Søren Kierkegaard · 1813–1855
Some things you can’t plan.
You leap.
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard argued that life’s decisive choices can’t be reached by reasoning one step at a time. At some point thinking runs out, and you have to decide. You leap.
He developed the idea in Fear and Trembling (1843) and Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846), picking up Lessing’s image of an “ugly, broad ditch” between reason and faith. The phrase “leap of faith” is a later summary; Kierkegaard simply called it the leap.
You can’t plan your way to something new. We build a working prototype early, because trying teaches more than planning.