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Kierkegaard

Orangey

Blah
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
6,354
MBTI Type
ESTP
Enneagram
6w5
His writing seems to suggest INFP over INFJ, but what do I know?
 
S

Sniffles

Guest
With the only different opinion so far, explanation demands.

I protest that I'm the only person who has to explain their assestment. :tongue:

In most other discussion I've read on this issue, he's been classified as INFJ. Much of his writings and his biography does protray an INFJ nature.

This is further seen through the many personality-philosophical similarities he shares with many famous INFJ thinkers and writers: Dostoevsky, Buber, Shestov, Berdyaev, etc. I've already posted Shestov's commentary on the similarities between him and Dostoevsky, even referring to Kierkegaard as Dostoevsky's double.

Of course, I will point out that many of his INFJ admirers have criticised him on many accounts. Buber critiqued Kierkegaard's notion of the suspension of the Ethical, and Shestov claimed Kierkegaard didn't go far enough in his radical sense of faith. But then again, this need not relate to type at all; since the INFJ Solzhenitsyn criticised Dostoevsky on many accounts, despite his great admiration for the 19th century figure.

The constant theme of paradox that runs through Kierkegaard's writing is a common one found among INFJs, or rather Ni types in general. This is especially seen in this remark of his:

"The thinker without paradox is like a lover without feelings. The supreme paradox of all thought is the attempt to discover something that thought cannot think."

As for his biography. I'm not in the mood to get into any details at the moment. I do have Garff's 800+ page biography of him, and there's plenty of information about his personal life.
 

dynamiteninja

Man for all seasons
Joined
May 30, 2008
Messages
1,195
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
I protest that I'm the only person who has to explain their assestment. :tongue:

In most other discussion I've read on this issue, he's been classified as INFJ. Much of his writings and his biography does protray an INFJ nature.

This is further seen through the many personality-philosophical similarities he shares with many famous INFJ thinkers and writers: Dostoevsky, Buber, Shestov, Berdyaev, etc. I've already posted Shestov's commentary on the similarities between him and Dostoevsky, even referring to Kierkegaard as Dostoevsky's double.

Of course, I will point out that many of his INFJ admirers have criticised him on many accounts. Buber critiqued Kierkegaard's notion of the suspension of the Ethical, and Shestov claimed Kierkegaard didn't go far enough in his radical sense of faith. But then again, this need not relate to type at all; since the INFJ Solzhenitsyn criticised Dostoevsky on many accounts, despite his great admiration for the 19th century figure.

The constant theme of paradox that runs through Kierkegaard's writing is a common one found among INFJs, or rather Ni types in general. This is especially seen in this remark of his:

"The thinker without paradox is like a lover without feelings. The supreme paradox of all thought is the attempt to discover something that thought cannot think."

As for his biography. I'm not in the mood to get into any details at the moment. I do have Garff's 800+ page biography of him, and there's plenty of information about his personal life.

That's interesting. INFP. :tongue:
 

Bufo

New member
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
122
MBTI Type
onto
Enneagram
5w4
I protest that I'm the only person who has to explain their assestment. :tongue:

Well, not everyone is asked for an explanation for their assessment, number of persons from whom it's expected is even less.

Thanks for the feedback.
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
His bio and works scream INFP.

Only an INFP would break up with someone they loved "to save" them from the INFP's miserible persona and then spend a lifetime mooning over them. So dramaticlly self-indulgent and Fi.

My brain hurts today, but I'll come back and post some of his thoughts that I think are just totally INFP.

BlueWing makes a good argument for Kierkegaard being INFP in his INFP profile.
 

Lotr246

New member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
350
If we say he's like Dostoevsky, maybe Dostoevsky is an INFP, like Kierkegaard?
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
Dostoevsky INFJ, Kierkegaard INFP. Both NF, but different.
 

the state i am in

Active member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,475
MBTI Type
infj
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
i'm surprised to see that when this thread returns, my thoughts have shifted.

his story about the woman seems Fe to me more than Fi. it seems like a story of not knowing how you feel, losing center, hearing so much noise you can no longer accurately grasp the context, fucking it up, and then watching the picture come into focus and realizing what you've lost.

i don't know his writing well, tho, yet i do think his line of inquiry seems more infj than infp. fear and trembling seems like an attempt to clarify the wanderings of Ni, the vague foggy abstractions in which we lose our sense of the world, in which our moods become thick and opaque and we can't see the world as it is.

plus, as an added bonus, he employs the classic infj writing mediums for his best work, letters and essays vs characters.
 
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