Abstract
Kierkegaard shared many of the general views on education typical of the German Bildung-movement (represented by, inter alia, Goethe, Schiller, Humboldt and Hegel), but also criticized it for tending towards conformism and superficial learnedness. The core elements of the classical notion of self-cultivation (or Bildung) are outlined. Kierkegaard’s ambiguous and probing stance towards self-cultivation is exemplified by one of his main characters, Judge Vilhelm, who in Either/Or II is depicted as partly succeeding in cultivating his own personality, but also as taking too much pleasure in his own apparent mastery of life. Kierkegaard emphasized the importance of metacognitive skills and emotional self-regulation, but insisted that such abilities should be unified and directed by a fundamental commitment to achieve authenticity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsAuthor information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Klausen, S.H. (2018). Self-Cultivation and Its Discontents. In: Søren Kierkegaard. SpringerBriefs in Education(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73186-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73186-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73185-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73186-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)