Critic, poet and philosopher Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829) was a leading figure of German Romanticism. In the two years before his untimely death, he wrote three cycles of lectures intended as part of a larger project to lay the foundations of a new general philosophy. Two of these cycles, 'Philosophie des Lebens' (given in 1827, published 1828) and 'Philosophie des Sprache und des Wortes' (given in December 1828 and published posthumously), are reissued here in an 1847 English translation. (...) The first presents Schlegel's understanding of philosophy as independent of theology or politics, concerned with the 'inner spiritual life' of humankind. The second explores the nature of communication through language and art. Schlegel argues that full human consciousness cannot be restored by Enlightenment science, but only by divine revelation and redemption. He offers no ready-made solutions, but encourages his listeners to develop their own responses to these questions. (shrink)

1827 hielt Friedrich Schlegel seine Vorlesungen zur "Philosophie des Lebens". Damit beginnt sich der Diskurs der modernen Lebensphilosophie zu manifestieren. Doch diese diskurs-begründende Leistung Schlegels wurde bisher nicht gewürdigt. Deshalb hat Robert Josef Kozljanic hier nun erstmals die entscheidenden Vorlesungen Schlegels ausgewählt, betitelt und herausgegeben. In seinem nachfolgenden Text "Schlegel und die Lebensphilosophie des 21. Jahrhunderts - Eine Manifestation" zieht Kozljanic die Linie weiter. Er greift Schlegels Lebensphilosophie engagiert auf und öffnet sie in Richtung Zukunft. Damit fließen (...) erstmals neue Themen in den lebensphilosophischen Diskurs. Themen, die bisher auf dem Gebiet der Philosophiegeschichte übersehen oder abgedrängt wurden: die wichtige Rolle der Lebensphilosophinnen, die dialogisch-philosophische Grundhaltung, Philosophie als Lebenskunst und Leben-Liebes-Kunst, die Frage der Leibes-Lust-Kultivierung, die Funktion der Lebenserfahrungsvernunft und die Suche nach einem gesellschaftskritischen und zugleich empathisch-lebendigen Ich. (shrink)

Critic, poet and philosopher Friedrich von Schlegel was a leading figure of German Romanticism. In the two years before his untimely death, he wrote three cycles of lectures intended as part of a larger project to lay the foundations of a new general philosophy. Two of these cycles, 'Philosophie des Lebens' and 'Philosophie des Sprache und des Wortes', are reissued here in an 1847 English translation. The first presents Schlegel's understanding of philosophy as independent of theology or (...) politics, concerned with the 'inner spiritual life' of humankind. The second explores the nature of communication through language and art. Schlegel argues that full human consciousness cannot be restored by Enlightenment science, but only by divine revelation and redemption. He offers no ready-made solutions, but encourages his listeners to develop their own responses to these questions. (shrink)

Volume: v. 1 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1835 Original Publisher: Saunders and Otley Subjects: History History / General ...

PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. LECTURE X. On the Christian point of view in the Philosophy of History.— The origin of Christianity, considered in reference to the ...

Des choses divines et de leur revelation est le testament philosophique de son auteur, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. La premiere evaluation d'ensemble du postkantisme et des grands systemes idealistes qu'il y propose determine encore l'image que nous pouvons nous faire de la philosophie classique allemande. La querelle qu'elle a declenchee et la reponse outranciere que lui a apportee Schelling, blesse par la critique du naturalisme que developpe la deuxieme partie de l'ouvrage, en font le document le plus precieux dont nous (...) disposions pour interpreter les debats qui, durant les premieres decennies du XIXe siecle, ont mis aux prises la philosophie de la religion et la theologie speculative. La discussion des rapports du realisme et de l'idealisme religieux, de la revelation de la raison et de la doctrine positive que Jacobi developpe d'abord en reponse a Matthias Claudius, puis lors d'un dialogue avec Friedrich Schlegel, non seulement eclaire cette lecture de l'histoire de la philosophie a l'heure de l'avenement du nihilisme, mais permet aussi de comprendre ce que l'auteur entend par ce vrai rationalisme qu'il oppose aux philosophes de son temps. Elle donne ainsi a celui qui fut l'un des peres de l'idealisme allemand en meme temps que son critique le plus acerbe l'occasion de preciser une derniere fois les rapports de la raison et de l'entendement, question qu'avec Kant, il fut l'un des premiers a poser a la pensee moderne. (shrink)

