratic irony through the portrayals of Socrates by Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Plato, and compares Socratic irony with nineteenth-century interpretations by philosophers including Fichte, Schlegel, and Hegel.
Why did Kierkegaard think Aristophanes understood Socrates better than Plato?
Kierkegaard argued that Aristophanes, in his comedy The Clouds, best grasped the intricacies of Socratic irony. He felt that Xenophon and Plato portrayed Socrates too seriously, missing the ironic dimension that was central to who Socrates was.
When did Kierkegaard write On the Concept of Irony?
Kierkegaard completed On the Concept of Irony in 1841, after three years of extensive study on Socrates. He attended Schelling's Berlin Lectures of 1841 shortly after finishing the dissertation.
What does On the Concept of Irony cover in its two parts?
Part One of the thesis examines how Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Plato each portrayed Socrates, with Kierkegaard favoring Aristophanes' account. Part Two compares Socratic irony with contemporary nineteenth-century interpretations, including analyses of Fichte, Schlegel, and Hegel.
Does any English translation of Kierkegaard's Concept of Irony include extra material?
At least one English translation includes Kierkegaard's notes on Schelling's Berlin Lectures of 1841, which he attended shortly after completing his dissertation.
Who are the three ancient sources Kierkegaard examines in his Socrates thesis?
Kierkegaard examines three ancient sources on Socrates: the historian Xenophon, the comic playwright Aristophanes, and the philosopher Plato. He concludes that Aristophanes provided the most accurate representation of Socrates.