"A Satire on What It Is to Be a Human Being": A Kierkegaardian Critique of Neoliberal Subjectivity

Neoliberalism has come to be understood not only as an economic system, but as a mode of existence that understands the self as primarily the bearer of human capital. This paper contrasts the neoliberal ideal of selfhood with Kierkegaard’s notion of the self as developed in The Sickness unto Death....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Höfer, Sophie (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2024
In: Kierkegaard studies. Yearbook
Year: 2024, Volume: 29, Issue: 1, Pages: 181-207
IxTheo Classification:NBE Anthropology
NCE Business ethics
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Summary:Neoliberalism has come to be understood not only as an economic system, but as a mode of existence that understands the self as primarily the bearer of human capital. This paper contrasts the neoliberal ideal of selfhood with Kierkegaard’s notion of the self as developed in The Sickness unto Death. Using Kierkegaard’s typology of despair as an analytical framework, I argue that the neoliberal subject displays an impoverished grasp of the various elements that, for Kierkegaard, are constitutive of the self, and shows serious deficiencies in its understanding of what it means to live a meaningful life.
ISSN:1612-9792
Contains:Enthalten in: Kierkegaard studies. Yearbook
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/kierke-2024-0010