Sandra M. Den Otter
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206002
- eISBN:
- 9780191676901
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206002.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
This chapter discusses various aspects of idealist philosophy with reference to Hegel Green. At the end of the 18th century, the reception of Kant's writings was caught up in the highly charged ...
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This chapter discusses various aspects of idealist philosophy with reference to Hegel Green. At the end of the 18th century, the reception of Kant's writings was caught up in the highly charged political issue of his reputed endorsement of the republican sentiments embodied in the French Revolution. The perceived perilousness of German thought was however not confined to any one political stance. Both extreme liberalism and extreme authoritarianism, apparently sanctioned by German philosophy, were perceived to be alarming. Both German and French thinkers were read throughout the first half of the 19th century. In addition, many British writers travelled to Germany or France in the first decades of that century. But despite an increasing familiarity with German culture, German philosophy remained linked with disreputable notions. The long-standing identification of German philosophy with the Prussian military state reached its apex with the outbreak of war in 1914.Less
This chapter discusses various aspects of idealist philosophy with reference to Hegel Green. At the end of the 18th century, the reception of Kant's writings was caught up in the highly charged political issue of his reputed endorsement of the republican sentiments embodied in the French Revolution. The perceived perilousness of German thought was however not confined to any one political stance. Both extreme liberalism and extreme authoritarianism, apparently sanctioned by German philosophy, were perceived to be alarming. Both German and French thinkers were read throughout the first half of the 19th century. In addition, many British writers travelled to Germany or France in the first decades of that century. But despite an increasing familiarity with German culture, German philosophy remained linked with disreputable notions. The long-standing identification of German philosophy with the Prussian military state reached its apex with the outbreak of war in 1914.
Eric Watkins (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195133059
- eISBN:
- 9780199786169
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195133056.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the ...
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Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the sciences. This book reveals the deep unity of Kant’s conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day (such as physics, chemistry, anthropology, history, psychology, and biology), and on his conception of philosophy’s function with respect to them. This collection of twelve essays consider different aspects of Kant’s conception of science.Less
Kant’s contributions to the central problems of philosophy — metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics — have received considerable attention. What is far less studied is his interest in the sciences. This book reveals the deep unity of Kant’s conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day (such as physics, chemistry, anthropology, history, psychology, and biology), and on his conception of philosophy’s function with respect to them. This collection of twelve essays consider different aspects of Kant’s conception of science.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Histories of German philosophy in the nineteenth century typically focus on its first half—when Hegel, idealism, and Romanticism dominated. By contrast, the remainder of the century, after Hegel's ...
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Histories of German philosophy in the nineteenth century typically focus on its first half—when Hegel, idealism, and Romanticism dominated. By contrast, the remainder of the century, after Hegel's death, has been relatively neglected because it has been seen as a period of stagnation and decline. This book argues that the second half of the century was in fact one of the most revolutionary periods in modern philosophy because the nature of philosophy itself was up for grabs and the very absence of certainty led to creativity and the start of a new era. This innovative concise history of German philosophy, from 1840 to 1900, focuses not on themes or individual thinkers but rather on the period's five great debates: the identity crisis of philosophy, the materialism controversy, the methods and limits of history, the pessimism controversy, and the Ignorabimusstreit. Schopenhauer and Wilhelm Dilthey play important roles in these controversies but so do many neglected figures, including Ludwig Büchner, Eugen Dühring, Eduard von Hartmann, Julius Fraunstaedt, Hermann Lotze, Adolf Trendelenburg, and two women, Agnes Taubert and Olga Pluemacher, who have been completely forgotten in histories of philosophy. The result is a wide-ranging, original, and surprising new account of German philosophy in the critical period between Hegel and the twentieth century.Less
Histories of German philosophy in the nineteenth century typically focus on its first half—when Hegel, idealism, and Romanticism dominated. By contrast, the remainder of the century, after Hegel's death, has been relatively neglected because it has been seen as a period of stagnation and decline. This book argues that the second half of the century was in fact one of the most revolutionary periods in modern philosophy because the nature of philosophy itself was up for grabs and the very absence of certainty led to creativity and the start of a new era. This innovative concise history of German philosophy, from 1840 to 1900, focuses not on themes or individual thinkers but rather on the period's five great debates: the identity crisis of philosophy, the materialism controversy, the methods and limits of history, the pessimism controversy, and the Ignorabimusstreit. Schopenhauer and Wilhelm Dilthey play important roles in these controversies but so do many neglected figures, including Ludwig Büchner, Eugen Dühring, Eduard von Hartmann, Julius Fraunstaedt, Hermann Lotze, Adolf Trendelenburg, and two women, Agnes Taubert and Olga Pluemacher, who have been completely forgotten in histories of philosophy. The result is a wide-ranging, original, and surprising new account of German philosophy in the critical period between Hegel and the twentieth century.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This introductory chapter first sets out the book's focus, namely German philosophy from 1840 to 1900. The common opinion about German philosophy in the second half of the nineteenth century was that ...
