The Challenge to the Self: On Kierkegaard’s Account of Anfægtelse as Existential Trial

This paper argues that there is an important yet underexplored idea of existential trial, expressed by the notion of Anfægtelse, in Kierkegaard’s account of the human self. I argue that there are three kinds of existential trials, corresponding to the three major existential spheres: the esthetic, the ethical, and the Christian-religious. Each existential trial involves an essential conflict [...]