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{{Short description|Religious and philosophical concept}}
{{Dmy|date=August 2023}}{{Other uses|Leap of faith (disambiguation)}}{{original research|date=August 2023}}{{Wiktionary}}
In [[philosophy]], a '''leap of faith''' is the act of [[belief|believing]] in or accepting something not on the basis of [[reason]]. The phrase is commonly associated with Danish philosopher [[Søren Kierkegaard]].

== Idiomatic usage ==
As an [[idiom]], ''leap of faith'' can refer to the act of believing something that is unprovable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leap of faith |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/leap%20of%20faith |access-date=2023-08-12 |website=Dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref> The term can also refer to a risky thing a person does in hopes of a positive outcome.<ref>{{Cite web |title=leap of faith |url=https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/leap-of-faith |access-date=2023-08-11 |website=Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English}}</ref> Moreover, ''leap of faith'' may also refer to a mechanic in [[Video game|videogames]] in which the player is forced to jump to a platform or location that cannot be seen from the player's current position.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leap of Faith |url=https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LeapOfFaith |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=TV Tropes}}</ref>

== Background ==
[[File:Kierkegaard portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Kierkegaard at his desk]]The phrase is commonly attributed to [[Søren Kierkegaard]], though he never used the term "leap of faith", but instead referred to a "qualitative leap".<ref>{{Citation |last=Hannay |first=Alastair |title=Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Crumbs |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511626760.005 |date=2009 |pages=1–2 |access-date=2023-11-28 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511626760.005 |isbn=978-0-511-62676-0 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The implication of taking a leap of faith can, depending on the context, carry positive or negative connotations, as some feel it is a virtue to be able to believe in something without evidence while others feel it is foolishness, as is presented in [[Fear and Trembling]] on Abraham's figure when God demands the sacrifice of his son  Ismail (Ishmael): <blockquote>If Abraham had doubted as he stood there on Mount Moriah, if irresolute he had looked around, if he had happened to spot the ram before drawing the knife, if God had allowed him to sacrifice it instead of Ismail—then he would have gone home, everything would have been the same, he would have had Sarah, he would have kept Ismail, and yet how changed!<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Soren |title=Fear And Trembling |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1983 |isbn=1-400810-329 |pages=22}}</ref></blockquote>

==Development of concept by Kierkegaard==
[[File:Soeren kierkegaard 5627.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Kierkegaard in 1838 or 1840]]
A leap of faith, according to Kierkegaard, involves [[circular reasoning|circularity]] as the leap is made ''by'' faith.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Alastair Hannay |editor2=Gordon D. Marino |name-list-style=amp |year=2006 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47719-2}}</ref> In his book ''[[Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments|Concluding Unscientific Postscript]]'', Kierkegaard describes the leap: "Thinking can turn toward itself in order to think about itself and [[skepticism]] can emerge. But this thinking about itself never accomplishes anything." Kierkegaard says thinking should serve by thinking something. Kierkegaard wants to stop "thinking's self-reflection" and that is the movement that constitutes a leap.{{sfn|Kierkegaard|1992|p=335}}

Kierkegaard was an orthodox Scandinavian [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] in conflict with the [[Liberal Christianity|liberal theological]] establishment of his day. His works included the orthodox Lutheran conception of a God that unconditionally accepts man, faith itself being a gift from God, and that the highest moral position is reached when a person realizes this and, no longer depending upon her or himself, takes the leap of faith into the arms of a loving God.

Kierkegaard describes "the leap" using the story of [[Adam and Eve]], particularly Adam's qualitative "leap" into sin. Adam's leap signifies a change from one quality to another—the quality of possessing no sin to the quality of possessing sin. Kierkegaard writes that the transition from one quality to another can take place only by a "leap".<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |title=The Concept of Anxiety |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1980 |editor-last=Thomte |editor-first=Reidar |orig-year=1844}}</ref>{{Rp|page=232}} When the transition happens, one moves directly from one state to the other, never possessing both qualities.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=82–85|location=note}} Kierkegaard wrote, "In the Moment man becomes conscious that he is born; for his antecedent state, to which he may not cling, was one of non-being."{{sfn|Kierkegaard|1936|p=15}} Kierkegaard felt that a leap of faith was vital in accepting Christianity due to the [[Paradox|paradoxes]] that exist in Christianity. In his books ''[[Philosophical Fragments]]'' and ''[[Concluding Unscientific Postscript]]'' Kierkegaard delves deeply into the paradoxes that Christianity presents.{{Cn|date=August 2023}}

