Kierkegaard mentions the name of Socrates in the Hong edition of his journals and papers well over two hundred times. Some of his remarks revolve around themes familiar from the pseudonymous works, such as Socrates' existential “proof” for the immortality of the soul, the significance of his example for the Christian dialectician, his exemplary use of indirect communication, his attention to the single individual, his negativity, and his emphasis on doing as the proper criterion of knowing. On other occasions, Kierkegaard reflects on the Socratic nature of his own task. “I wonder if it did not go with Socrates in his age as with me,” he muses in a typical entry. “He came to be regarded as representing evil, for in those days ignorance was looked upon as evil – and yet Socrates was in truth the physician.” Yet another significant set of entries explores Socrates' anticipation of Christian existence – a theme that is especially prominent in Kierkegaard's later years. “This Socratic thesis is of utmost importance for Christianity,” he writes in 1850: