Johannes Climacus : Or: A Life of Doubt

When Klerkegaard died at the age of forty-two, the papers found in his desk included Johannes Climacus, probably written in the winter of 1842-43.

The book is a novel, as well as a work of philosophy, which tells the tale of what happens to the young Johannes Cllmacus as he decides to become a philosopher.

Republished here in a revised translation, Johannes Climacus demonstrates that philosophy can be humorous and entertaining as well as conceptually rigorous.

With its extraordinary combination of literary finesse and sharp philosophical wlt, it serves as an excellent introduction to a thinker whose stylistic and philosophical talents make even Nietzsche seem tame.

Klerkegaard's invention of key philosophical concepts have been explored and redeployed by thinkers ever since.