Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and trembling?

Question

particularly about the part "Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical?" can somebody explain that part to me.. and if you were to philosophically criticize it, what would you have to say about it?

Answer 1

This is about suspending an ethical obligation or duty for a higher obligation or duty, telos.


The following is quoted from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/
"Much of Fear and Trembling turns on the notion that Abraham's would-be sacrifice of his son Isaac is not for the sake of social norms, but is the result of a "teleological suspension of the ethical". That is, Abraham recognizes a duty to something higher than both his social duty not to kill an innocent person and his personal commitment to his beloved son, viz. his duty to obey God's commands [the higher goal, telos]."


Philosophical Criticisms:

1. Was there a teleological suspension of the ethical in "Fear and Trembling?"

The following is quoted from the same source:
Kierkegaard compares the tragic hero, in this case Agamemnon, with Abraham.

The difference between the tragic hero and Abraham is very obvious. The tragic hero is still within the ethical. He allows an expression of the ethical to have its telos [end, goal] in a higher expression of the ethical; he scales down the ethical relation between father and son or daughter and father to a feeling that has its dialectic in its relation to the idea of moral conduct. Here there can be no teleological suspension of the ethical itself.

Abraham's act is different. By his act he transgressed the ethical altogether and had a higher telos outside it, in relation to which he suspended it....


2. Is there an Absolute Duty to God?

The following is quoted from the same source:
In this section Kierkegaard further defines the universal, the absolute, and the paradoxical.

The ethical is the universal, and as such it is also the divine. Thus it is proper to say that every duty is essentially duty to God, but if no more can be said than this, then it is also said that I have actually no duty to God....

Answer 2

Tell your instructor what happened. Ask her to lend you a copy so that you can re-read and refine your paper. Your honesty in wanting to refer to the physical book itself will reflect a positive attitude!

Answer 3

Trembling!

All the best!/