Word and Spirit

<p>By means of a Kierkegaardian critique of postmodernism Ronald L. Hall argues that the postmodernist flirtation with Kierkegaard ignores the existential import of his thought. <i>Word and Spirit</i> offers a novel interpretation of Kierkegaard's conception of the self according to which spirit is essentially linked to the speech act. In an extended interpretation of Kierkegaard's <i>Either/Or</i> Hall uses insights from Austin Wittgenstein Polanyi and Poteat to fill out and explicate Kierkegaard's views in the context of modern language philosophy. The enriched concept of the speech act represented by the Hebrew idea of <i>dabhar</i> frames Hall's critique of irony romanticism Don Giovanni Faust the demonic music and ultimately postmodernisim in a Kierkegaardian mode. The result of the modern suspicion of speech Hall concludes is a demonic musical spiritlessness.</p>