N. C. Kierkegaard, portrait of Søren Kierkegaard, pencil drawing c. 1840, photograph held by the Royal Danish Library (ke007311), public domain · Pencil portrait drawing made about 1840 by the draughtsman and lithographer N. C. Kierkegaard (1806-1882), reproduced in a photograph held by the Royal Danish Library (library id ke007311) and shared on Flickr Commons. The scan (940 x 1,294 pixels) was cropped to the drawing and not resampled; nothing was upscaled. No lettering appears on the sheet, so the sitter is identified by the library's title and catalogue description. Caveat: the date of the library's reproduction photograph is not recorded; the basis is the age of the underlying drawing (draughtsman died 1882). · Public domain (drawing c. 1840 by an artist who died in 1882; Royal Danish Library, no known copyright restrictions)

philosopher · 19th Century

Søren Kierkegaard

1813–1855

Known For

literarycultural

Wikidata

Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.

Trait Constellation

Key Achievements

In pseudonymous works published between 1843 and 1846, including Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, The Concept of Anxiety and Concluding Unscientific Postscript, he examined what it is to exist as an individual; Britannica calls him a major influence on existentialism and Protestant theology in the twentieth century.

He wrote under a series of pseudonyms, each voicing a distinct worldview, and used irony, satire and what he called indirect communication to draw readers into their own engagement with questions of how to live.

In a second run of writing from 1847, including Works of Love and The Sickness Unto Death, he set out the demands of Christian faith, and in 1854-55 he attacked the Danish state church in a pamphlet he founded, The Moment.

Moments That Reveal Them

After the pseudonymous Either/Or appeared in 1843, he insisted that his works continue to be attributed to their pseudonymous authors, who Britannica says are best understood like characters in a novel embodying distinctive worldviews.

This is consistent with an inventive, unconventional approach to authorship. Creative Originality

Spared by the satirical magazine The Corsair, he publicly challenged it, and IEP says it then launched a series of attacks on him; IEP gives vanity as a partial reason alongside his critique of the press.

This is consistent with willingness to start a public confrontation rather than avoid one. Conflict Tolerance

Turning Points

Having meant the 1846 Concluding Unscientific Postscript to end his authorship, he stayed an author instead of becoming a pastor, and SEP describes the years that followed as a second, highly productive period of writing that included Works of Love and The Sickness Unto Death.

This is consistent with sustained, high-volume work as a writer over many years. Discipline