USA Politics

[SimonNZ]

Kierkegaard is popular enough that Penguin Classics have kept three of his books constantly in print on their list with another three or four coming and going as required. Similar for other publishers of popular classics.

[Karl Henning]

Do you really believe that Biden ever read Kierkegaard?

The average college-educated American may easily have.  I don't think the thesis that Biden has read Kierkegaard, that something stayed with him, is any great stretch, do you?

[Todd]

Biden to ABC's David Muir: 'I would shut [country] down' to prevent spread of COVID-19 if scientists recommended

Could be fun.

[Karl Henning]

Most American people have heard the name? I doubt it very .much, honestly.

Honestly, a solid majority of liberal-arts-educated Americans have heard the name, I dare assert.

[Karl Henning]

Kierkegaard is popular enough that Penguin Classics have kept three of his books constantly in print on their list with another three or four coming and going as required. Similar for other publishers of popular classics.

Exactly.

[Karl Henning]

In other words, you can't dispute a word of my post, you know it's all true, but you, like your candidate, can never admit you're wrong and have to resort to ad hominem comment when you're caught out. Have I divined the essence of your thoughts?

Troll's gonna troll.

[SimonNZ]

Also: anyone who reads Dostoevsky is likely to encounter Kierkegaard in the introductions or in some other secondary reading, if they really hadn't already.

[greg]

The average college-educated American may easily have.  I don't think the thesis that Biden has read Kierkegaard, that something stayed with him, is any great stretch, do you?

I would guess around 50-70%. Intro to Philosophy is one of the main electives offered for required credit, I'd imagine most schools have something like that, and he definitely would be included in an overview.

[Todd]

GMG says guesses are better than facts.  Not unexpected.

[ritter]

Good to learn that some posters here on GMG do know for a fact what Mr. Biden has read or not.

[greg]

GMG says guesses are better than facts.  Not unexpected.

*their guesses are better than facts

If I were to guess at something, and it happened to go against their political convictions, then my guesses are garbage because I don't spend several hours a day reading liberally-biased news articles which will only tell people what they want to hear anyways (ragebait Orange Man bad stuff), all done of course in a frantically meth-induced rabid foaming at the mouth zombie state, in the corner of a dimly lit room in a small laptop screen, all the while proclaiming how bad conspiracies are.

[SimonNZ]

And here's mega-popular youtube bobblehead PewDiePie talking about Kierkegaard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqj3cpVjpI4


...which is probably how Biden knew it.


(edit: "talking" should be in scare quotes)

[Todd]

ragebait Orange Man bad stuff

Orange Man bad.  So bad.  The worst.

[JBS]

Honestly, a solid majority of liberal-arts-educated Americans have heard the name, I dare assert.

Kierkegaard's reach was extensive enough that he even was invoked in teaching modern Jewish philosophy. Mostly for his discussion of Abraham as the "knight of faith" and to compare/contrast with writers like Buber and Rav Soloveitchik. But he was referred to, and almost no other nonJewish thinkers were.

[Karl Henning]

Good to learn that some posters here on GMG do know for a fact what Mr. Biden has read or not.

(* chortle *)

[Karl Henning]

Kierkegaard's reach was extensive enough that he even was invoked in teaching modern Jewish philosophy. Mostly for his discussion of Abraham as the "knight of faith" and to compare/contrast with writers like Buber and Rav Soloveitchik. But he was referred to, and almost no other nonJewish thinkers were.

Most interesting.  Tangentially, the name Soloveitchik comes from the word for nightingale

[drogulus]

     From 2015:

In an emotional interview with TV host Stephen Colbert, US vice president Joe Biden mentioned that he'd found solace in the writing of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. He said that his wife, Jill Biden, had taped a Kierkegaard quote to the mirror, which read "Faith sees best in the dark."

     Even though I have a degree in guessing from Trump U, I decided to see if Biden might be familiar with Kierkegaard. He is.

[Florestan]

Honestly, a solid majority of liberal-arts-educated Americans have heard the name, I dare assert.

This is certainly true.

[Florestan]

Good to learn that some posters here on GMG do know for a fact what Mr. Biden has read or not.

Well, Biden's having read Kierkegaard might be one of the reasons for his alleged cognitive decline. Kierkegaard's style is notoriously convoluted and abstruse, so Biden lost many of his neurons just by trying to make head or tail of The Sickness unto Death.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

[MusicTurner]

 

Well, Biden's having read Kierkegaard might be one of the reasons for his alleged cognitive decline. Kierkegaard's style is notoriously convoluted and abstruse, so Biden lost many of his neurons just by trying to make head or tail of The Sickness unto Death.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

In the original language, there's a poetic and Schwung-like quality to his texts. I can't say if this is also present in translations, which I suppose can be very varied.