Kierkegaard: Existenzphilosoph nur im ‚Nebenberuf‘? Überlegungen im Anschluss an Jürgen Habermas

Abstract This paper discusses Habermas’s characterization of Kierkegaard as a religious author in his main profession and as an existential philosopher on the side. I would like to argue that Kierkegaard is primarily an existential philosopher, also in his function as a religious author. At first, I would like to interpret his religious authorship as a form of indirect communication, and after that I discuss indirect communication as a method of existentialism. In this way, the article aims to demonstrate that Kierkegaard becomes the precursor of existential philosophy not least by his religious authorship as a theory and practice of indirect communication.