For Kierkegaard, irony is a relationship with reality. This is prevalent in the writing of [[Kierkegaard]] through the characters he portrays himself as. His characters are stuck in their own dream worlds from within the salience of the dream world, and are not connected to his more ultimate self? Having to hold both characters in our head simultaneously gives us a chance to transcend both their worlds into one that is more real? The irony is that we do not realize the finiteness of the dream world, as we are living it as if it is the ultimate. We wake up and realize that although there are truths in these dream worlds, that we cannot be reduced to solely these salience landscapes. We are called to and are part of something greater. Sometimes we may be stuck in a perspective within the dream world. Our salience is within the dream world, and so we cannot aspire out since this dream isn't connected with the ultimate. Irony is an attempt to wake you up from the dream world But what constitutes a dream world? - When we're too busy focused on a single identity in our life, where we always see things as salient to that, and not the bigger picture - When I'm too focused on being productive, I fail to realize the deep meaning that relationships and leisure grants me. I instead continue prioritizing work by time-blocking my days for productive time, which feels like the right choice when under the salience of my productivity mindset, but isn't a good choice in context to what is ultimate - The aeshetic life in [[Kierkegaards three stages of life]] What other types of irony are there? - Ironic [[Relationships]], see more in [[Kierkegaardian Suffering]] ## Cultivation - [[Socratic dialogue]]'s irony helps us prepare for the paradox of Christ through our constant pursuit to what is real, beyond the limited mindsets we find ourself in (similar to the different ironic characters found in Kierkegaard's writing). But eventually even socratic dialogue cannot take us to the ultimate. It only lets us participate in it. - ![[After Socrates Episode 15 - Socrates Meets Kierkegaard Philosophy's Greatest Dialogues#^ul1b4f]] - With Socratic dialogue, even non-true arguments are seen to have some relationship with the truth. the relationship is a matter of character, not a matter of proposition [^1] # References [^1]: ![[After Socrates Episode 15 - Socrates Meets Kierkegaard Philosophy's Greatest Dialogues#^ul1b4f]]