"Kierkgaard's Upbuilding Discourses is a reassessment of the discourses and of our reading of Kierkegaard. George Pattison makes three controversial claims: that there is an underlying unity to the diversity of Kierkegaard's work; that the upbuilding discourses provide the best vantage point from which to see this unity; and that we can understand Kierkegaard without going beyond the general possibilities of human experience and reflection. By examining the use of language and rhetoric in the discourses, George Pattison argues that their guiding ideas are regulative principles and maxims that bring Kierkegaard closer to Kant's philosophy than is often thought. Furthermore, he shows that this approach to the discourses brings them much closer to Kierkegaard's own view of them as 'Socratic' in character, to be understood as much for their philosophical as for their religious nature." "Kierkegaard's Upbuilding Discourses is the first full length assessment of the discourses in English, and makes a definitive contribution to Kierkegaard studies. It will be essential reading for philosophers and theologians, and anyone interested in Kierkegaard and the history of philosophy."--BOOK JACKET.