Søren Kierkegaard was considered the father of philosophy, theology and existentialism. His philosophical ideas conflicted with those of Hegel. Kierkegaard believed that reason, with its clarity and objectivity, could not be implemented in the concrete reality of humanity. "Whether Kierkegaard was influenced by the 19th century notion of developmental change or felt the need for an explanatory device, he proposes three 'stages on the path of life,' three types of existence." The three stages of existence are known as aesthetic, ethical and religious. The religious mode is considered one of the most important stages of life where it encourages people to take the step of faith. The aesthetic lifestyle is one where choice is not taken seriously and one satisfies one's own needs. The ethical stage is the recognition of the authority of virtue and duty. According to Kierkegaard, free will can be achieved through the three stages of existence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Kierkegaard emphasizes the importance of how the three stages of existence influence a person's decisions, thereby determining his quality or character. The person we already are and the person we become is due to the choices we make. Kierkegaard states: "There are conditions of life in which it would be ridiculous or a kind of inconvenience to apply one or the other, but there are also people whose souls are too dissolute to understand the implications of such a dilemma, whose personality lacks energy. to be able to say with pathos: Either/Or”. Every choice you make is important to your character, because even if your choices are insignificant, many meaningless choices will add up and make sense. "It is important that he chooses well, that he tests himself, so that he does not ultimately have to begin a painful retreat at the point where he started and that he thanks God if he does not have more to do reproach only for having wasted one's time. You shouldn't worry about the bad decisions you make now, because those decisions can help you make better ones in the future. Without the power to choose, there is no human existence. The power to choose lies in the decisions we make to create our own will that develops our character. In the second section, Kierkegaard believes that the sole purpose of human existence is due to the power of choice. It describes how the power of choice is made up of two choices: ethical and aesthetic choices. Kierkegaard states that ethical choices are stricter than aesthetic choices because aesthetic choices do not have a major impact on life. For example, choosing what to wear to school or choosing what utensils to write with has no effect on your life. When making an aesthetic choice, you don't need to consider good or bad. “The aesthetic choice is either completely immediate, therefore no choice, or it is lost in a great multiplicity.” For aesthetic choices to have any value, they must be made in an instant, because if you take your time, it will only diminish their value to the point where they will have no impact on your life. “The ethical choice is therefore, in a certain sense, much easier, much simpler, but in another sense, it is infinitely more difficult.” Making ethical choices is simpler because of the longer time to think about your decision, but at the same time complex because you have to consider what is wrong and what is right during your deliberation time. Kierkegaard then asserts that thosewho only follow aesthetic choices will never reach the transfiguration which is the highest dedication. Those that consist of aesthetic choices will produce low aspiration thus leading them to a state of mind in which they are believed to never be wrong. People who only make aesthetic choices are doomed to settle for angry pleasures, so you won't be able to achieve the desired goal. higher dedication needed to make ethical choices. “We encounter views of life which teach that we must enjoy life, but that the condition for this lies in the individual himself, but in such a way that it is not posed by himself” . We must understand when we should enjoy life through our pleasure and when to endure pains to receive higher pleasures. You can either play video games to obtain short-term pleasures or study to pass an exam to obtain higher pleasure. Pain studies, but because you have sacrificed the short pleasure, you are able to attain the high pleasures that will ultimately benefit your life. “But desire in itself is a multiplicity, and therefore it is easy to see that this life divides itself into a multiplicity without limits, except in so far as desire in a particular individual has been limited from childhood to a specific desire , which we could then rather call inclination. ". A person may want to do something, but their inner self may not desire it, rather external factors force them to make a decision. The decision to become a doctor may not be a decision made by you, but it is a decision made by others who tell you about the benefits of the career. Ethical living is more than conformity to duty, it is a passion for helping others. “Ethics is defined as duty, and duty in turn as a multiplicity of particular rules, but the individual and the duty are independent of each other.” Choosing to live ethically means acting within the law and doing right by others. Ethical choice includes more personality than aesthetic choice, so in doing the right thing one does not need to decide whether something is ethical or not because inner duty knows it is correct. “Ethics is the universal and therefore the abstract. This is why, in its perfect abstraction, ethics is always prohibited.” The ethical choice takes the form of a law where one can differentiate good from evil, thus making the ethical choice more meaningful than an aesthetic choice. The religious stage is the final way of life where rules do not apply. In the sixth section, Kierkegaard explains that reason cannot be applied to the decision of a person taking an act of faith. “Faith is precisely this paradox that the unique individual is superior to the universal – but please note that the movement repeats itself, so that after having been in the universal, as unique individual, he isolates himself as being superior to the universal. ". Kierkegaard uses the story of Abraham and his son Isaac to explain the act of faith. When Abraham and his wife fail to conceive a child, God grants them a child. After spending his life with his son Isaac, Abraham is faced with an important decision. God asks Abraham to kill his son to show that he is faithful. “He acts by virtue of the absurd, because it is precisely the absurd that he, as a unique individual, is superior to the universal.” Abraham's decision-making goes beyond reason and he relies on religious choice. Abraham takes the plunge and kills his son to show the greatest faith in God. Therefore, religious choice cannot be linked to aesthetic choice or ethical choice because it is beyond the law.