SØREN AABYE KIERKEGAARD’UN “İMAN ŞÖVALYESİ” KAVRAMI BAĞLAMINDA İMANIN AHLÂKÎ OLANI AŞMASI FİKRİNE YÖNELİK BİR İNCELEME

According to Kierkegaard, faith is that the self, being itself and willing to be itself, is grounded transparently in God. There is no place for sin in the situation of faith in which such a special connection with God is established, and Kierkegaard expresses that sin is the opposite of faith. On the other side, Kierkegaard’s definition of faith points out that an individual living occurs in the state of faith. According to him, faith is a magnificent paradox that cannot be explained by the universal and does not fit into the categories of reason. One of the best examples of the paradoxical structure of faith is Prophet Abraham’s case of being ordered to sacrifice his son. The attempt to sacrifice his son is an action that cannot be explained in the context of the universal and be understood by reason. In this context, Prophet Abraham seems as the father of faith and the ideal example of the type of person called “the knight of faith” by Kierkegaard. The knight of faith acts by having faith in the fact that God is almighty, and by the grace of the nonsense, human power, freedom, or courage do not work in his position. Such a knight neither relinquishes something nor directs his pain to something else. In the situation of the knight of faith, who is different from the knight of absolute resignation and the tragic hero, ethics and universality are teleologically suspended. The knight of faith, who has a personal relationship with God, displays an act of faith that cannot come to terms with ethics and universality. In this context, it is seen that, according to Kierkegaard, faith is superior to ethics. Kierkegaard’s point of view can be criticized regarding the validity of the generalization of Abraham’s situation and ethical universality.