The role of the concept of repetiton in Søren Aabye Kierkegaard in existence and self

The first name that comes to mind when it comes to existentialism in philosophy is the Danish philosopher Søren Aabye Kierkegaard and his individual-based philosophy. Concepts such as fear, anxiety, despair, choice, passion and absurdity that Kierkegaard brought to philosophical terminology, which is accepted as the starting point of existential philosophy by many thinkers, have also been the concepts that existential philosophers who emerged in later periods often emphasized. Another concept that Kierkegaard introduced to the philosophical literature is repetition. This concept tells us the reality of existence. In order to understand the concept of repetition that Kierkegaard added to modern philosophy, it is necessary to look at the problem of becoming and movement that Ancient Greek thinkers focused on. There are opinions of names such as Parmenides and Heraclitus regarding the movement of existence in ancient Greece. While Parmenides argues that there is no movement or change in existence, unlike Heraclitus Parmenides, he thinks that existence is subject to a movement in becoming. Plato, who came after these two thinkers, was in an effort to melt both ideas in the same pot. At this point, Plato attempts to explain existence and ideas with the theory of anamnesis (recollection). It is at this point that Kierkegaard says that recollection and repetition are the same movements. But with one difference; Recollection is a backward movement, while repetition is an existential movement that always takes place forward. In the first part of our study, we will focus on how the movement in Ancient Greece was handled by Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato and Aristotle. In the second part, it will be tried to explain what the concept of repetition means for Kierkegaard and what it means for individual existence. In the third and last part, it will be focused on how the individual constructs himself in the axis of the concept of repetition. Our study aims to understand the concept of repetition that Kierkegaard brought to modern philosophy and to reveal what role the concept of repetition has for existence and self.