Kierkegaard was an existential philosopher that focused on a unique approach to understanding the meaning of existence. Kierkegaard adopted an approach unique to the standard and existing philosophies before it, including Christianity. Kierkegaard’s approach challenged the conventions of the analytic and speculative philosophy of idealism (Conley, 2019). He created a unique philosophical and conceptual approach with platonic overtones that often manifested as pseudonymous writings. Kierkegaard evaluated three unique life perspectives that he identified were inherent to himself in the evolution process that enabled him to develop a unique Christian perspective. The views were also embedded in society’s general and academic culture. These views include the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. These views significantly impact an individual’s views and beliefs of love, marriage, and duty. On the other hand, Sartre considered romantic love a kind of death that robs the individual of an empirical self but is always doomed to fail (Boulé, 2018). He regarded sexual desire as an attempt to grasp another individual’s subjectivity, primarily through physical intimacy. Beauvoir responded to this perspective by stating that Sartre was expressing a constant desire to be active. However, his attitude influenced a specific detachment level and coldness as his sexual partners experienced pleasure while he did not. Therefore, Beauvoir considered Sartre as an individual with sadism.
What broad themes do they share, and what are the significant differences among them?
Sartre’s perspectives were crucial for developing individual and social existential ethics principles, while Beauvoir depicted existentialism’s feminist perspective. These views serve as good examples for implementing feminist existential ethics to matters related to sexual difference and sexuality (Boulé, 2018). On the other hand, Kierkegaard presents three different kinds of love based on three famous life perspectives. He shows that aesthetic love is a gradual process involving different reflection levels. Ethical love focuses entirely on marriage, commitment, and duty. Religious love involves bouncing back to finite love, where individuals develop faith that God will create finite love in the world, and all things will be possible (Conley, 2019).
Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Beauvoir present significantly different accounts of the nature of love that do not accurately explain its nature. Love is a broad concept encompassing numerous factors and considerations. Love is also highly complex, and individuals could have different interpretations or experiences for similar romantic encounters. Sartre and Beauvoir present unique perspectives on love, primarily based on their experiences and interaction with each other. Sartre considered romantic love as a negative aspect that robbed one of their empirical self. Beauvoir regarded such sentiments as an indicator of the desire to be active (Boulé, 2018). Despite these philosophers presenting unique perspectives and interpretations of love and romantic experiences, their interpretations focus on specific aspects of love and romantic relationships, and they do not provide an accurate depiction of the concept. Kierkegaard adopts a broader perspective towards and romantic relationships by considering different views that could influence variations in individual experiences and interpretations of love or romantic relationships. He also explores other factors that could significantly influence such interpretations, for example, despair (Conley, 2019). This aspect enables Kierkegaard to explore how different individuals would interpret or experience romantic relations or love.