Amin Ghaemi; Meisam Sefidkhosh
Abstract
As Kierkegaard has explained, humankind’s pain is recognized with its individuality. But, what happens for the pain during a prevalent disaster, and what changes does it go through? ...
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As Kierkegaard has explained, humankind’s pain is recognized with its individuality. But, what happens for the pain during a prevalent disaster, and what changes does it go through? Can generality of a disaster always help anyone to endure the pain? Does the generality leave any room for helping those who are all affected? Is there no difference among all kinds of pains in terms of their requirements for enduring or overcoming the individual pain? Such questions lead us to reconsider the relationship between the individuality of pain and the generality of calamity based on Kierkegaard’s meditations, especially because he himself did not engage with this issue exactly. In his book, Sickness unto death, signed by a pseudonym called Anti-Climacus, as a representative of a special existential condition, he takes a look at the meaning of pain that is deeply related to concept of despair, which is the basis of our analysis. In this article, by using an approach we call “Anti-Climacian”, we conclude that the individuality of pain in the context of a general disaster may prevent the lonely person form pursuing a three-staged dialectical movement to set free from despair.
