Kierkegaard's Influence on Philosophy - Francophone Philosophy

Kierkegaard's relation to the field of philosophy is a particularly complex and disputed one. He rejected the model of philosophical inquiry that was mainstream in his day and was careful to have his pseudonymous authors repeatedly disassociate themselves from philosophy. But although it seems clear that Kierkegaard never regarded himself as a philosopher, there can be no doubt that his writings contain philosophical ideas and insights and have been profoundly influential in a number of different philosophical traditions. The present volume attempts to document these different traditions of the philosophical reception of Kierkegaard's thought. The articles featured here aim to demonstrate the vast reach of Kierkegaard's writings in philosophical contexts that were often quite different from his own. "Tome II" is dedicated to exploring Kierkegaard's influence on Francophone philosophy. The French intellectual tradition squares well with Kierkegaard's eclectic profile since its leading figures are often difficult to classify unambiguously as philosophers, theologians, literary critics or simply writers. Kierkegaard's thinking was highly influential for many generations of French philosophers right up to the present. It was not just existentialism that tried to co-opt Kierkegaard for its own purposes; he has also been influential in the context of almost every modern school of French thought: phenomenology, feminism, structuralism, post-structuralism, semiotics, and deconstruction.

Jon Stewart is an Associate Research Professor in the SA﹐ren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.