Abstract

In this paper I first examine the claim that the phenomenological tradition unanimously affirms that the core self is to be found in pre-reflective consciousness. I argue that the notion of the minimal self as first-person subjective givenness is problematic in important ways. Then, following the recent attention given to Kierkegaard as phenomenologist, I ask how Kierkegaard relates to the phenomenology of selfhood. Rather than proceeding directly, however, I argue that we must first consider Kierkegaard’s phenomenology of love before we can consider what we might call his phenomenology of selfhood, for the former holds crucial implications for the latter