Editing Søren Kierkegaard (section)

==Political views==
{{Conservatism in Denmark|Intellectuals}}
[[File:Christianviiidenmark.jpg|thumb|upright|Christian VIII of Denmark]]
Throughout retrospective analyses Kierkegaard has been viewed as an apolitical philosopher.{{sfn|McDonald|1996}}<ref name="chigaco">{{cite book|url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/K/bo19125517.html|title=Kierkegaard and Political Theory|access-date=22 February 2020|archive-date=22 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222121801/https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/K/bo19125517.html}}</ref><ref name="UOTP">{{cite journal|title=The Ethical Necessity of Politics: Why Kierkegaard Needs Marx|last=Aroosi|first=jamie|journal=Toronto Journal of Theology|date=14 March 2019|volume=34|issue=2|pages=199–212|doi=10.3138/tjt.2018-0111|s2cid=150051403}}</ref> Despite this, Kierkegaard did publish works of a political nature; this includes his first published essay, criticizing the movement for "[[Woman's Liberation|women's liberation]]".<ref>{{harvnb|McDonald|1996}}, "His earliest published essay, for example, was a polemic against women’s liberation."</ref> Although Kierkegaard's earlier works might include some misogynist statements, a negative view of women is not found in his later works.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Sipe |first=Dera |date=2004 |title=Kierkegaard and Feminism: A Paradoxical Friendship |url=https://concept.journals.villanova.edu/index.php/concept/article/view/146 |journal=CONCEPT Journal |language=en |volume=27 |page=11}}</ref> In these later works, he expressed that men and women are equal before God, showed great respect for certain women, and believed that women are also capable of being faithful.<ref name=":3" />

He attacked [[Hegelianism]] via elaborate parody throughout his works from ''Either/Or'' to ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript''.{{sfn|McDonald|1996}} Despite his objections to Hegelianism, he expressed an admiration for Hegel personally and would even regard his system favourably if it was proposed as a thought experiment.{{sfn|McDonald|1996}}

Kierkegaard leaned towards conservatism,<ref name="UOTP" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hampson|first=Daphne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r78EAwAAQBAJ&q=%E2%80%9CKierkegaard+held+that+it+was+for+the+king+to+govern;+that+was+his+calling.+Thus+in+many+ways+politically+and+socially+conservative,+Kierkegaard+was+by+sentiment+adamantly+opposed+to+what+he+sarcastically+referred+to+as+government+by+the+numerical;+democracy%E2%80%9D+(Kierkegaard+Exposition+and+Critique,+209).&pg=PR13|title=Kierkegaard: Exposition & Critique|year=2013|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-165401-5|location=Oxford University|page=209|language=en}}</ref> being a personal friend of Danish king [[Christian VIII]], whom he viewed as the moral superior of every Danish man, woman, and child. He argued against democracy, calling it "the most tyrannical form of government," arguing in favour of monarchy saying "Is it tyranny when one person wants to rule leaving the rest of us others out? No, but it is tyranny when all want to rule."<ref name="wsws">{{cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/04/kier-a17.html|title=A closer look at Kierkegaard|website=[[World Socialist Web Site]]|last=Carter|first=Tom|date=17 April 2006|access-date=22 February 2020}}</ref> Kierkegaard held strong contempt for the media, describing it as "the most wretched, the most contemptible of all tyrannies".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Søren Kierkegaard versus the internet|url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/kierkegaard-versus-the-internet/10427724|last=Stokes|first=Patrick|date=25 October 2018|website=ABC Religion & Ethics|language=en|access-date=16 May 2020}}</ref>{{sfn|Veninga|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fVgXSxln0bUC&pg=PA278 278]}} He was critical of the Danish public at the time, labeling them as "the most dangerous of all powers and the most meaningless,"<ref name=":2" /> writing further in ''Two Ages: A Literary Review'' that:{{sfn|Kierkegaard|1978|p=136}}

{{Blockquote|text=If I were to imagine this public as a person&nbsp;... I most likely would think of one of the Roman emperors, an imposing, well-fed figure suffering from boredom and therefore craving only the sensate titillation of laughter, for the divine gift of wit is not worldly enough. So this person, more sluggish than he is evil, but negatively domineering, saunters around looking for variety.}}

Some interpret Kierkegaard's thought as implying that in regards to serving God, sexuality is irrelevant "before God not only for men and women, but also for homosexuals and heterosexuals".<ref name="Conway">{{Cite book|last1=W. Conway|first1=Daniel|last2=E. Gover|first2=K.|title=Søren Kierkegaard: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers, Volume 4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6f3gwMbvz-sC&q=S%C3%B8ren+Kierkegaard+homosexuality&pg=PA23|date=2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-23590-7|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>{{efn|Kierkegaardian scholar Alastair McKinnon believed that Kierkegaard himself was gay and that his alleged homosexuality was central to his understanding of life and which he hid throughout his work intending for his readers to discover.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.utoronto.ca/kierkegaard/archive/upcoming%20Nov03.htm|title=Kierkegaard's Homosexuality: Opening up the Question|website=[[University of Toronto]]|last=McKinnon|first=Alistair|date=14 November 2003|access-date=16 April 2020}}</ref>}}

Kierkegaard's political philosophy has been likened to [[neoconservatism]], despite its major influence on radical and anti-traditional thinkers, religious and secular, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jean Paul Sartre.<ref name="SAGE">{{cite journal|title=The Politics and Limits of the Self: Kierkegaard, Neoconservatism and International Political Theory|last=J. Steele|first=Brent|journal=Journal of International Political Theory|date=1 October 2013|doi=10.3366/jipt}}</ref> It has also been likened to [[anti-establishment]] thought and has been described as "a starting point for contemporary political theories".<ref name="chigaco" />