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"Dialektik tanker man sig i Almindelighed temmelig abstract, man taenker nxn-nest paa de logiske Bevaegelser. Livet vil imidlertid snarl lire Een, at der gives mange Arter af Dialektik, at naesten enhver Lidenskab har sin egen.' (Enten-Ellen. Forste del)
KIERKEGAARD's Frygt og Baven raises many questions concerning faith and our cognitive capacities. In the preface, the pseudonymous author, Johannes de Silentio, depicts the contemporary age as an age of abstract, speculative-apparently Hegelian-philosophy, detached from actuality. The thinkers try to explain faith by reason, that is, they "komme[r] ud over Troen" (105) ["go beyond faith" (9)].1 But that is precisely what they cannot do because "Troen netop begynder der, hvor Taenkningen horer op" (147) ["faith begins precisely where thought stops" (53)]. The thinkers have not yet even reached faith, so they cannot accurately speak of "at gaae videre" (102) ["going further" (7)].
In order to demonstrate the futility of such an approach, Johannes de Silentio tries to approach by way of thoughts/words that which according to him cannot be thought/pronounced.2 As he approaches the incomprehensible, he continually refers to his inability to enter it: "I Abraham kan jeg ikke tanke mig ind, naar jeg har naaet Hoiden, falder jeg ned, da det, der bydes mig, er et Paradox" (128) ["I cannot think myself into Abraham; when I reach that eminence, I sink down, for what is offered me is a paradox" (33)].
In Frygt og Baven, the relationship between logos and paradox is one of mutual exclusion. The ability to reason is a hindrance to faith: "Jeg er af Naturen et klogtig Hoved og ethvert saadant har altid store Vanskeligheder ved at gjore Troens Bevaegelse" (128) ["By nature I am a shrewd fellow, and shrewd people always have great difficulty in making the movement of faith" (32)].
Johannes is not able to grasp faith by reason, he can only approach it. He devotes many pages to assuring the reader that one cannot understand the paradox of faith, epitomized in its absolute form in the story of Abraham. At the very end of the text, however, Johannes says something different that should not escape the reader's attention:
Man vel kan forstaae Abraham, men kun forstaae ham saaledes, some man forstaaer Paradoxet. Jeg for mit Vedkommende kan vel fortaae...