Kierkegaard’s Hidden Anthropology: Humanity’s Telos in the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical

Abstract

This paper presents a specific interpretation of the teleological suspension of the ethical. It argues that the suspension presupposes a theocentric anthropology in which humanity’s telos finds fulfilment in relationship with God. In performing the suspension, the individual fulfils their telos. The argument develops by situating the suspension within Kierkegaard’s broader authorship. Either/Or, Repetition, and Fear and Trembling are analysed as interconnected works that trace Stages on Life’s Way’s existential trajectory, where one moves from the aesthetic to the ethical and finally to the religious stage. Each transition occurs through a negation of the self and resulting despair. The aesthetic life fails because it grounds identity in externality, thereby undermining authenticity. The ethical life fails because it detaches duty from the person, once again denying authenticity. Initiated by the teleological suspension, the religious stage occurs when the self relates directly to God, achieving authenticity. To achieve authenticity, however, the religious stage must presuppose a theocentric anthropology in which one’s telos finds fulfilment in relation to God. It does so because only within such an anthropology does an individual gain authenticity and avoid the despair of the earlier stages by performing the suspension.