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This introductory chapter first sets out the book's focus, namely German philosophy from 1840 to 1900. The common opinion about German philosophy in the second half of the nineteenth century was that it was a period of decline and stagnation. The great creative “age of idealism” had passed away with Hegel's death, it seemed, only to be succeeded by “an age of realism,” which was more concerned with empirical science and technical progress than philosophy. It is argued that the common opinion is just false, and that the second half of the century, though written about much less, is more important and interesting philosophically than the first half. The remainder of the chapter discusses the major developments in the in the second half of the nineteenth century and the approach taken in this book.Less
This introductory chapter first sets out the book's focus, namely German philosophy from 1840 to 1900. The common opinion about German philosophy in the second half of the nineteenth century was that it was a period of decline and stagnation. The great creative “age of idealism” had passed away with Hegel's death, it seemed, only to be succeeded by “an age of realism,” which was more concerned with empirical science and technical progress than philosophy. It is argued that the common opinion is just false, and that the second half of the century, though written about much less, is more important and interesting philosophically than the first half. The remainder of the chapter discusses the major developments in the in the second half of the nineteenth century and the approach taken in this book.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses the “identity crisis” suffered by philosophers beginning in the 1840s, the decade after Hegel's death. They could no longer define their discipline in the traditional terms ...
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This chapter discusses the “identity crisis” suffered by philosophers beginning in the 1840s, the decade after Hegel's death. They could no longer define their discipline in the traditional terms widely accepted in the first decades of the nineteenth century. So they began to ask themselves some very hard questions. What is philosophy? What is its purpose? And how does it differ from the empirical sciences? The remainder of the chapter covers the sources of the crisis, Trendelenburg's philosophia perennis, philosophy as critique, Schopenhauer's revival of metaphysics, the rise and fall of the neo-Kantian ideal, Eduard von Hartmann's metaphysics of the sciences, and Wilhelm Dilthey's conception of philosophy as a worldview.Less
This chapter discusses the “identity crisis” suffered by philosophers beginning in the 1840s, the decade after Hegel's death. They could no longer define their discipline in the traditional terms widely accepted in the first decades of the nineteenth century. So they began to ask themselves some very hard questions. What is philosophy? What is its purpose? And how does it differ from the empirical sciences? The remainder of the chapter covers the sources of the crisis, Trendelenburg's philosophia perennis, philosophy as critique, Schopenhauer's revival of metaphysics, the rise and fall of the neo-Kantian ideal, Eduard von Hartmann's metaphysics of the sciences, and Wilhelm Dilthey's conception of philosophy as a worldview.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book provides an original history of German-language philosophy from the Middle Ages to today. In an accessible narrative that explains complex ideas in clear language, the book traces the ...
