WAS ABRAHAM ETHICALL DEFENSIVLE IN KEEPING SILENT ABOUT THE PURPOSE BEFORE SARAH, ELEAZAR, BEFORE ISAAC?
pp. 91-129 General argument: This is again a problem of the ethical. Kierkegaard points out that the knight of the aesthetic (intuitive universal) is one who may sacrifice him or herself, but not others. The tragic hero (one knight of the ethical) can sacrifice him or herself or others for the universal, but not otherwise. Yet Abraham is willing to sacrifice Isaac and remain silent to those who seem to have an ethical right to know. What are we to make of this? His treatment is quite curious. There is a long section in which he raises, again, the question of subjectivity and the dangers of believing what is truth faith is really self-deception. He cites several literary cases of such self-deception. However, when he gets down to the final answer it has nothing to do with this question of possible self-deception, but the claim that Abraham couldnt say anything to them since to say is to speak in the universal otherwise no one can comprehend us. But, when one speaks in faith one speaks o
