The definitive scholarly edition and new translation of all three versions of Hölderlin’s poem, The Death of Empedocles, and his related theoretical essays.

Dr Schaffer outlines the development of the mythological school of European Biblical criticism, especially its German origins and its reception in England, and studies the influence of this movement in the work of specific writers: Coleridge Hölderlin, Browning, and George Eliot. The 'higher criticism' treated sacred scripture as literature and as history, as the product of its time, and the highest expression of a developing group consciousness; it challenged current views on the authorship and dating of the Pentateuch and the (...) Gospels, on inspiration, prophecy, and canonicity, and formulated a new apologetics closely linked with the growth of Romantic aesthetics. The importance of this study is that it shows that readings of specific literary texts can intersect with general movements of thought and action through the scrutiny of a clearly defined intellectual discipline, here the higher criticism, which developed as a particular expression of the larger trends in the history of the period. Dr Shaffer throws light on individual works of literature, the formation between England and Germany, and the bases of European Romanticism. (shrink)

Die Reihe Studien zur deutschen Literatur präsentiert herausragende Untersuchungen zur deutschsprachigen Literatur von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart. Offen besonders auch für komparatistische, kulturwissenschaftliche und wissensgeschichtliche Fragestellungen, bietet sie ein traditionsreiches Forum für innovative literaturwissenschaftliche Forschung. Alle eingesandten Manuskripte werden doppelt begutachtet. Informationen zum Bewerbungsverfahren und zu Druckkostenzuschüssen erhalten Sie beim Verlag. Wenden Sie sich dazu bitte an den zuständigen Lektor Dr. Marcus Böhm (marcus.boehm [ at ] degruyter.com).

Die Gottesfrage hat im Denken Martin Heideggers von seinen Anfängen bis zu seinem Ende eine treibende Rolle gespielt. Nach den Vorüberlegungen Norbert Fischers, die das Vorfeld der geschichtlichen Situation umreißen, in der Heidegger die Gottesfrage bedenkt, gibt Friedrich-Wilhelm v. Herrmann einen grundlegenden Überblick über die drei Wegabschnitte der Gottesfrage im Schrifttum Heideggers: 1. Zur hermeneutischen Analytik des faktischen Lebens und der wahrhaften Idee der christlichen Philosophie, 2. Zur hermeneutischen Daseinsanalytik in der theologischen "Epoché", 3. Zum ereignisgeschichtlichen Da-Sein im Bezug (...) zum "letzten Gott". Die Betrachtung der einzelnen Stationen beginnt mit einem Beitrag von Costantino Esposito zum frühen Heidegger, der bekanntlich wichtige Impulse von der Theologie und der faktischen Religion erhalten hat. Günther Pöltner bezieht sich auf das Verhältnis von Phänomenologie und Theologie und stellt Heideggers Auffassung der Philosophie als 'Korrektion' der Theologie dar. Die Neuansätze Heideggers zum "letzten Gott" in den "Beiträgen zur Philosophie", die zum dritten Wegabschnitt gehören, kommen bei Paola-Ludovika Coriando einführend zur Sprache. In den nachfolgenden Arbeiten werden Einzelaspekte untersucht: Johannes Brachtendorf wendet sich Heideggers Abhandlung Nietzsches "Wort 'Gott ist tot'" zu, Klaus Düsing betrachtet Heideggers Hölderlin-Auslegung und Heideggers Seinsgeschichte, Norbert Fischer macht die Rilke-Interpretation Heideggers zum Thema, und Rainer Thurnher bringt Heideggers Distanzierung von der metaphysisch geprägten Theologie und Gottesvorstellung in den Blick. Die Wirkung Heideggers auf die christliche Theologie, insbesondere auf die katholische Rezeption, stellt Albert Raffelt dar. (shrink)

English summary: Johann Friedrich Flatt (1759-1821) was the first professor of philosophy to hold lectures on Kants critical philosophy in Tubingen. It has been proven that these lectures were attended by Hegel, Holderlin and Schelling. In them, Flatt endeavored to adopt a benevolently neutral attitude towards the Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason). Thus the transcripts published in this work will be able to alter the widespread opinion, prevalent for a long time, that Flatt was nothing more (...) than an opponent of Kant and an apologist of Tubingen orthodoxy. The transcripts of the lectures on metaphysics and psychology were written by Hegels and Holderlins classmate August Friedrich Klupfel and have been provided with introductions and commentaries. German description: Johann Friedrich Flatt (1759-1821) war der erste Philosophieprofessor, der in Tubingen Vorlesungen uber Kants Kritische Philosophie gehalten hat. Sie wurden nachweislich von Hegel, Holderlin und Schelling besucht. Flatt bemuht sich darin, eine wohlwollend neutrale Haltung gegenuber der >Kritik der reinen VernunftMetaphysischenPsychologischen Vorlesungen. (shrink)