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This book provides an original history of German-language philosophy from the Middle Ages to today. In an accessible narrative that explains complex ideas in clear language, the book traces the evolution of German philosophy and describes its central influence on other aspects of German culture, including literature, politics, and science. Starting with the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, the book addresses the philosophical changes brought about by Luther's Reformation, and then presents a detailed account of the classical age of German philosophy, including the work of Leibniz and Kant; the rise of a new form of humanities in Lessing, Hamann, Herder, and Schiller; the early Romantics; and the Idealists Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. The following chapters investigate the collapse of the German synthesis in Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche. Turning to the twentieth century, the book explores the rise of analytical philosophy in Frege and the Vienna and Berlin circles; the foundation of the historical sciences in Neo-Kantianism and Dilthey; Husserl's phenomenology and its radical alteration by Heidegger; the Nazi philosophers Gehlen and Schmitt; and the main West German philosophers, including Gadamer, Jonas, and those of the two Frankfurt schools. Arguing that there was a distinctive German philosophical tradition from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, the book closes by examining why that tradition largely ended in the decades after World War II.Less
This book provides an original history of German-language philosophy from the Middle Ages to today. In an accessible narrative that explains complex ideas in clear language, the book traces the evolution of German philosophy and describes its central influence on other aspects of German culture, including literature, politics, and science. Starting with the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, the book addresses the philosophical changes brought about by Luther's Reformation, and then presents a detailed account of the classical age of German philosophy, including the work of Leibniz and Kant; the rise of a new form of humanities in Lessing, Hamann, Herder, and Schiller; the early Romantics; and the Idealists Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. The following chapters investigate the collapse of the German synthesis in Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche. Turning to the twentieth century, the book explores the rise of analytical philosophy in Frege and the Vienna and Berlin circles; the foundation of the historical sciences in Neo-Kantianism and Dilthey; Husserl's phenomenology and its radical alteration by Heidegger; the Nazi philosophers Gehlen and Schmitt; and the main West German philosophers, including Gadamer, Jonas, and those of the two Frankfurt schools. Arguing that there was a distinctive German philosophical tradition from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, the book closes by examining why that tradition largely ended in the decades after World War II.
Ruth Abbey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195134087
- eISBN:
- 9780199785766
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195134087.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book offers a close study of the works that have come to be known as constituting Friedrich Nietzsche’s middle period: Human, All Too Human, Daybreak, and the first four books of The Gay ...
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This book offers a close study of the works that have come to be known as constituting Friedrich Nietzsche’s middle period: Human, All Too Human, Daybreak, and the first four books of The Gay Science. Some of the value in reading these works is genealogical — they show how the later Nietzsche became the thinker he did. A related benefit of reading them is the help they give in avoiding generalizations about Nietzsche — views and attitudes associated with Nietzsche come to be seen as peculiar to one of his periods or some of his texts. However, it is also argued that these are rich and fruitful works, deserving attention in their own right. The Nietzsche delivered by a reading of these works is a more careful, moderate, and modest thinker than he is usually interpreted to be. In these works, Nietzsche offers many subtle psychological insights, and has a powerful sense of the dialogical nature of identity. He values relationships like marriage and friendship, and eschews some of the misogyny, individualism, and elitism of the later works.Less
This book offers a close study of the works that have come to be known as constituting Friedrich Nietzsche’s middle period: Human, All Too Human, Daybreak, and the first four books of The Gay Science. Some of the value in reading these works is genealogical — they show how the later Nietzsche became the thinker he did. A related benefit of reading them is the help they give in avoiding generalizations about Nietzsche — views and attitudes associated with Nietzsche come to be seen as peculiar to one of his periods or some of his texts. However, it is also argued that these are rich and fruitful works, deserving attention in their own right. The Nietzsche delivered by a reading of these works is a more careful, moderate, and modest thinker than he is usually interpreted to be. In these works, Nietzsche offers many subtle psychological insights, and has a powerful sense of the dialogical nature of identity. He values relationships like marriage and friendship, and eschews some of the misogyny, individualism, and elitism of the later works.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to provide a brief survey of German philosophy and thereby to bring out peculiarities that distinguish this philosophy from those of other ...
