Kierkegaard Studies Monograph Series 19 Kierkegaard Studies Editedonbehalfofthe SørenKierkegaardResearchCentre byNielsJørgenCappelørnandHermannDeuser Monograph Series 19 Editedby NielsJørgenCappelørn Walter de Gruyter·Berlin· NewYork DanielGreenspan The Passion of Infinity Kierkegaard,AristotleandtheRebirthofTragedy Walter de Gruyter·Berlin· NewYork KierkegaardStudies EditedonbehalfoftheSørenKierkegaardResearchCentre byNielsJørgenCappelørnandHermannDeuser MonographSeries Volume19 EditedbyNielsJørgenCappelørn (cid:2)(cid:2)Printedonacid-freepaperwhichfallswithintheguidelinesoftheANSI toensurepermanenceanddurability. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Greenspan,Daniel. Thepassionofinfinity:Kierkegaard,Aristotle,andtherebirthoftrag- edy/DanielGreenspan. p.cm.(cid:2)(Kierkegaardstudies.Monographseries,ISSN1434-2952; 19) Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN978-3-11-020396-7(clothbound:alk.paper) 1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813(cid:2)1855. 2. Aristotle. 3. Tragedy. I.Title. B4377.G7195 2008 1281.3(cid:2)dc22 2008026010 BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailedbibliographicdataareavailableintheInternetathttp://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN978-3-11-020396-7 ISSN1434-2952 ©Copyright2008byWalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,D-10785Berlin Allrightsreserved,includingthoseoftranslationintoforeignlanguages.Nopartofthisbook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechan- ical,includingphotocopy,recordingoranyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,without permissioninwritingfromthepublisher. PrintedinGermany Typesetting:OLD-Satzdigital,Neckarsteinach Coverdesign:ChristopherSchneider,Berlin For Piet, bright, beautiful and beyond conceiving Acknowledgments Without the support of the Howard and Edna Hong Library at St. Olaf College, which made a substantial amount of advanced research pos- sible, and the generous spirit of Gordon Marino and Cynthia Lund, I would have been nowhere near as prepared to begin this project. For support both material and spiritual during the actual writing I need to thank the Kierkegaard Research Center, along with the Fulbright foundation, who together made my Copenhagen residency possible. There were many faculty members there from whom this project ben- efited, but certainly its most warm and welcoming director, Niels Jør- gen Cappelørn, whose editorial advice was essential, and whose en- couraging presence across the hall often brought a lift. Joakim Garff, a kind of Socratic-comic guide while at the Center, must also accept my warm appreciation for his reading and sympathetic support, as must Jonas Roos, for a passing remark that provided far more than he realized. Although most of the work was completed abroad, both be- fore and during this process there were two readers in the U.S. whose contributions were essential. Walter Brogan has been a source of valu- able insight, particularly on the Greece sections. I especially need to thank Jack Caputo for his concernful mentoring of this project. His keen eye and sense for where to pull back from the edge were vital. Finally, Irene Ring and James Sikkema were both an indispensable part of the preparation of the manuscript, the latter sent at a critical moment apparently by the gods, volunteering without any obligation or hope of recompense. And of course, I need to thank Dana, for standing so close by me every step of the way. Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part I Ancient Greece 1. Reason and the Irrational: Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus . 10 2. Literature and Moral Psychology: From Homer to Sophocles .......................................... 47 3. Aristotle’s Poetics: Oedipusand the Problem of Tragedy . 70 4. PsuchêRedux: Philosophy and the New Psychology...... 95 5. Psychologizing Oedipus: Reason and Unreason in Aristotle’s Ethics.................................... 107 Part II Golden Age Denmark A. Kierkegaard’s Retrieval of Greek Tragedy 6. Tragedy as Historical Idea: Either/Or’s“Ancient Drama Reflected in the Modern”............................. 140 7. Stages on Life’s Way: Hamartia after Modernity ......... 158 8. Fear and Trembling: Tragedy, Comedy and the Heroism of Abraham ........................................ 195 9. The Concept of Anxiety: Fate and the Tragic Logos of Second Ethics ...................................... 209 x Table of Contents B. Beyond Eudaimonism: Tragic Virtue and the Practice of Eternity 10. Moral Psychology in the Pseudonyms, Search for a Method 237 11. Ethics ContraEthics: Climacus on Eternal Happiness and Tragic Virtue ...................................... 265 12. Kierkegaard and the Tragedy of Authorship............ 293 Bibliography........................................... 317 Index of Names ........................................ 327 Index of Subjects ....................................... 330