This book’s goal is to give an intellectual context for the following manuscript. -/- Includes bibliographical references and an index. Pages 1-123. 1). Philosophy. 2). Metaphysics. 3). Philosophy, German. 4). Philosophy, German -- 18th century. 5). Philosophy, German and Greek Influences Metaphysics. I. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich -- 1770-1831 -- Das älteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus. II. Rosenzweig, Franz, -- 1886-1929. III. Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, -- 1775-1854. IV. Hölderlin, Friedrich, -- 1770-1843. V. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel, (...) 1952-. [Translation from German into English of the-- Das älteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus.]. -/- Note: the manuscript is in the handwriting of G.W.F. Hegel, but the actual authorship is disputed. No date is given. Franz Rosenzweig made up the title as it is known today. He published the text in 1917. At that time, F. Rosenzweig thought F.W.J. Schelling was the author. No one has read this book for errors. As always, any errors, mistakes or oversights etc. are mine alone. Given a couple more years, I could improve this book. This is a philosophical translation and not a philological translation. Martin Luther who did the famous early translation of the Bible into German wrote in a letter, “If anyone does not like my translation, they can ignore it… (September 15, 1530)”. There are no ‘correct’ translations. Some are just better than other translations. -/- The Oldest Systematic Program of German Idealism. The German title is: Das Älteste Systemprogramm Des Deutschen Idealismus. This title was made up by Franz Rosenzweig in 1917, when he first published the manuscript. He found the manuscript in the Royal Library in Berlin in 1913. The manuscript suggested date is around 1796 and was done by handwriting research. However, the manuscript is not dated. The Prussian State Library auctioned in March 1913 from the auction of the house Liepmannssohn in Berlin a single sheet on the front and back with Hegel's cursive handwriting. The manuscript was lost during WWII. But Dieter Henrich found it again in 1979 in the “Biblioteka Jagiellonska” in Krakow (Poland), where it is today. Address: Jagiellonian Library, Jagiellonian University, al. Mickiewicza 22, 30-059 Cracow, Poland. Later research suggests that manuscript had come from the estate of Hegel’s student Friedrich Christoph Förster (1791-1868). He was one of the editors of Hegel’s posthumous works and most likely had access to a number of Hegel’s manuscripts. This text actually being one of them. Hegel traveled around Bohemia with Marie and Friedrich Christoph Förster around the year 1820-21 (see Klaus Vieweg). -/- Philosophical mystery -- who is the author or authors of this text? -/- Take a plunge into the deep and cold waters. Maybe a quagmire or quandary, but decidedly interesting. This project is to contextualize an old handwritten manuscript which is about 225 years old. The actual author is a mystery. I offer my own assessment. You can make your own assessments. The mystery has continued to unfold since 1917. There is plenty to read. Otherwise, think about the authorship and read more of the German philosophers and authors from this period and enjoy the depth of thinking and philosophizing. On one hand, there is just the sheer fun in the puzzle of the authorship questions; and on the other hand, these are the alluring thoughts that lead to the nascent stage of German Idealism and our intellectual heritage. There is no end to the accolades for this group of philosophers. A heritage that we still hear in in our attempts to move forward into our future. -/- Do your own astute exegesis (ἐξήγησις) as all paths are still open. Let your thought take to the wings of what is called thinking with this text. Critical encounters (Auseinandersetzung, or a Gegenüberstellung) with at least: Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775-1854), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) --- starts here! German Idealism. We are not going to study this situation endlessly, instead we make some broad strokes and provide you a general context. You are allowed to read between the lines too. Goal: to understand the overall affinity and differences between the intellectuals of this period in German history; and to come to grips with this demanding text within its large scholarly context in the last 100 years. There are no final answers. (shrink)

In this article, I aim to demonstrate that in Die Bedeutung der Tragödien Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) takes distance from the Aristotelian interpretation of Tragedy. In this fragment, the poet suggests this literary genre should be understood on the bases of the notion of paradox and on how this concept relates to the tragic hero. In order to prove this, I first clarify what the German poet means when he proposes paradox as the easiest way to understand Tragedy. Second, I (...) highlight the correlations between the assertions of this text and Hölderlin’s former stances about Tragedy in the Grund zum Empedokles, the Anmerkungen zum Oedipus and the Anmerkungen zur Antigonä. Finally, I argue that the approach regarding paradox is evidence of the distance Hölderlin took from the Aristotelian definition of Tragedy as mimesis of an action. (shrink)

