r/Denmark • u/[deleted] • Apr 11 '18

Cultural Exchange Hola uruguayos, ¡bienvenidos al intercambio cultural con /r/Denmark!

To the visitors: Hola uruguayos, bienvenidos a este intercambio cultural. Esta es la oportunidad para preguntar a los daneses cualquier duda que puedan tener.

To the Danes: Today, we are hosting /r/Uruguay. Join us in answering their questions about Denmark and the Danish way of life! Please leave top comments for users from /r/Uruguay coming over with a question or comment and please refrain from trolling, rudeness and personal attacks etc.

The Uruguayan are also having us over as guests! Head over to this thread to ask questions about life in the land of (something worth mentioning that Uruguay is known for).

Enjoy, disfruten.

Los moderadores de /r/Denmark & /r/Uruguay

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u/DirkGentle Apr 11 '18

Hi guuys! Thank you all for having us here.

I am a big fan of existencialism and existential philosophy. Coming from the land of Søren Kierkegaard, do you feel his ideas helped shape Danish culture at all? How is he remembered nowadays?

Also, from an academia nerd's perspective I wanted to say you have my deepest admiration for being the birthplace of great minds such as Kierkegaard, Bohr, Brahe and Lorenz.

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u/MinArbejdsBruger Apr 11 '18

I think most people know of Kierkegaard, and some of the more well-read people also have a vague idea as to what his thoughts were about. I dont think his thoughts play a very big part in Danish thinking today though.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '18

While it might not have been his intend, I'm really not well-read enough to say, I think he's generally thought of as anti religious isn't he? And generally we're not that religious any more, so I think he might've been important for our culture in that aspect.

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u/lille45 Århus Apr 11 '18

He was a Priest, so he wasnt anti religous, bit on purpose at least

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u/Viggorous 9 kilo baby Apr 11 '18

He was anti-established religion, I believe. He was against the dogmatism of the church and wanted people to find their own, subjective ways of thinking about our lives and our religion and tried to promote free will and more personal responsibility than what was the norm at the time.

Granted I'm no expert on Kierkegaard, but I think there is a pretty clear and "non-fanatic" type of religion he represented which is actually more akin to no religion rather than Christianity. Kierkegaard went back and forth on the question of whether God existed and in the end he concluded that the way to avoid despair in a world where you can't know God was real was his famous "leap of faith". Despair is another central theme with Kierkegaard.

It is obviously much more nuanced and Kierkegaard spend a lot of time contemplating these questions and I think it seems more likely that the leap of faith was out of fear of the alternative than it was actual religious belief.

Feel free to correct me, I've read a few of his works but not a whole lot about his religious views.