Søren Kierkegaard was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied theology, literature, and philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. Like most European universities of the time, Copenhagen was deeply under the influence of Hegel's philosophy. Kierkegaard's initial fascination with Hegel's elaborate system became a sounding board against which the young genius rebelled: 'If Hegel had written the whole of his Logic and then said . . . that it was merely a joke, then he could certainly have been the greatest thinker who ever lived. As it is, he is himself merely a joke.' The problem with then-contemporary Hegelian philosophy, in Kierkegaard's eyes, was that it not only failed to address the unique and fundamental true nature of human existence, but also denied it, namely, subjectivity. Kierkegaard developed this criticism brilliantly in his master's thesis, 'The Concept of Irony.' He went on to publish many highly influential and original books, in which he argued for the primacy of subjectivity as the essential aspect of individual human existence.
He was only 42 when he died. On his tombstone is inscribed Enkelte, the unique category of the individual central to Kierkegaard's unique philosophy.
