Nevertheless, Kierkegaard proposed that readers should remain highly critical towards religion itself. Kierkegaard, although a Lutheran writer, spends most of his philosophical career criticising the Lutheran Church which he claims have prevented individuals from reaching authenticity (Religious stage), but remained in the form of ritualistic Christian practices (Ethical stage) at church and continues Borguiesse lifestyle at secular life (Aesthete stage) (Kierkegaard, 1968: 121-123). Kierkegaard’s critic towards the local religious institution of Denmark reminds us of how various social institution, secular or religious, tend to strain us into unauthentic identity. The author, echoes with Kierkegaard that the quest for authenticity still remains in this epoch.
Conclusion
This article attempts to describe the relation of knowledge and individual existence. The author has used the ideological, institutional, and existential level of analysis to compare the difference of Modernity and Liquid Modernity towards human experience. It is realised that modernity is associated with the ideological notion of rationalism and progress, institutional mechanism of bureaucracy and economic industry, existential characteristic of Ethical living. Liquid modernity is associated with the ideological notion of liberation and individualised norm, institutional mechanism of social network and economic enterprise, and the existential characteristic of Aesthete living. The quest for authenticity still remains a challenge as the cultural mentality of modernity and liquid modernity is insufficient to provide an existential satisfaction for the individual.
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