Conditions for ‘Upbuilding’: A Reply to Nigel Tubbs’ Reading of Kierkegaard

A Special Issue of the Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2005, issue 2, contains an interesting ‘Philosophy of the Teacher’ by Nigel Tubbs. It rejects attempts in pedagogical traditions to ignore or avoid the contradiction between the teacher as master and as servant, and ends with an interpretation of ‘upbuilding’, a central concept in Soren Kierkegaard’s writings. According to Tubbs’ reading, the teacher’s patient struggle with herself in doubt is the basic condition for upbuilding, whereby the eternal’s perfect gift of love is given to the students. I maintain that the original Danish text does not fully support this interpretation and defend an alternative reading. The text says that the condition for receiving the perfect gift is itself a gift of God. Doubt is necessary, but if our doubt were sufficient, we could manage our lives without God, the condition for receiving the gift would not be a gift, and the possibility for receiving the gift would be spoiled both for teachers and students.