Soren Kierkegaard

mentation was the source of some glee in Kierkegaard’sPrefaces, where a
certain “Mr. B. B.” (in the manuscript Kierkegaard had originally written
“Prof. R. Nielsen”) who promises to write “the System” puts in an appear-
ance. That same year Kierkegaard referred to Nielsen as a “systematic
schoolmaster,” which was not meant in friendly fashion, and it is quite
understandable that Nielsen soon began to go to some lengths to avoid this
Kierkegaard and had in fact expressly requested to be excused from sitting
on the committee that evaluated Kierkegaard’s magister dissertation.
At an early stage, Nielsen had been captivated by Hegel and had wanted
to unite philosophy and theology, but he freed himself from this notion of
objectivity when he got his hands on Kierkegaard’sPostscript, which insists
that subjectivity is truth. Nielsen imbibed this, perhaps a bit freely, for in
hisPropaedeutiche proclaimed: “Life is subjective. The eternally true life is
absolutely subjective. The will is subjective. The eternally unconditioned
will is absolutely subjective. Thus the objective as the objective is not the
true.” There cannot be the least doubt that Kierkegaard had here acquired
a disciple who, in the words of the master himself, had “a tendency to toss
me up into the highest regions of the extraordinary”—and this, Kierkegaard
had to admit, perhaps did contain a “little flattery.”
After only a couple of the walks that the two men took with ritual exact-
ness every Thursday, however, Kierkegaard began to have doubts as to
whetherNielsenwastherightconfidant, allthemoresobecauseconfidence
of course carries with it the risk of betrayal. With the beginnings of paranoia
seeping from his pen, Kierkegaard noted, “I must keep my police officer’s
gaze on him.” Oneof the ways Kierkegaard did so wasto let the publication
ofThe Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actressserve as a sort of litmus test
of Nielsen’s dialectical capacities. If we recall Kierkegaard’s own unending
scruples and doubts about publishing the piece, it is clear that Nielsen could
not do other than fail the test, which he did in a big way: “He has continu-
ally maintained that he understood how the aesthetic was used as a lure and
as an incognito. He has also maintained that he understood that it is always
of greatest importance to be attentive.” So far, so good, but the only direc-
tion from here was down: “That little article, which he did read, seems to
have completely escaped his notice....Thusthere has been a misunder-
standing in this regard; he will perhaps never become an essential dialec-
tician. And furthermore—alas!—he seems to have a very slender grounding
in religion, perhaps none at all.”
It is not easy to have disciples. First they don’t understand what is going
on, as Nielsen in this case; then they prove to be altogether too adept at
learning, theyrob you blind, justas this sameNielsen also did.“R. Nielsen’s
book has been published,” Kierkegaard wrote shortly afterThe Faith of the