On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates
On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates
Søren Kierkegaard wrote this 1841 master’s thesis under Frederik Christian Sibbern. He spent three years studying Socrates through the views of Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Plato, focusing on irony, especially Socratic irony. Part One argues that Aristophanes’ play The Clouds offers the clearest picture of Socrates and his ironic method, while Xenophon and Plato present him more seriously. Part Two compares Socratic irony with other 19th‑century ideas of irony, examining thinkers such as Fichte, Schlegel, and Hegel. An English translation of the work includes Kierkegaard’s notes on Schelling’s Berlin Lectures of 1841, which he attended after finishing the dissertation.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:47 (CET).