Much of Kierkegaard's philosophy is a reaction to Hegl’s. In Hegel we see a philosopher who is trying to organize a systematic attitude and approach to life. In his system truth is objective. Everything that happens in Hegel’s system happens for the fulfillment of the universal Spirit. Kierkegaard rejects the belief that every human action serves a higher purpose. "In place of Hegel’s celebration of the universal Spirit he decries anonymity and ‘the public’ and insists that only the individual counts." (Solomon, Robert C. Continental Philosophy Since 1750. Oxford University Press, New York, 1988. Pp. 92)

A brief summary of Hegel is necessary to understand what Kierkegaard is reacting against. It is Hegel’s insistence that pure thought is the essence of human existence. "Pure being makes the beginning: because on one hand pure thought" and on the other "immediacy." (Hegel, Georg W. F. The Essential Writings. Harper Torchbook, New York, 1974. Pp. 114.) This is not to say that Hegel did not realize that pure thought alone was an absurd existence. But Hegel reduces action into something that can be rationalized and preordained. For Hegel there were certain things that should not be done. The individual was to follow the ethical.

But what is the ethical? According to Hegel the ethical appears to be the social standard. Society sets up rules and goals for itself. These rules and goals are in place so that a society may progress toward the fulfillment of the Spirit. These rules are needed because of the conflict that arises when one consciousness recognizes another and tries to subjugate it.

In his description of the meeting of two consciousness’ Hegel describes the urge for one to sublimate the other.

Self consciousness has before it another self-consciousness, it has come outside itself. This has a double significance. First it has lost it’s own self, since it finds itself as an other being; secondly, it has thereby sublated that other, for it does not regard the other as essentially real, but sees it’s own self in the other. It must cancel this its other. (Hegel, Pp. 71)

The ethical is Hegel’s way of making sense of morality. It is by being able to have a synthesis of these two opposing beings and ideas that the world is able to move toward the fulfillment of the spirit. The movement of synthesis is called the dialectic. This dialectic movement is supposed to console the different human consciousness in the face of the other. It is through reason that people are able to reach some sort of ethical standard. And it is the ethical standard that is necessary for Man to be able to reach the universal spirit.

To show how important the ethical is to Hegel we must understand it. The ethical serves as a guide for people to live by. It helps the crowd of humanity to realize its purpose. A purpose of harmony. In his Philosophy of Right Hegel uses a quote from a Socratic dialogue to illustrate the importance of the ethical life. When a father is concerned with how to raise his child someone responds that if you "’make him a citizen of a state with good laws’" then that is the best way to insure that he is being raised the right way. (Hegel, Georg W. F. Philosophy of Right, Oxford University Press, New York 1952. Pp. 109) Since the ethical is the law of the state then if you wish to be a good person then you should follow the laws of a good state.

But it is the ethical that bothers Kierkegaard. The lose of subjectivity that is inherent in the adoption of an ethical code derived from pure reason is unacceptable to a man who lives in reality. In giving in to the ethical the individual gives up his freedom to chose how to act in order to find truth in the universal. (Philosophy of Right Pp. 109) By doing this the individual can find his identity in the universal.

Hegel uses the universal (or ethical) to demonstrate how man is working toward fulfilling the purpose of the Spirit. It is in the ethical that human action is decided upon and works toward the universal Spirit. "Against Hegel, Kierkegaard develops a personal viewpoint that is in almost every way opposed to the cosmic, rationalizing philosophy of Spirit." (Solomon, Pp. 92.)

Kierkegaard does not ignore the ethical but demonstrates that existence sometimes calls for more then the reliance on the ethical. The abstract thinker, ie. Hegel, constructs a system so that people will know how to live. But this structure, according to Kierkegaard, is as much a "stunted creature" as the thinker it sprang from. (Kierkegaard, Soren. Existence and Reality. Pp. 280) It is stunted in that it destroys individual existence. The ethical or any other system replaces the individual choice with the universal goal.

Kierkegaard challenges this idea in many of his works but perhaps the most famous would be Fear and Trembling. In this book he describes how the religious stage supercedes the ethical. He describes ho the "single individual" acting on faith "is higher that the universal." (Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling. Penguin Books, New York, 1985. Pp. 84)

The narrator of this work states that there is the possibility of the suspension of the ethical for the individual. Kierkegaard uses a version of the biblical story of Abraham and Issac to illustrate that if a person acts against the ethical but out of faith that what they are doing follows the individual’s believes then it is permissible. When someone does this they transcend the ethical and act in the religious sphere.

