Analysis Of Kierkegaard's You Shall Love And Our Duty To Love God

In Kierkegaard’s two works “You Shall Love” and “Our Duty to Love the People We See,” we are introduced with a moral responsibility towards others since the start. In “You Shall Love,” we are provided with the second commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (17) whereas in the other reading we are provided with a biblical excerpt stating how we cannot claim to love God while hating our brother. It is by providing this biblical references that Kierkegaard reveals how, despite that they are commanded to us by God, we hold a moral responsibility towards our neighbor by serving, loving, and caring for them.

In addition, in Kierkegaard’s “Practice in Christianity,” we are given the distinction between an imitator (a true Christian)

As many people will agree, Christ can be referred to, as Kierkegaard’s states it, “the prototype” (239). In other words, Christ lived in such an ethical and loving way that many people admire. Therefore, we can safely say that in following Christ’s “footprints” (238), we are closer to being more ethical and loving individuals. Consequently, in becoming involved with this service-learning project, I have come to realize that I, and everyone in general, do hold a moral responsibility towards complete strangers. This is most evident when regarding our religious background since I, and anyone else for that matter, cannot truly claim to being an ethical individual if we are stuck being admirers and do not alter in becoming imitators.

This service-learning project has not only to better understand Kierkegaard’s philosophy but also Mill’s and Aristotle’s theories regarding ethics and virtue. For example, Aristotle reveals that a human being’s telos is eudaimonia (happiness). However, in order to achieve this we must practice virtue since it “comes into being as a consequence of habit” (21). Nonetheless, at the beginning of practicing virtue it will be unpleasant. Only through habit will a person become virtuous and eventually derive pleasure form such

After this experience, I have not only been able to become better person, but also have come to understand that I do hold a moral responsibility towards complete strangers. As noted by Kierkegaard, if I wish to live a good life and call myself a Christian, I must transition from the default setting of being an admirer to being an imitator. By imitating, more specifically, by serving and loving the people around me, I am now closer to being a true Christian. In addition, although the motive behind actions may not be that of good will, if they promote happiness, and I transform them into habit, they may eventually shift into something of moral worth. In other words, if we practice virtue and if we aim at the greatest happiness principle we are closer to being a person of virtue, an ethical person despite that our initial motive was not that of a good