You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

'Kierkegaard on the Couch'

By David Gonnerman '90
October 29, 2009

"All progress paves over some bit of knowledge or washes away some valuable practice. Within a few years, e-mail and Twitter moved the art of letter writing to the trash bin," begins Gordon Marino, St. Olaf professor of philosophy and curator of the college's Kierkegaard Library, in a piece he wrote recently for The New York Times.

"And in an age when all psychic life is being understood in terms of neurotransmitters, the art of introspection has been become passé. Galileos of the inner world, such as Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), have been packed off to the museum of antiquated ideas. Yet I think that the great and highly quirky Dane could help us to retrieve a distinction that has been effaced."

Editor's note: Marino's story currently (as of Oct. 30) is the most e-mailed story at the Times.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.