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This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to provide a brief survey of German philosophy and thereby to bring out peculiarities that distinguish this philosophy from those of other European nations. The book shows that reflection on the concept of Geist (spirit) is a crucial part of the German spirit. Despite all the changes in German philosophy, plausible lines of development will be made clear; without them, a history really cannot be written. The chapter then explains the reasons why it makes sense to produce a new account of the history of German philosophy at the beginning of a century that will no longer be a European one.Less
This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to provide a brief survey of German philosophy and thereby to bring out peculiarities that distinguish this philosophy from those of other European nations. The book shows that reflection on the concept of Geist (spirit) is a crucial part of the German spirit. Despite all the changes in German philosophy, plausible lines of development will be made clear; without them, a history really cannot be written. The chapter then explains the reasons why it makes sense to produce a new account of the history of German philosophy at the beginning of a century that will no longer be a European one.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its ...
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This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its shock waves reverberated until the end of the century. The main question posed by the materialism controversy was whether modern natural science, whose authority and prestige were now beyond question, necessarily leads to materialism. Materialism was generally understood to be the doctrine that only matter exists and that everything in nature obeys only mechanical laws. If such a doctrine were true, it seemed there could be no God, no free will, no soul, and hence no immortality. These beliefs, however, seemed vital to morality and religion. So the controversy posed a drastic dilemma: either a scientific materialism or a moral and religious “leap of faith.” It was the latest version of the old conflict between reason and faith, where now the role of reason was played by natural science.Less
This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its shock waves reverberated until the end of the century. The main question posed by the materialism controversy was whether modern natural science, whose authority and prestige were now beyond question, necessarily leads to materialism. Materialism was generally understood to be the doctrine that only matter exists and that everything in nature obeys only mechanical laws. If such a doctrine were true, it seemed there could be no God, no free will, no soul, and hence no immortality. These beliefs, however, seemed vital to morality and religion. So the controversy posed a drastic dilemma: either a scientific materialism or a moral and religious “leap of faith.” It was the latest version of the old conflict between reason and faith, where now the role of reason was played by natural science.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious ...
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This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious philosophy that Germany has produced; and because it succeeded in integrating almost all the innovative achievements of earlier German philosophy in the shape of a system, the most complex form of philosophical thought. The religious motivation of the three main figures within this movement contributed to the emergence of a kind of philosophical religiousness that was new in world history. These three crucial figures are Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).Less
This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious philosophy that Germany has produced; and because it succeeded in integrating almost all the innovative achievements of earlier German philosophy in the shape of a system, the most complex form of philosophical thought. The religious motivation of the three main figures within this movement contributed to the emergence of a kind of philosophical religiousness that was new in world history. These three crucial figures are Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853237945
- eISBN:
- 9781846313936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237945.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter examines Thomas De Quincey's criticisms of German philosophy and literature in comparison with Coleridge's, and shows the similar ideological constraints that operate on De Quincey's ...
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This chapter examines Thomas De Quincey's criticisms of German philosophy and literature in comparison with Coleridge's, and shows the similar ideological constraints that operate on De Quincey's mediation of German thought in England. De Quincey's seemingly disingenuous use of his German sources – like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's – reflects his involvement in the construction of English nationalism, built ironically on the very foundations both writers explicitly sought to undermine.Less
This chapter examines Thomas De Quincey's criticisms of German philosophy and literature in comparison with Coleridge's, and shows the similar ideological constraints that operate on De Quincey's mediation of German thought in England. De Quincey's seemingly disingenuous use of his German sources – like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's – reflects his involvement in the construction of English nationalism, built ironically on the very foundations both writers explicitly sought to undermine.
Christopher Brooke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152080
- eISBN:
- 9781400842414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152080.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This concluding chapter argues that the three intellectual streams that fed into what was eventually to become Marxism took shape not only as partial appropriations and transformations of Rousseau's ...
