TTEASK030U Kierkegaard's Authorship: On the Loss and Recovery of Meaning
The course is planned with physical attendance.
Bachelor students enrol: TTEASK030U
Master's students enrol: TTEKASK30U
This English language course offered by the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen is open to Danish students as well as international students interested in contemplative reading and discussion of the works of Copenhagen’s most radical author, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). His authorship assumes that just under the surface of everyday awareness, the modern individual experiences herself as someone fragmented, fractured, misaligned, imperfect, incomplete, splintered, and cracked. Something isn’t quite right inside, even if it’s difficult to say exactly why. Kierkegaard suggests that this sense of misalignment in intensified by the fact that the inherited value systems that make life negotiable have lost their authority over us. On the one hand, this means we gain greater freedom from the limitations imposed by tradition and history. On the other hand, we sense a profound uncertainty, even anxiety, about the choices we make as we face an open future. This freedom can be both invigorating and foreboding. His entire authorship can be viewed as an exploration of various reactions to this fundamental insight.
His thoughts about the struggle for meaning take us through unusual philosophical territory. His works—which are as novelistic as they are philosophical—treat themes like the existential meaning of anxiety and despair, beauty and boredom, humor and seriousness, the sicknesses and health the soul, the joy and pain of embodiment, and, finally, commitment and love.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 28
- Preparation
- 122
- Exam Preparation
- 150
- Exam
- 120
- Total
- 420
Full degree students enrolled in Study Programmes at UCPH departments: Send an e-mail to evu@teol.ku.dk to sign up. Remember to attach a pre-approval form your Study Board. Application deadline 1 June and 1 December.
Visiting exchange and guest students – send an e-mail to international@teol.ku.dk to sign up.
Creditstudents – follow link
Open University students – follow link
Professionel master students – follow link
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written assignment
- Type of assessment details
- Undergraduate requirements (bachelor students):
Requirement to pass the course for undergraduate students (bachelor students) are: a) A syllabus of 1,200-1,500 pages. The syllabus includes both the course literature covered in connection with the course and the assignment literature on which the written homework assignment is based, which the student finds and has approved by the teacher. The syllabus (course and assignment literature combined) may not exceed 1,500 pages. b) Active participation (at least 75% of the hours attended documented by protocol) and preparation of a written home assignment with a scope of 24,000-28,800 characters, i.e. 10-12 pages, based on 600-800 pages of literature as agreed with the course teacher. The assignment is assessed by the teacher. The assessment is based on the 7-point grading scale.
Graduate requirements (Candidates/master students):
Requirement to pass the course for graduate students (Candidates/master students) are: a) A syllabus of 1,200-1,500 pages. The syllabus includes both the course literature covered in connection with the teaching and the assignment literature on which the written homework assignment is based, which the student finds and has approved by the teacher. The syllabus (course and assignment literature combined) may not exceed 1,500 pages. b) Active participation (at least 75% of the hours attended documented by protocol) and preparation of a written home assignment with a scope of 36,000-48,000 characters, i.e. 15-20 pages, based on 800-1,000 pages of literature as agreed with the teacher. The assignment is assessed by the teacher. The assessment is based on the 7-point grading scale. - Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Exam period
Winter and Summer Exam
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- TTEASK030U
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterBachelor,Bachelor choice,Full Degree Master choice,Part Time Master
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn And Spring
- Schedule
- Mondays 12:00-14:30
Autumn 2024: First day is Monday 26 August
Spring 2025: First day is Monday 20 January
Study board
- Study board of Theology
Contracting department
- Theology
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Theology
Course Coordinators
- Bjarke Mørkøre Stigel Hansen (bmh@sk.ku.dk)
Lecturers
Bjarke Mørkøre Stigel Hansen