The marriage according to Kierkegaard facing the liquid love of Zygmunt Bauman

Abstract

The concept of marriage by Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is expressed in the Stadier, which has a part translated into Portuguese as “The marriage”. We take as a starting point that the author's reflection may still be relevant to the context of contemporary Modernity, especially in dialogue with the concept of “Liquid Love”, present in the homonymous work of the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017). Marriage, in Kierkegaard's view, is the union of spirit in which lovers celebrate love, and in order to keep it long-lived, the maintenance of erotic love is necessary, since love precedes marriage. On the other hand, in “liquid love”, instability, fugacity and consumerism prevent the realization of marriage, making it flexible in ways that are instantaneous and insensitive to affectivity. The hypothesis of this article is that a convergence between the authors is in the condition that married life is understood: nothing is stable existentially that can last forever, either before or after marriage. Considering the connection that the concepts of Kierkegaard and Bauman may have with the existentialist perspective in the Contemporary Age, we will be able to observe how the affective ties were significantly affected in the 20th century.