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This concluding chapter argues that the three intellectual streams that fed into what was eventually to become Marxism took shape not only as partial appropriations and transformations of Rousseau's ideas but each also embodied a continuing engagement with Stoicism. It reveals that what eventually crystallized under the banner of Marxism was in an important sense a putting together, as well as a radical transformation, of major elements of German idealist philosophy, especially Hegel; of the classical political economy that reaches back to Adam Smith; and of the radical French politics that unfolded over the course of the Revolutionary decade of the 1790s.Less
This concluding chapter argues that the three intellectual streams that fed into what was eventually to become Marxism took shape not only as partial appropriations and transformations of Rousseau's ideas but each also embodied a continuing engagement with Stoicism. It reveals that what eventually crystallized under the banner of Marxism was in an important sense a putting together, as well as a radical transformation, of major elements of German idealist philosophy, especially Hegel; of the classical political economy that reaches back to Adam Smith; and of the radical French politics that unfolded over the course of the Revolutionary decade of the 1790s.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines the most intense philosophical controversies of the late nineteenth century: the Pessimismusstreit. According to some contemporary accounts, pessimism quickly overshadowed ...
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This chapter examines the most intense philosophical controversies of the late nineteenth century: the Pessimismusstreit. According to some contemporary accounts, pessimism quickly overshadowed materialism as the most pressing and important issue of the age. Pessimism swiftly became the talk of the town, the subject of literary salons, and even the object of satire. The pessimism controversy had two main phases. The first phase arose in the 1860s with Schopenhauer's rise to fame, when many articles, pamphlets, and books were published attacking his pessimism. The second phase began in 1870 in reaction against Eduard von Hartmann's Philosophie des Unbewussten, which had reaffirmed but qualified Schopenhauer's pessimism.Less
This chapter examines the most intense philosophical controversies of the late nineteenth century: the Pessimismusstreit. According to some contemporary accounts, pessimism quickly overshadowed materialism as the most pressing and important issue of the age. Pessimism swiftly became the talk of the town, the subject of literary salons, and even the object of satire. The pessimism controversy had two main phases. The first phase arose in the 1860s with Schopenhauer's rise to fame, when many articles, pamphlets, and books were published attacking his pessimism. The second phase began in 1870 in reaction against Eduard von Hartmann's Philosophie des Unbewussten, which had reaffirmed but qualified Schopenhauer's pessimism.
Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199931347
- eISBN:
- 9780199345724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931347.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This introductory chapter first sets out the book’s purpose, which is to investigate German scholarship on India between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries against the backdrop of its ...
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This introductory chapter first sets out the book’s purpose, which is to investigate German scholarship on India between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries against the backdrop of its methodological self-understanding. It pursues this inquiry out of a wider interest in German philosophy of the same period, especially as concerns debates over scientific method. The chapter then discusses the history of German Indology as a history of method and the origins of the historical-critical method in the neo-Protestantism of the eighteenth century, followed by a description of the book’s scope and organization.Less
This introductory chapter first sets out the book’s purpose, which is to investigate German scholarship on India between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries against the backdrop of its methodological self-understanding. It pursues this inquiry out of a wider interest in German philosophy of the same period, especially as concerns debates over scientific method. The chapter then discusses the history of German Indology as a history of method and the origins of the historical-critical method in the neo-Protestantism of the eighteenth century, followed by a description of the book’s scope and organization.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter traces the beginnings of German philosophy in the Middle Ages. It considers Dominican Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1327/28) as the first German philosopher because he was the first writer to ...
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This chapter traces the beginnings of German philosophy in the Middle Ages. It considers Dominican Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1327/28) as the first German philosopher because he was the first writer to express his own philosophical ideas in the vernacular. It then focuses on Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), who was clearly influenced by Eckhart and whose genius he praised. Nicholas' first work, De concordantia catholica (On Catholic Concordance), published in 1433, defended the conciliarist position: that the council could depose a pope who violated his duties. He also elaborated a philosophy of the state that justified rule largely on the basis of consensus. His subsequent philosophical-theological works include De docta ignorantia (“On Learned Ignorance,” 1440) and De venatione sapientiae (“On the Hunt for Wisdom,” 1463).Less
This chapter traces the beginnings of German philosophy in the Middle Ages. It considers Dominican Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1327/28) as the first German philosopher because he was the first writer to express his own philosophical ideas in the vernacular. It then focuses on Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), who was clearly influenced by Eckhart and whose genius he praised. Nicholas' first work, De concordantia catholica (On Catholic Concordance), published in 1433, defended the conciliarist position: that the council could depose a pope who violated his duties. He also elaborated a philosophy of the state that justified rule largely on the basis of consensus. His subsequent philosophical-theological works include De docta ignorantia (“On Learned Ignorance,” 1440) and De venatione sapientiae (“On the Hunt for Wisdom,” 1463).
