Post #2: The Concept of the Ethical

Kierkegaard asks in “Problema III” if Abraham’s concealment is ethically defensible. What does Kierkegaard mean by the ethical in this section? He describes the ethical in the beginning of this section “as such the universal; [and] as the universal it is in turn the disclosed” (p. 108 Penguin Classics). In order to understand Kierkegaard’s meaning of the ethical, one must first know what he means by the universal as well as the disclosed.

The ethical is the universal. The term “universal” relates to the putative entirety of all existing matter. The universal is a whole made up of individual parts. However, Kierkegaard is not referring to all matter in the universe when he calls the ethical that which is the universal. Instead, he claims that the universal is that which is disclosed, or in other words, revealed. The disclosed is that which is communicated and communicable. The disclosed is the opposite of what is kept secret. The undisclosed is either beyond the universal, in a religious sense as in the case of Abraham’s faith, or against it, e.g. in the form of sin, which may be considered religious as well. In either case, the undisclosed is unethical.

Thus all things that are manifest (from and among human beings) belong to the realm of the universal, where they are subject to moral code and judgment. This is basis for the universal’s ethical quality. That which is disclosed must be rational and adhere to ethical principles. In the realm of the universal in this section, the disclosed has a duty to the universal. It must be justifiable based on its telos (which must benefit the whole, i.e. the universal) and defensible by reasonable standards. The ethical applies to all parts of the whole. It applies to all members of the universal. The universal implies unconditional adherence and disclosure.

So it is seen that the ethical as Kierkegaard means it is that which is within the realm of all things manifest, subject to moral principle, and applicable to all members of the universal whole. Contrary to the ethical is that which is undisclosed, whether it is beyond or against the whole. The ethical must also be that which is rationally defensible and teleological justifiable.