A work that "not only treats of irony but is irony," wrote a contemporary reviewer of The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates . Presented here with Kierkegaard's notes of the celebrated Berlin lectures on "positive philosophy" by F.W.J. Schelling, the book is a seedbed of Kierkegaard's subsequent work, both stylistically and thematically. Part One concentrates on Socrates, the master ironist, as interpreted by Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes, with a word on Hegel and Hegelian categories. Part Two is a more synoptic discussion of the concept of irony in Kierkegaard's categories, with examples from other philosophers and with particular attention given to A. W. Schlegel's novel Lucinde as an epitome of romantic irony. The Concept of Irony and the Notes of Schelling's Berlin Lectures belong to the momentous year 1841, which included not only the completion of Kierkegaard's university work and his sojourn in Berlin, but also the end of his engagement to Regine Olsen and the initial writing of Either/Or . "The definitive edition of the Writings . The first volume . . . indicates the scholarly value of the entire series: an introduction setting the work in the context of Kierkegaard's development; a remarkably clear translation; and concluding sections of intelligent notes." ― Library Journal The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates By Søren Kierkegaard, Howard V. Hong, Edna H. Hong PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1989 Howard V. Hong All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-691-02072-3 Contents Historical Introduction, The Concept of Irony, with Continual Reference to Socrates, Theses, Part One THE POSITION OF SOCRATES VIEWED AS IRONY, Introduction, I The View Made Possible, II The Actualization of the View, III The View Made Necessary, Appendix Hegel's View of Socrates, Part Two THE CONCEPT OF IRONY, Introduction, Observations for Orientation, The World-Historical Validity of Irony, the Irony of Socrates, Irony after Fichte, Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony, Addendum NOTES OF SCHELLING'S BERLIN LECTURES, Supplement, Key to References, Original Title Pages of The Concept of Irony, Original First Page (manuscript) of Notes of Schelling's Berlin Lectures, Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to The Concept of Irony, Editorial Appendix, Acknowledgments, Collation of The Concept of Irony in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected Works, Notes, Bibliographical Note, Index, CHAPTER 1 The View Made Possible [XIII 109] We shall now move to a summary of the views of Socrates provided by his closest contemporaries. In this respect there are three who command our attention: Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes. I cannot fully agree with Baur, who thinks that, along with Plato, Xenophon should be most highly regarded. Xenophon stopped with Socrates' immediacy and thus has definitely misunderstood him in many ways; whereas Plato and Aristophanes have blazed a trail through [XIII 110] the tough exterior to a view of the infinity that is incommensurable with the multifarious events of his life. Thus it can be said of Socrates that just as he walked through life continually between a caricature and the ideal, so after his death he continues to stroll between those two. As for the relation between Xenophon and Plato, Baur is correct in saying on page 123 : "Zwischen diesen Beiden tritt uns aber sogleich eine Differenz entgegen, die in mancher Hinsicht mit dem bekannten Verhältnisz verglichen werden kann, welches zwischen den synoptischen Evangelien und dem des Johannes stattfindet. Wie die synoptischen Evangelien zunächst mehr nur die äussere, mit der jüdischen Messias-Idee zusammenhängende, Seite der Erscheinung Christi darstellen, das johanneische aber vor allem seine höhere Natur und das unmittelbar Göttliche in ihm ins Auge faszt, so hat auch der platonische Sokrates eine weit höhere ideellere Bedeutung als der xenophontische, mit welchem wir uns im Grunde immer nur auf dem Boden der Verhältnisse des unmittelbaren praktischen Lebens befinden [Yet we instantly encounter a difference between these two that in many respects may be likened to the well-known relation between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. Just as the Synoptic Gospels present primarily only the external aspect of Christ's appearance, the aspect connected with the Jewish idea of the Messiah, whereas the Gospel of John above all captures his higher nature and the immediately divine within him, so also the Platonic Socrates does indeed have an ideal significance far higher than the Xenophontic Socrates, with whom we in effect always find ourselves on the flat and even level of conditions belonging to the immediate practical life]." Baur's comment is not only striking but also to the point when one remembers that Xenophon's view of Socrates differs from the Synoptic Gospels in that the latter mer