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The nineteenth century is often dubbed “the age of history.” One reason is because history, as an intellectual discipline, became a science in its own right. For mysterious reasons, yet to be ...
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The nineteenth century is often dubbed “the age of history.” One reason is because history, as an intellectual discipline, became a science in its own right. For mysterious reasons, yet to be explained, demonstrability, universality, and necessary were no longer regarded as prerequisites of knowledge. Somehow, even historical propositions about particular and contingent matters of fact could be scientific. How do we explain this revolution? Social and historical forces alone are not sufficient to give history its intellectual or philosophical legitimation. They give a powerful motive for such legitimation; but they alone do not provide it. That philosophical side of the story is much more complex, involving many interweaving narratives. This chapter tells but one of them, the simplest and most basic. It describes Clio's struggle for autonomy in the second half of the nineteenth century.Less
The nineteenth century is often dubbed “the age of history.” One reason is because history, as an intellectual discipline, became a science in its own right. For mysterious reasons, yet to be explained, demonstrability, universality, and necessary were no longer regarded as prerequisites of knowledge. Somehow, even historical propositions about particular and contingent matters of fact could be scientific. How do we explain this revolution? Social and historical forces alone are not sufficient to give history its intellectual or philosophical legitimation. They give a powerful motive for such legitimation; but they alone do not provide it. That philosophical side of the story is much more complex, involving many interweaving narratives. This chapter tells but one of them, the simplest and most basic. It describes Clio's struggle for autonomy in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The two most appalling consequences of National Socialism were the victims of mass murder and the Second World War. The National Socialists also destroyed, along with many other things, the special ...
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The two most appalling consequences of National Socialism were the victims of mass murder and the Second World War. The National Socialists also destroyed, along with many other things, the special status of German culture. They did so by driving out and murdering its Jewish and critical intelligentsia; the German policy of occupation caused Scandinavia, central Eastern Europe, and the Benelux countries, where German had often been a scientific lingua franca, to turn resolutely toward English; and even after the restoration of constitutional government based on the rule of law in the Federal Republic, further travel along specifically German philosophical paths was no longer possible. This chapter discusses the philosophers of the Federal Republic who won wide international recognition. A strong focus of the young Federal Republic was on the historiography of philosophy, to which thinkers attached their own, usually modest systematic ambitions.Less
The two most appalling consequences of National Socialism were the victims of mass murder and the Second World War. The National Socialists also destroyed, along with many other things, the special status of German culture. They did so by driving out and murdering its Jewish and critical intelligentsia; the German policy of occupation caused Scandinavia, central Eastern Europe, and the Benelux countries, where German had often been a scientific lingua franca, to turn resolutely toward English; and even after the restoration of constitutional government based on the rule of law in the Federal Republic, further travel along specifically German philosophical paths was no longer possible. This chapter discusses the philosophers of the Federal Republic who won wide international recognition. A strong focus of the young Federal Republic was on the historiography of philosophy, to which thinkers attached their own, usually modest systematic ambitions.
Vittorio Hösle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691167190
- eISBN:
- 9781400883042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter argues that institutionally, there is little reason to predict a great future for German philosophy. The philosophical form of religiousness that so strongly distinguished Germany from ...
