Viktoras Bachmetjevas Between the Two Ethics: Why Assessor Wilhelm is not a Judge Abstract: Although there is a broad agreement among Kierkegaard’s scholars that Assessor Wilhelm is an ethical thinker, the agreement on what kind of ethics his standpoint represents has been much harder to come by. The suggestions range from Schiller to Aristotle and from Kant to Hegel. The article contends that the apparent lack of a coherent ethical theory on Assessor Wilhelm’s part is in fact part of a deliberate ethical strategy. Based on Vigilius Haufniensis’ distinction between first and second ethics, it is argued that Assessor Wilhelm occupies a space in between, in which he attempts to create a dynamic for A in the direction of the so-called second ethics, and this by mainly using ironic means. Introduction Assessor Wilhelm (or Judge William, as he is known in the Hong edition) is certainly one of the most puzzling of all the voices that appear in Kierkegaard’s works, although this may not be apparent immediately.To the contrary, at a first glance he seems to be a rather transparent and straightforward character. His function, it seems, is to serve as a counterpoint to the immediacy, sensuality, aestheticism, and fragmentary nature of A, the main protagonist of Either/Or Part I. On this reading, Assessor Wilhelm, then, is a representative of mediation, rationality, consistency, and ethical normativity. In short, Assessor Wilhelm is the opposite of A, everything that A is not. In addition, as Assessor Wilhelm appears in Either/Or Part II, after the first part, it seems that the relation between A’s position and the position of Assessor Wilhelm is not merely antagonistic, but that they also have an inner hierarchy. The latter position comes after the former and, therefore, supersedes it and is superior to it. In other words, these two positions are stages within one singular dynamic progression.¹ If this reading is correct, it suggests that the aesthetic  The theory of the stages, of course, is supported by Stages on Life’s Way. Its relation to Either/ Or is accentuated with a partial overlap of the protagonists (Assessor Wilhelm makes an appearance as himself, while in The Young Man one cannot avoid seeing the shadows of A). However, the theory of the stages is beyond the scope of this paper. https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2020-0002