1. Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling
Three stages of the dialectical ladder:
Aesthetic
Ethical
Religious
Kierkegaard problematizes the ethical by reconstructing the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Old Testament

2. Critique of Hegel
Hegel - truth is universal; can be reached only by using reason and objectivity alone.
importance of surrendering oneself to universal ethics
subordinating one's own desires to the wishes of the group; the elimination of individuality.
For Hegel and for Kierkegaard, the ethical is universal - system of behavioral rules must have general applicability - extends throughout the community of adherents.
Kierkegaard argues for "suspension" of the ethical in favor of the religious

3. Critique of Hegel
Contradiction of Hegel's ideas: individual’s perception of a universal ethic could be (internally to that person) "higher" than the consensus universal ethic
Therefore that person's ethical actions violate the universal ethic.
“Universal ethic" is an oxymoron - individuality will always defeat conformity.

4. Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling
Conflict between the ethical and the religious is shown in the "teleological suspension of the ethical" of Abraham's decision to sacrifice his son in obedience to God's command.
What would be considered murder from an ethical standpoint is justified as a sacrifice from the a religious one

5. Abraham’s dilemma raises epistemological questions - how do we distinguish the voice of God from a delusional hallucination, e.g.?
Answer, which induces fear and trembling: we cannot know, from a rational standpoint; we can only have faith > Leap of faith!!!!
Abraham can say nothing to justify his actions – there is no rational justification, and to do so would return him to the realm of human immanence and the sphere of ethics.

6. Kierkegaard explores:
difference between Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia, and Abraham:
Agamemnon could justify his action in terms of customary morality (demanded for the sake of the success of the Greek military mission against Troy) – sacrifices for purposes greater than the individuals involved, were intelligible to the society of the time.
Abraham’s sacrifice would have served no such purpose. It was unjustifiable in terms of prevailing morality, and was indistinguishable from murder.

7. What does Kierkegaard conclude?
Abraham showed that one can be forced to disregard ethics if God commands it, which is the paradoxical nature of religion.
Faith in the absurd (irrational)
Individual relationship to and faith in God supercedes obedience to universally recognized norms (rationally acceptable)
radical subjectivity & relativity – no objective foundation

8. Kierkegaard suggests:
defeat of rationalism and logic (universal ethics) by
the irrational, the illogical, the emotional, the spiritual (subjective perception and motivation)