This volume is a study of the relationship between philosophy and
faith in Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments. It is also the first
book to focus on the role of Socrates in this pseudonymous volume,
and it illuminates the significance of Socrates for Kierkegaard’s
thought in general. Jacob Howland argues that in Fragments, philosophy
and faith are closely related passions. A careful examination of
the role of Socrates in Fragments demonstrates that Socratic, philosophical
eros opens up a path to faith. At the same time, the work
of faith – which holds the self together with that which transcends
it, the finite with the infinite, and one’s life in time with eternity –
is essentially erotic in the Socratic sense of the term. Chapters on
Kierkegaard’s Johannes Climacus and on Plato’s Apology and related
dialogues shed light on the Socratic character of the pseudonymous
author of Fragments and the role of “the god” in Socrates’ pursuit of
wisdom. Howland also analyzes the Concluding Unscientific Postscript
and Kierkegaard’s reflections on Socrates and Christ in his unpublished
papers.