Fear And Trembling

The rest of the book is devoted to exploring three questions. The first asks, “Is there such a thing as a teleological suspension of the ethical?” (107). The ethical is the universal, meaning it applies to all people at all times. There is nothing beyond the ethical, and a person’s goal is to become part of the universal by joining with the ethical. Because the goal of a human is to join in the ethical that is society, Hegel is right in calling the individual a moral form of evil. But this reasoning does not apply to Abraham who should not be considered a murderer.

Faith is a paradox by which an individual can go beyond the universal. Faith cannot be mediated; rather, it has always existed beyond the universal. Mediation can only occur in the universal, the world of human society. There is an ethical relationship between Abraham and Isaac, but Abraham does not follow it. The father is supposed to love the son more than he loves anyone else, including himself. When Abraham chooses to follow God and sacrifice Isaac, he neglects the ethical.