Xenophon: Kierkegaard’s use of the socrates of the memorabilia

Almost all of the references to Xenophon in Kierkegaard’s work occur in the first part of his dissertation, The Concept of Irony.1 Kierkegaard’s aim in this first part, entitled “The Position of Socrates Viewed as Irony,” is to reveal the essence of the historical Socrates as irony. Part One of the dissertation is divided into three sections: “The View Made Possible,” “The Actualization of the View,” and “The View Made Necessary.” These sections are preceded by a short introduction, in which Kierkegaard clarifies his methodology, and they are succeeded by an appendix on “Hegel’s View of Socrates.” It is necessary to understand Kierkegaard’s methodology, and the relation of his view on Socrates to that of Hegel, before we can fully understand his use of Xenophon’s accounts of Socrates.