Der genaue Charakter dieser Schrift, die Grenzen neu zieht (so zwischen Metaphysik und Moral auf der einen und Religion auf der anderen Seite), aber auch überschreitet (so im literarischen Genus), läßt sich indessen nur schwer bestimmen. Die Reden waren Schleiermachers literarischer Erstling. Ihre Abfassung fällt in die Zeit der intensiven Freundschaft und Zusammenarbeit mit Friedrich Schlegel, sie zeugen aber bereits von der Eigenständigkeit und Originalität der Schleiermacherschen Gedanken innerhalb des frühromantischen Freundeskreises. Die Entschiedenheit, mit der Schleiermacher die Religion (...) von der Philosophie trennt, verbietet es, die Reden umstandslos als einen philosophischen Text zu lesen. Doch diese Trennung verliert dort an Schärfe, wo er die Religion ausdrücklich ins Verhältnis zur Philosophie setzt und nicht nur die Philosophie betreffende Thesen vertritt, sondern auch philosophische Positionen für sein Religionsverständnis vereinnahmt. Dies geschieht vor allem dort, wo die Religion als 'Gefühl des Unendlichen' bzw. 'Sehnsucht' nach dem Unendlichen spekulative Bedeutung erlangt. Die Religion, so führt Schleiermacher aus, bilde das 'Gegengewicht' zu dem "Triumph der Spekulation [...], dem vollendeten und gerundeten Idealismus", indem sie ihn "einen höheren Realismus ahnden läßt als den, welchem er so kühn und mit so vollem Recht sich unterordnet". (shrink)

Excerpt from Philosophische und Vermischte Schriften, Vol. 2 About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, (...) however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

Recent years have witnessed a rehabilitation of early German Romanticism in philosophy, including a renewed interest in Romantic ethics. Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) is acknowledged as a key figure in this movement. While significant work has been done on some aspects of his thought, his views on ethics have been surprisingly overlooked. This essay aims to redress this shortcoming in the literature by examining the core themes of Schlegel’s ethics during the early phase of his career (1793–1801). I (...) argue that Schlegel’s position stands out against both the dominant Kantianism of his era, as well as against some of fellow Romantics. I show how Schlegel anticipates contemporary philosophers such as Bernard Williams, Harry Frankfurt, John McDowell, and Stanley Cavell in both his criticisms of traditional moral theory and in his attempts to develop a positive position. (shrink)

I consider Friedrich Schlegel as a philosopher, and argue that Schlegel’s philosophical views must be understood in relation to his emphasis on history and historical knowledge and his claim that philosophy must emerge from and in relation to life. Thus, in deep contrast to two influential interpretations of Schlegel--Hegel’s view of Schlegel’s philosophy as a poetic exaggeration of the Fichtean subject and the postmodern view of Schlegel as a deeply sceptical anti-idealist--I contend that (...) class='Hi'>Schlegel sough to develop a historically-informed philosophy and maintained that it is only through concrete knowledge of political and social realities that we can understand the nature of morality and achieve moral progress. Furthermore, I argue that Schlegel did not entirely forgo the possibility of systematic knowledge, but developed a new conception of systematicity based on his understanding of living or organic beings. (shrink)

_Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde and the Fragments _ was first published in 1971. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. For the last century and a half, Friedrich Schlegel has enjoyed a reputation for being the critical grey eminence behind the coming to power of the Romantic Movement. It was Schlegel, in his three series of aphoristic fragments _, who (...) actually first defined and employed the word "romantic" in the present sense; and it was he who in a chaotic, fragmentary, and often mysterious but forceful manner first proclaimed the doctrine that was to usher in the modern age in literature. He too was among the first to put his new program into practice in the shape of his unfinished _Lucinde_,a work variously denounced as pornography and heralded as a forerunner of modern novelistic experimentation, and probably the most famous novel to come out of German Romanticism. Both the _Fragments _and _Lucinde_,along with a brilliant _tour de force_, the "Essay on Incomprehensibility," are available now for the first time in a complete English translation in this volume, together with a brief scholarly introduction. This translation will enable non-German readers to examine at first hand the work of a man whom Rene Wellck has called "one of the greatest critics of history." At a time when the function of criticism is coming once again under close skeptical scrutiny, Friedrich Schlegel's unorthodox, unsystematic but seminal critical mind—all of literature, philosophy, art, and history were grist to his mill—should find many sympathetic readers. The book will be of particular interest to theorists of literature and fiction, comparative literature scholars, and historians of the intellectual history of Germany, and it is appropriate for course use in German and comparative literature classes. (shrink)

