Today we celebrate the birth of two philosophical heavyweights that gave us much food for thought.

Mr. Marx was born in 1818, while Mr. Kierkegaard was born 5 years earlier in 1813.

Mr. Marx was German, while Mr. Kierkegaard was Danish.

Mr. Marx aligned himself with the “Left Hegelians“, while Mr. Kierkegaard strongly criticized the Hegelianism of his time.

Mr. Marx is best known for his The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, while Mr. Kierkegaard is known forEither/Or and Fear and Trembling.

In college I wrote a paper comparing Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves to some of Mr. Kierkegaard’s ideas. I never wrote a paper comparing a Lars von Trier film to any of Mr. Marx’s ideas.