Abstract

Man has no choice about being born, and his fate is conditioned by his circumstances. However, he has a responsibility to make choices from what is available, to accept what is necessary, and make an effort toward a better life. A bad diet worsens his physical condition, but too much honey makes a man vomit. In the nineteenth century, man's reasoning contributed to the development of science and industry which promised to man a bright future, but also paralyzed man economically, mentally and spiritually. Karl Marx noticed that economic conditions had dehumanized man in the humanistic society following the Renaissance, by alienating man from others, while Soren Kierkegaard observed that spiritual conditions had de-Christianized man in Christendom, by separating man further from God. Seeing the importance of "relatedness," the two were aware of man's own activity functioning as a mediation, tending in an unfavorable direction , and they advocated a system that can provide power for unity. ;The outward phenomenon is much easier to discern than the inward; the physical than the mental, the mental than the spiritual. In this thesis I treat the latter, which Kierkegaard emphasized in dealing with the restoration of man's unity with God. The problem to be discussed is man's sickness ; its nature , its cause , and its cure . For this purpose the concept of renunciation is examined, since Kierkegaard believes that man can only be united and have an intimate relationship with God through renunciation, that is, to die to the world voluntarily in order to become an instrument of God. As a conclusion, the idea of freedom and the sickness of man, described by Marx and Kierkegaard, are studied comparatively for understanding the liberation and the salvation of man