Holderlin's essays and letters constitute essential documents for an understanding of the transitional period from neo-classical poetics to what can only be characterized as a unique and, in its frequently experimental structure, essentially modernist poetics. This book contains virtually all of Holderlin's theoretical writings translated for the first time. In spite of the great significance of Holderlin's ideas for contemporary critical thought, most of his highly important theoretical oeuvre has been unavailable to English readers until now. Here also are a (...) number of letters which chart the development of Holderlin's thought on issues that today remain fundamental to poetics and philosophy. The work's critical introduction discusses both the historical genesis of Holderlin's theoretical writings out of the enlightenment as well as their systematic interaction with post-Kantian Idealism. Through interpretations of three short fragments, Pfau indicates that it would be insufficient to consider Holderlin as the mere precursor of the great systematic philosophers of German Idealism--Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Instead, Holderlin's earliest theoretical fragments already mark a turn away from the rigorous systematicity that underlies the philosophical discourse of his contemporaries. Holderlin's theoretical writings may be the most seminal texts in the widely discussed interimplication of Idealistic philosophy and Romantic poetry and poetics. (shrink)

The present thesis takes its original impetus from the author's conviction that the German philosophy of the "Goethezeit" represents a peak of metaphysical insight and achievement comparable with the original flowering of European philosophical thought in the age of Plato and Aristotle. Until recently, it was fashionable to regard Kant and Hegel as the two 'giants' of this second flowering and to consign other philosophers, such as Fichte and Schelling, to the role of supporting figures. However, in recent years, the (...) pioneer efforts of such scholars as Walter Schulz, plus the interest shown by modern philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, have drawn attention to depths in the philosophy of Schelling which had been ignored by the leading exponents of Idealist philosophy, due to their sympathy for the ideas of Kant and/or Hegel. In addition, again due partly to the insights of Heidegger, there has developed a realisation among ever widening circles that Friedrich Holderlin was also one of these 'giants' of metaphysics. His strictly philosophical works are limited in number and in length. However, his contribution cannot be measured in terms of quantity: I would maintain, and have tried to show in the present work, that it was his original insight and inspiration which formed the basis for all of Schelling's work as of the late 1790's. In the process, I have followed Holderlin 's thought back to what I see as its roots: the ideas of the Presocratics, early Plato and Kant's third "Kritik'.'. (shrink)

1. Two Approaches to the EarthIn several postwar texts, the earth increasingly receives attention from Carl Schmitt.1 In The Nomos of the Earth, the most important of these texts, he refers to Friedrich Hölderlin, a much earlier, very different author, who also considers the subject of the earth. Even though the positions of both are, ultimately, quite similar, they maintain significant terminological differences. Schmitt and Hölderlin both employ the word “nomos,” but in very different ways. Hölderlin regards “nomos” as (...) “law” in the sense of “positive” norm or “Gesez.”2 This use of “nomos” as “Gesez” differs from a second notion of law as the meaning operating at the basis of what Hölderlin calls the “sphere.” The sphere is a meaningful whole in which man originally exists. Law is here the very relations of the sphere as a meaningful whole. Hölderlin calls it the law in a “negative” sense.3 This second notion of law by Hölderlin (negative law or law as the meaning at the basis of the sphere) coincides precisely with the Schmittian idea of “nomos” as an “order of meaning [Sinnreich],”4 what he also calls the law in an “ontonomous and existential” sense.5 The first use of law as “nomos” or “Gesez” by Hölderlin coincides with Schmitt’s use of “Gesetz”: of law as “positive” law. (shrink)

This paper develops an account of the political theory of Friedrich Holderlin through an analysis of the concept of fate in his epistolary novel, Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece. Contrary to a longstanding interpretive tradition which understands Hyperion as the culmination of an intellectual development over the 1790s in which Holderlin, disillusioned with the French Revolution, rejects politics in favour of poetic union with nature, the paper concludes that the political vision of Hyperion is inspired by the possibility (...) of overcoming this very conflict between nature and politics. Such a possibility arises unexpectedly in the encounter with fate at precisely that moment when all hope for the fulfilment of Hyperion's political ambitions has been lost. (shrink)

In this essay, I aim to examine Hölderlin’s theory of composition according to the thesis on the compatibility of poetic and philosophical practices. I interpret Hölderlin’s poetological fragments as a response to the epistolary exchange he had held with his master Schiller a few years earlier, concerning the dialectic between philosophy and poetry, enthusiasm and sobriety. I argue that Hölderlin’s fragments prompt us to consider poetry and philosophy as poiesis-based practices. Identifying creativity as their common destination allows one to postulate (...) the interaction between the two disciplines. I finally argue that aesthetics could be the place for this interaction. Hölderlin outlines a productive, namely aesthetic, theory of creation, in which boundaries between philosophy and poetry seem to interact rather than exclude. (shrink)