KIERKEGAARD’S RELATION TO HEGEL AND QUELLENFORSCHUNG: SOME METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This article attempts to demonstrate the advantages of using the methodology of Quellenforschung or source work research when approaching the corpus of Søren Kierkegaard. The field of Kierkegaard studies has been long dominated by a number of misconceptions concerning the Danish thinker’s relation to Hegel, which has almost invariably been portrayed as singularly negative and critical. This article applies source work research to three different passages from Kierkegaard’s primary texts, where his alleged polemic with Hegel is thought to be in evidence. However, when the actual sources of his criticisms are determined, an entirely different picture emerges and the role of Hegel fades into the background.