Kierkegaard's Stages

Kierkegaard said that aesthetes think they are completely free and don't have any commitment or desires, they just live with their own rules. The person in the ethical stage think that the aesthetes aren't really free because they always go by their impulses. This can be seen in the movie Journey To The Mysterious Island. In this movie the main character Sean gets a message in Morse Code from his grandfather from an undiscovered island with mysterious species on it. He thinks he can break into this building to translate the message because in the previous movie he was famous for going to the center of the earth with his uncle. Sean gets caught and his step-dad, Hank, thinks he should do something productive with his life and not think of these fantasies. Hank translates the message and they find out that the island does exists. Sean thinks he can just drop everything an go but he still has school, while Hank is the realist and says Sean needs to stay and go to school. In this situation Hank is the person in the ethical stage and Sean is the aesthete. Hank wanted Sean to get a real education and be successful and Sean wanting to go out and be an explorer like his grandfather uncle and dad.

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