Abstract

Thulstrup gives us a radically anti-Hegelian Kierkegaard in a period from 1835 through publication of Concluding Unscientific Postscript in 1845. Whereas other writers on Kierkegaard’s relation to Hegel have seen positive Hegelian influences in one aspect or another of the pseudonymous authorship, Thulstrup insists that there are absolutely no positive points of contact between Hegel and the anthropology and theology of the pseudohyms. At every point and turn of any theological or philosophical significance in the unfolding of the pseudonymous writings, Thulstrup finds only a polemical Kierkegaard in relation to the thought of Hegel. This guiding principle in Thulstrup’s interpretation of the Hegel connection is carefully developed in four major theses whose development constitute the full weight of the book.