According to Hegel’s ethical standard "Abraham’s relation to Isaac….is that the father should love the son more than himself." (Kierkegaard, F & T, Pp. 86) But as Kierkegaard points out that in Luke 14:26 to be a true disciple of God one must have no love greater than his love for God. (Kierkegaard, F & T, Pp. 99-100) This does not mean that a man may not love his son but only that a man’s love and duty to God is far greater than any human love or ethical standard. (Kierkegaard, F & T, Pp. 100-101)

It is by using this passage from Luke that the narrator shows that the suspension of the ethical is possible if done out of love in God. The person who is capable of transcending the ethical must do so in faith that what they are doing serves their own personal Belief. It just happens that Abraham’s belief is in God. The person who acts on this faith is called a Knight of Faith. Abraham is a Knight of Faith because he is willing to go against the ethical in order to follow his individual belief.

For Kierkegaard the individual is more important than the universal. He is against any systematic philosophy that holds an objective truth as being more important than an individual truth. Since Hegel is the "very model of a systematic philosophy" and Kierkegaard is "an antisystematic thinker" (Rockmore, Tom. Before and After Hegel, University of California Press, LA. 1992. Pp. 147) there is an obvious clash of ideologies. Where Hegel sees truth in the objective Kierkegaard states that "subjectivity is truth."

By using the example of Abraham in Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard tries to illustrate how it is possible for the individual to act outside the ethical. But there is a more fundamental ideal the Kierkegaard puts forth in saying "subjectivity is truth." This ideal is that each individual must choose his own existence. The systematic approach of Hegel is of no use to an individual who has to make choices among contradicting possibilities.

Kierkegaard’s problem with Hegel’s system is that it eliminates the ‘existing individual’ for the universal. Hegel’s existence maps out the choices that people must make through abstract thought. It is through abstract thought that the existing individual forgets to live. To live means to make choices in reality. The abstract thinker, ie. Hegel, "ignores the concrete and the temporal" which is to say "the predicament of the existing individual." (Kierkegaard, Soren. Existence and Reality. Pp.279) People can not live or base their actions on abstract thought.

Kierkegaard believes that life is full of contradictory choices. Contradictory in one sense that sometimes a person must decide to go against the ethical in order to do what they believe in. The abstract thinker tries to eliminate these contradictions. He tries to eliminate the choices that are required of existing beings. But thought alone can not eliminate these conflicts and choices. Man must exist by making choices. To eliminate these choices through the ethical is one way to deny a person a real existence. Kierkegaard makes a point in saying that it is easier to think than to act (Kierkegaard, E & R, Pp. 284) because thought eliminates the anguish of choice.

Hegel’s system gets rid of choice by stating an objective truth. But an objective truth separates man from choice and therefore existence. The essence of human existence is our ability to make choices. Since Hegel’s system tries to get rid of these choices. Kierkegaard believes that that is something that destroys an individual’s existence.

Through the example of Abraham Kierkegaard shows that sometimes that people must make choices based on what they believe and outside of the ethical. That is to say that an individual must live based on their sense of truth and not let an objective truth predetermine their choices. If Abraham had been a Hegelian then he would have disobeyed his own beliefs in order to support and honor the ethical. But he goes beyond the ethical in order to serve what he sees as reality.

If what Abraham had done was seen as something good or justifiable than it is possible for an individual to move past the ethical and act on his own subjective truth. When an individual is faced with a choice between the ethical and his own truth then the individual has the right to choose his own belief. This is what Kierkegaard refers to as the point at which the individual moves from the ethical to the religious stage of life.

This leap of faith combined with Kierkegaard’s notion that human existence is based on choice is in direct opposition with Hegel’s notion of man acting for the fulfillment of the universal Spirit. Abraham is the prototypical existentialist hero. Faced with a personal belief that asks him to disobey the ethical he transcends the ethical and chooses to exist by making a choice. Anyone in support of the ethical should condemn his action but they do not. That is because people realize that at certain times in life abstract thought does not help the individual exist. For Kierkegaard an individual most exist. That is why he does not side with Hegel but stresses the importance of subjective truth.

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