In this chapter Kierkegaard begins to define his concept of subjective thought and to contrast it with objective thought. Subjective thought takes as its starting point the fact that the inquirer is an existing being. Thus, the question of truth directly concerns the thinking subject insofar as they exist. Objective thought considers truth an object, something external to the thinking subject, and thus tends to ignore the thinking subject entirely. By contrast, subjective thought considers truth “a matter of appropriation, of inwardness, […] and thought must probe more and more deeply into the subject and his subjectivity” (171).

For Kierkegaard, there are problems with the objective theory of truth. In trying to be objective, a thinker tends to forget what inwardness is and what it means to exist. Not only is objective thought indifferent to the thinking subject, but it ultimately makes the truth a matter of indifference too by stifling a sense of one’s passionate involvement in the truth (173).

Speculative philosophy claims to enable the thinker to transcend themself and grasp truth objectively, but, Kierkegaard says, this is impossible. We are existing individuals who live in time and are thus in a constant state of becoming.