In this study I have presented Early-German Romanticism as a philosophical movement and Friedrich Schlegel as its major philsopher. The central philosophical problem which concerned this movement was the problem of philosophy's beginning. Schlegel's skeptical view led him to reject both Reinhold's foundationalism and Jacobi's irrationalism. This skeptical position distinguishes Early-German Romanticism from Fichte's idealism. ;Schlegel's rejection of Fichte's solution to the problem of philosophy's beginning led to a unique solution: the Wechselerweis. This involves the claim (...) that philosophy cannot begin with any single principle, but only with the interaction between at least two principles. This interactive model involves an ever-changing dialogue between the knowing subject and the world. For Schlegel, philosophy cannot be understood without an understanding of change. Therefore, history becomes a central part of the activity of philosophizing. According to Schlegel's view, philosophy never begins with a point of absolute certainty but always in the middle. (shrink)

In this paper I reconstruct Schlegel's idea that romantic poetry can re-enchant nature in a way that is uniquely compatible with modernity's epistemic and political values of criticism, self-criticism, and freedom. I trace several stages in Schlegel's early thinking concerning nature. First, he criticises modern culture for its analytic, reflective form of rationality which encourages a disenchanting view of nature. Second, he re-evaluates this modern form of rationality as making possible an ironic, romantic, poetry, which portrays natural phenomena (...) as mysterious indications of an underlying reality that transcends knowledge. Yet Schlegel relies here on a contrast between human freedom and natural necessity that reinstates a disenchanting view of nature as fully intelligible and predictable. Third, therefore, he reconceives nature as inherently creative and poetic, rethinking human creativity as consisting in participation in natural creative processes. He replaces his earlier "idealist" view that reality is in itself unknowable with the "idealist realist" view that reality is knowable as creative nature, yet, in its spontaneous creativity, still eludes full comprehension. I argue that Schlegel's third approach to the re-enchantment of nature is his most consistent and satisfactory, and is important for contemporary environmental philosophy in showing how re-enchantment is compatible with modernity. (shrink)

Though irony is a category familiar to rhetoric and literature, its philosophical forms are far less explored, and this is especially true with regards to its articulation in the work of Friedrich Schlegel. Schlegel’s engagement with irony is essential to the Romantic philosophical project, one that is fundamentally concerned with contradiction and posits itself as a challenge to and continuation of idealism. Through exploring his relation to the philosophies of Kant and Fichte, this essay demonstrates that (...) class='Hi'>Schlegel can deploy irony as a method of taking up the philosophical paradigm of idealism without limiting himself to their systems. He can use Kant and Fichte against themselves, making sincere philosophical arguments through a brazen playfulness. Further, Schlegel’s concept of irony is shown to be a philosophical faculty that is concerned with the limits of philosophy in language. Irony is much more than a rhetorical device – it is a form that allows Schlegel to approach the limits of discursivity from within and so continually stage instances of philosophical contradiction, undermining systematicity. This centering of contradiction is one of Schlegel’s major contributions to the development of German philosophy, critical of those who precede him and spurning their presuppositions of univocal logic. The outworking of Schlegel’s philosophical concern with irony is unmistakably humorous, full of puns, jokes and witticisms, which nevertheless need to be taken seriously. This paper contends that irony is at the crux of Schlegel’s philosophical project, simultaneously the content and mode of his criticism, the source and justification of his humour, and one of Romanticism’s most significant conceptual developments. (shrink)

The word “romanticism” designates in German as in other European languages a broad movement in literature that originated at the beginning of the nineteenth century and has often been characterized as an opposition to the preceding age of rationalism and Enlightenment. Situated between the classicist schools of taste of the previous century and the realistic and naturalistic trends in literature of the later nineteenth century, Romanticism or romantic literature is the product of the creative power of the imagination; it appeals (...) to the emotions, has a preference for the mysterious aspects of nature, and shows a strong predilection for the past, the Middle Ages, and mythological traditions. With its strong affinity to the novel, romantic literature departs from the classical forms and the classicist canon of literature, but when these classical forms were nevertheless used by the authors of this movement, something new was created – the romantic tale, the romantic drama, and romantic poetry. The great romantic authors in Germany were E. T. A. Hoffmann, Eichendorff, Brentano, Arnim, and Fouqué. There is both a narrower and a broader notion of Romanticism in Germany, the broader also relating to painting (Friedrich, Runge) and music (Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bartholdy, Wagner). Romanticism had a great impact on the general view of the world and was influential in the rise of the historical consciousness, the revival of a religious spirit, and the emergence of a conservative political attitude. As far as philosophy and the sciences are concerned, Romanticism is associated with figures such as Schelling and Schopenhauer, the development of a philosophy of art, of nature, and of the subconscious. On the whole, Romanticism is one of those movements that shaped an entire age and manifested itself down to the most particular features of popular belief and scientific interest. (shrink)

The origins of early German Romanticism and the philosophical contributions of the movement’s most important philosopher.

_The origins of early German Romanticism and the philosophical contributions of the movement’s most important philosopher._.