人生三種絕望：Soren Kierkegaard

丹麥哲學家克爾凱郭爾在飽受抑鬱症折磨後，就曾說過：人生有三種絕望——不知道自我，不願意擁有自我，不能夠擁有自我。

The quote attributed to the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, “There are three kinds of despair: not knowing oneself, not wanting to be oneself, not being able to be oneself,” is a paraphrase of ideas found in his work *The Sickness Unto Death*, published in 1849 under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. The original English translation by Walter Lowrie (1941) does not contain this exact phrasing but describes these concepts in Part I, Section C, where Kierkegaard outlines three forms of despair:

1. **Despair at not being conscious of having a self** (not knowing oneself): “The despair which not only occasions no embarrassment but makes one's life easy and comfortable is naturally not regarded as despair… precisely the thing of not being conscious of oneself as spirit is despair, which is spiritlessness.”[](http://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/idolanon/SKsickness.html)

2. **Despair at not willing to be oneself** (not wanting to be oneself): “In despair at not willing to be oneself… the individual wishes to be the complete master of his or her destiny (which of course is impossible).”[](https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/sickness/section7/)

3. **Despair at willing to be oneself** (not being able to be oneself): “In despair to will to be oneself… the individual finds him or herself in despair, understands they are in despair, seeks some way to alleviate it, and yet no help is forthcoming.”[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_S%25C3%25B8ren_Kierkegaard)

The exact phrasing you provided appears to be a simplified or interpretive translation, likely from a Chinese source summarizing Kierkegaard’s ideas. For the closest original text, refer to *The Sickness Unto Death*, particularly Part I.C, where these forms of despair are detailed. A direct quote encapsulating all three forms as you’ve stated is not found verbatim in standard English translations (e.g., Lowrie or Hong editions), but the concepts align with Kierkegaard’s discussion of despair as a misrelation of the self to itself and to God.[](https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/kierkegaard/section3/)[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sickness_unto_Death)[](https://sorenkierkegaard.org/sickness-unto-death.html)