Philosophy · Book club
The Sickness Unto Death book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for The Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Sickness Unto Death, published in 1849 under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus, is Kierkegaard's most rigorous psychological and theological analysis of despair — which he defines not as an emotion but as a structural failure of selfhood.
Søren Kierkegaard · 1849 · 3h 40m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Kierkegaard's opening definition of the self as a relational synthesis is famously difficult. In plain terms, what do you think he means by the self being a 'relation that relates itself to itself'?
- 2.
He argues that the most common and most dangerous despair is unconscious — the person believes they are content. Where in your own life might that apply?
- 3.
Defiance — willing to be yourself on your own terms alone — is presented as a form of despair. Is there a meaningful distinction between authentic self-determination and the defiance Kierkegaard criticizes?
- 4.
Kierkegaard says faith is the only exit from despair. What would it mean to 'rest transparently in the power that constitutes you'?
- 5.
The book presents a typology of despair organized by intensity and consciousness. Do those gradations match psychological reality as you experience it?
- 6.
Anti-Climacus, the pseudonymous author, is presented as a Christian of extraordinary intensity — someone Kierkegaard himself felt he was not. Why might Kierkegaard have needed that distance?
- 7.
The synthesis of finite and infinite in the self sounds metaphysical, but it might also describe something psychological: the tension between particular commitments and open-ended possibility. Does that translation hold?
- 8.
Kierkegaard connects despair to the concept of sin. Is that connection illuminating or does it load the psychological analysis with theological assumptions?
- 9.
The text argues that most people who feel fine are actually in despair. Is that a profound insight or a move that makes the concept unfalsifiable?
- 10.
Kierkegaard was writing in 1849, responding to what he saw as the spiritual hollowness of bourgeois Danish Christianity. Does his diagnosis of despair seem more or less apt today?
- 11.
What would a life free from despair in Kierkegaard's sense actually look like? Is it a coherent image?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Sickness Unto Death?
Here are 11 book club questions for The Sickness Unto Death by Søren Kierkegaard, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on despair, the self, faith.
How long should a book club discussion of The Sickness Unto Death last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Sickness Unto Death?
Despair, The self, Faith, Anxiety, Sin. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Sickness Unto Death or questions for other book club picks.