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This chapter argues that institutionally, there is little reason to predict a great future for German philosophy. The philosophical form of religiousness that so strongly distinguished Germany from the United States, has evaporated, presumably because sadness and shame over the twelve cursed years has crippled appropriation of the spiritual treasures of the past, which can take place only with hermeneutic reservations, for example on the occasion of the anniversaries of classics. Moreover, it is well known that German scientific institutions are not at present in the best of shape. The weaknesses of the German system have been amply discussed over the past two decades, but it is unlikely that fundamental reforms will be undertaken in the foreseeable future, because too many interests would be adversely affected.Less
This chapter argues that institutionally, there is little reason to predict a great future for German philosophy. The philosophical form of religiousness that so strongly distinguished Germany from the United States, has evaporated, presumably because sadness and shame over the twelve cursed years has crippled appropriation of the spiritual treasures of the past, which can take place only with hermeneutic reservations, for example on the occasion of the anniversaries of classics. Moreover, it is well known that German scientific institutions are not at present in the best of shape. The weaknesses of the German system have been amply discussed over the past two decades, but it is unlikely that fundamental reforms will be undertaken in the foreseeable future, because too many interests would be adversely affected.
Josephine Mcdonagh
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112853
- eISBN:
- 9780191670862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112853.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
It was believed that De Quincey tossed all of the papers that concerned him, even those that were found to be against him, in a bath. In spite of how this may seem very odd, it was clear that he ...
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It was believed that De Quincey tossed all of the papers that concerned him, even those that were found to be against him, in a bath. In spite of how this may seem very odd, it was clear that he wanted to portray himself as an author whose works were lost in a bath and this in fact accounts for the main essence of the writing and life of De Quincey. In Grevel Lindop's biography of him, De Quincey's methods were described to be relatively chaotic, as piles of manuscripts and books would barely allow any movement and he would soon be surrounded with litter. De Quincey's works were found to comprise various contributions to newspapers and periodicals such as the London Magazine. Several problems were encountered in efforts to organize and categorize De Quincey's works, since his works ranged from matters of German philosophy to gothic fictions.Less
It was believed that De Quincey tossed all of the papers that concerned him, even those that were found to be against him, in a bath. In spite of how this may seem very odd, it was clear that he wanted to portray himself as an author whose works were lost in a bath and this in fact accounts for the main essence of the writing and life of De Quincey. In Grevel Lindop's biography of him, De Quincey's methods were described to be relatively chaotic, as piles of manuscripts and books would barely allow any movement and he would soon be surrounded with litter. De Quincey's works were found to comprise various contributions to newspapers and periodicals such as the London Magazine. Several problems were encountered in efforts to organize and categorize De Quincey's works, since his works ranged from matters of German philosophy to gothic fictions.
Bryan Magee
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198237228
- eISBN:
- 9780191706233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198237227.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
There are unusual reasons why Schopenhauer's philosophy is important. Retaining from Kant the distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal, he embraces the relevance of Eastern philosophy to ...
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There are unusual reasons why Schopenhauer's philosophy is important. Retaining from Kant the distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal, he embraces the relevance of Eastern philosophy to the former and that of empiricism to the latter. His ethics—unlike Kant's, which are based on reason—are based on compassion. So he alone among major Western philosophers takes genuine account of Buddhism, yet at the same time gives full weight to science. Areas outside philosophy in which his thought has been important include psychology and the arts. As well as being the first and greatest philosophical influence on both Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, he had comparable influence on Freud and Jung and affected the work of creative artists from Wagner to Tolstoy. The intellectual fashions of the twentieth century underestimated his work, and neglected his influence, but a reappraisal of both is now due. This book takes a fresh look at his work, and contains especially long discussions of his influence on Wittgenstein and Wagner.Less
There are unusual reasons why Schopenhauer's philosophy is important. Retaining from Kant the distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal, he embraces the relevance of Eastern philosophy to the former and that of empiricism to the latter. His ethics—unlike Kant's, which are based on reason—are based on compassion. So he alone among major Western philosophers takes genuine account of Buddhism, yet at the same time gives full weight to science. Areas outside philosophy in which his thought has been important include psychology and the arts. As well as being the first and greatest philosophical influence on both Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, he had comparable influence on Freud and Jung and affected the work of creative artists from Wagner to Tolstoy. The intellectual fashions of the twentieth century underestimated his work, and neglected his influence, but a reappraisal of both is now due. This book takes a fresh look at his work, and contains especially long discussions of his influence on Wittgenstein and Wagner.