In describing the leap, Kierkegaard agreed with [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Vincent Edward |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009946721 |title=Idea-Men of Today |publisher=Bruce |year=1950 |place=Milwaukee, WI |pages=254–255}}</ref> Kierkegaard's use of the term "leap" was in response to "Lessing's Ditch" which was discussed by Lessing in his theological writings.<ref>{{harvnb|Lessing|2005|pp=83–88}}.<br />{{*}}{{harvnb|Kierkegaard|1992|pp=61ff & 93ff}};<br />{{*}}{{cite journal |last1=Benton |first1=Matthew |date=2006 |title=The Modal Gap: the Objective Problem of Lessing's Ditch(es) and Kierkegaard's Subjective Reply |url=http://philpapers.org/rec/BENTMG |journal=Religious Studies |volume=42 |pages=27–44 |doi=10.1017/S0034412505008103 |s2cid=9776505}}</ref> Both Lessing and Kierkegaard discuss the [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]] one might use to base one's faith upon. Lessing tried to battle rational Christianity directly and, when that failed, he battled it indirectly through what Kierkegaard called "imaginary constructions".<ref>{{harvnb|Kierkegaard|1992|pp=114, 263–266, 381, 512, 617}}.<br />{{*}}{{harvnb|Lessing|1893|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}}</ref> Both were influenced by [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. In 1950, philosopher Vincent Edward Smith wrote that "Lessing and Kierkegaard declare in typical fashion that there is no bridge between historical, finite knowledge and God's existence and nature."<ref name=":0" /> 

In 1846, Kierkegaard wrote, "The leap becomes easier in the degree to which some distance intervenes between the initial position and the place where the leap takes off. And so it is also with respect to a decisive movement in the realm of the spirit. The most difficult decisive action is not that in which the individual is far removed from the decision (as when a non-Christian is about to decide to become one), but when it is as if the matter were already decided."{{sfn|Kierkegaard|1941|pp=326–327|loc=(Problem of the Fragments)}}

{{Quotation|Suppose that [Friedrich Heinrich] [[Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi|Jacobi]] himself has made the leap; suppose that with the aid of eloquence he manages to persuade a learner to want to do it. Then the learner has a direct relation to Jacobi and consequently does not himself come to make the leap. The direct relation between one human being and another is naturally much easier and gratifies one’s sympathies and one’s own need much more quickly and ostensibly more reliable.{{sfn|Kierkegaard|1992|pp=610–611}}}}

==Interpretation by other philosophers==
[[Immanuel Kant]] used the term "leap" in his 1784 essay, ''[[Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?]]'', writing: "[[Dogma|Dogmas]] and formulas, these mechanical tools designed for reasonable use—or rather abuse—of his natural gifts, are the fetters of an everlasting [[nonage]]. The man who casts them off would make an uncertain leap over the narrowest ditch, because he is not used to such free movement. That is why there are only a few men who walk firmly, and who have emerged from nonage by cultivating their own minds."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kant |first=Immanuel |url=http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html |title=What Is Enlightenment? |translator-last=Smith |translator-first=Mary C}}</ref>

Some theistic realms of thought do not agree with the implications that this phrase carries. [[C. S. Lewis]] argues against the idea that Christianity requires a "leap of faith". One of Lewis' arguments is that [[supernatural]]ism, a basic tenet of Christianity, can be logically inferred based on a [[teleological]] argument regarding the source of human reason.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} Some Christians are less critical of the term and do accept that religion requires a "leap of faith".

Jacobi, Hegel, and C. S. Lewis wrote about Christianity in accordance with their understanding. Kierkegaard was of the opinion that faith was unexplainable and inexplicable. The more a person tries to explain personal faith to another, the more entangled that person becomes in language and [[semantics]] but "[[recollection]]"  is "''das Zugleich'', the all-at-once," that always brings him back to himself.<ref>Søren Kierkegaard, ''Stages on Life's Way'', Hong p. 386—{{full citation needed|date=March 2021 |reason=Translated version, which one?}}</ref>

In the 1916 article "The Anti-Intellectualism of Kierkegaard", [[David F. Swenson (translator)|David F. Swenson]] wrote:

{{Quotation|H2 plus O becomes water, and water becomes ice, by a leap. The change from motion to rest, or vice versa, is a transition which cannot be logically construed; this is the basic principle of [[Zeno of Elea|Zeno]]'s [[dialectic]] [...] It is therefore transcendent and non-rational, and its coming into existence can only be apprehended as a leap. In the same manner, every causal system presupposes an external environment as the condition of change. Every transition from the detail of an empirical induction to the ideality and universality of law, is a leap. In the actual process of thinking, we have the leap by which we arrive at the understanding of an idea or an author.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Anti-Intellectualism of Kierkegaard |author=David F. Swenson |url=https://archive.org/stream/philosophicalrev25cornuoft#page/576/mode/2up |journal=The Philosophical Review |volume=XXV |issue=4 |date=1916 |pages=577–578}}</ref>}}

==References==
{{Reflist |30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-link=Søren Kierkegaard |year=1843 |title=Either/Or |title-link=Either/Or (Kierkegaard book) |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1843 |title=Either/Or, Part I |translator1=David F. Swenson |publisher=}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1843 |title=Either/Or, Part II |translator1=Hong |publisher=}}
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1844 |title=The Concept of Anxiety |title-link=The Concept of Anxiety |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1980 |orig-year=1844 |title=The Concept of Anxiety |editor-first=Reidar |editor-last=Thomte |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1844 |title=The Concept of Anxiety |editor-first=Todd |editor-last=Nichols |publisher=}}
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1844 |title=Philosophical Fragments |title-link=Philosophical Fragments |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |translator=David F. Swenson |year=1936 |title=Philosophical Fragments |place=London |publisher=Humphrey Milford |oclc=974290732}}
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |date=March 13, 1847 |title=Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits |title-link=Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |title=Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits |orig-year=March 13, 1847 |year=1993 |editor-first=Howard |editor-last=Hong |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1846 |title=Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments |title-link=Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |translator1=David F. Swenson |translator2=Walter Lowrie |name-list-style=amp |year=1941 |title=Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |translator1=Howard V. Hong |translator2=Edna H. Hong |name-list-style=amp |year=1992 |title=Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, Vol I |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691073958}}
** ——— (2009). Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Crumbs, Edited and Translated by Alastair Hannay. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521709101.
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |year=1847 |title=Works of Love |title-link=Works of Love |language=da}}
** {{cite book |last=Kierkegaard |first=Søren |author-mask=3 |editor1=Howard V. Hong |editor2=Edna H. Hong |name-list-style=amp |year=1995 |title=Works of Love |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Lessing |first=Gotthold Ephraim |orig-date=1777 |year=1956 |chapter=On the Proof of the Spirit and of Power |editor=Henry Chadwick |title=Lessing's Theological Writing |series=A Library of Modern Religious Thought |publisher=Stanford University Press |chapter-url=http://faculty.tcu.edu/grant/hhit/Lessing.pdf}}
* {{cite book |last=Lessing |first=Gotthold Ephraim |author-mask=3 |orig-date=1777 |year=2005 |chapter=On the Proof of the Spirit and of Power |editor=H. B. Nisbet |title=Philosophical and Theological Writings |translator=H. B. Nisbet |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book|ref=none |last=Lessing |first=Gotthold Ephraim |author-mask=3 |year=1779 |title=Nathan the Wise |title-link=Nathan the Wise}}
** {{cite book |last=Lessing |first=Gotthold Ephraim |author-mask=3 |orig-date=1779 |year=1893 |title=Nathan the Wise: A Dramatic Poem in Five Acts |translator=William Taylor |publisher=Cassell & Company |url=https://archive.org/details/nathanthewiseadr03820gut}}
* {{Citation | last = von Goethe | first = Johann Wolfgang | author-link = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | url = https://archive.org/stream/autogoethe00goetuoft#page/n31/mode/2up | type = autobiography | title = Truth and poetry, from my own life | year = 1848 | translator = [[John Oxenford]]}}.

==External links==
* [[Gotthold Lessing]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=N8Tb928lqokC Lessing's Theological Writings, Selections in Translation Stanford University Press, Jun 1, 1957]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pbjbO-rxEY&list=UUWkGO7YaheZl-v2RG2idJJQ&index=1 Center on Capitalism & Society 200 Anniversary of Soren Kierkegaard] ''Leap of Faith'' (Video)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b50FCprrdSU&list=PL3f9lXlSsy4frFPtkrVBTe_vgN-d__dUq&index=1 Jack Crabtree (Gutenberg College, Eugene Oregon) Explaining Kierkegaard]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41oKjXda-4w Marx and Kierkegaard, Sea of Faith, 1984 BBC documentary] YouTube Video
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYHk_TieMLQ From the Aesthetic to the Leap of Faith: Søren Kierkegaard] YouTube video

{{Søren Kierkegaard}}
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