Terry Pinkard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199860791
- eISBN:
- 9780199932986
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860791.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
A disenchanted nature cannot provide us with such orientation. Nonetheless, even though nature as a whole is without purpose, there are purposes in nature. To understand something as the organ of a ...
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A disenchanted nature cannot provide us with such orientation. Nonetheless, even though nature as a whole is without purpose, there are purposes in nature. To understand something as the organ of a living thing is to understand it in light of the function it serves in the organism (such as pumping blood). Since a diseased, nonfunctioning organ obeys all the same causal laws as a healthy organ, to classify something as a disease is to see it in light of such functions. Each organ functions to make the whole (the individual organism) possible, and this organism also acts in terms of purposes. Although there are purposes in nature, nature is not capable of organizing these conflicting purposes within itself into a greater whole. Moreover, although animals may have purposes, only human animals are aware of their purposes as purposes, as reasons for action.Less
A disenchanted nature cannot provide us with such orientation. Nonetheless, even though nature as a whole is without purpose, there are purposes in nature. To understand something as the organ of a living thing is to understand it in light of the function it serves in the organism (such as pumping blood). Since a diseased, nonfunctioning organ obeys all the same causal laws as a healthy organ, to classify something as a disease is to see it in light of such functions. Each organ functions to make the whole (the individual organism) possible, and this organism also acts in terms of purposes. Although there are purposes in nature, nature is not capable of organizing these conflicting purposes within itself into a greater whole. Moreover, although animals may have purposes, only human animals are aware of their purposes as purposes, as reasons for action.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in ...
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This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in Renaissance esotericism and its rapid diffusion during the period 1550–1650 is directly related to its combination with Neo-Platonic and Hermetic approaches to nature, and especially to the controversy surrounding Paracelsus. It discusses Paracelsus' esoteric ideas concerning the cosmic all-life, the spiritualization of matter and the divine nature of virtue and energy, which are now integral elements in the new philosophies of science of vitalism and holism and in the archetypes of Jungian psychoanalysis.Less
This chapter examines the works of Paracelsus on alchemy and German Naturphilosophie and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. It suggests that alchemy played a large part in Renaissance esotericism and its rapid diffusion during the period 1550–1650 is directly related to its combination with Neo-Platonic and Hermetic approaches to nature, and especially to the controversy surrounding Paracelsus. It discusses Paracelsus' esoteric ideas concerning the cosmic all-life, the spiritualization of matter and the divine nature of virtue and energy, which are now integral elements in the new philosophies of science of vitalism and holism and in the archetypes of Jungian psychoanalysis.
Leif Weatherby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823269402
- eISBN:
- 9780823269457
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823269402.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ reconstructs Romantic Organology, a discourse that German Romantics developed by combining scientific and philosophical discourses about biological function and ...
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Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ reconstructs Romantic Organology, a discourse that German Romantics developed by combining scientific and philosophical discourses about biological function and speculative thought. Organology attempted to think a politically and scientifically destabilized world and offered a metaphysics meant to alter the structure of that world. Friedrich Hölderlin, Friedrich Schelling, and Novalis shared the project of determining what sort of knowledge can count as metaphysical in a world filled with antinomies created by political and technological upheavals over the course of the eighteenth century. A new metaphysics, they reasoned, would need a determinate tool. Aristotelian scholasticism had long described logic a set of tools for philosophy, an organon. The organon’s etymological sibling, the organ, had a primarily physiological heritage (sense-organ, internal organ). Combining the medical sense of the term (from Albrecht von Haller and Johann Wilhelm Ritter) with the logical senses (from Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Johann Heinrich Lambert, and Immanuel Kant) of these related terms, the Romantics imagined their literary-philosophical efforts as the construction an “organ of metaphysics.” This terminological history is missing from the intellectual historiography of the period, especially in the important works of Hans Blumenberg and Michel Foucault. Building on the work of Frederick Beiser and Manfred Frank, Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ shows how the Romantic synthesis of science and philosophy led to the invention of a modern metaphysics.Less
Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ reconstructs Romantic Organology, a discourse that German Romantics developed by combining scientific and philosophical discourses about biological function and speculative thought. Organology attempted to think a politically and scientifically destabilized world and offered a metaphysics meant to alter the structure of that world. Friedrich Hölderlin, Friedrich Schelling, and Novalis shared the project of determining what sort of knowledge can count as metaphysical in a world filled with antinomies created by political and technological upheavals over the course of the eighteenth century. A new metaphysics, they reasoned, would need a determinate tool. Aristotelian scholasticism had long described logic a set of tools for philosophy, an organon. The organon’s etymological sibling, the organ, had a primarily physiological heritage (sense-organ, internal organ). Combining the medical sense of the term (from Albrecht von Haller and Johann Wilhelm Ritter) with the logical senses (from Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Johann Heinrich Lambert, and Immanuel Kant) of these related terms, the Romantics imagined their literary-philosophical efforts as the construction an “organ of metaphysics.” This terminological history is missing from the intellectual historiography of the period, especially in the important works of Hans Blumenberg and Michel Foucault. Building on the work of Frederick Beiser and Manfred Frank, Transplanting the Metaphysical Organ shows how the Romantic synthesis of science and philosophy led to the invention of a modern metaphysics.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This brief reiteration of Schelling’s development suggests that in Schelling one finds a vivid presentation of key romantic ideas and questions. Thus, instead of interpreting Schelling as the ...
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This brief reiteration of Schelling’s development suggests that in Schelling one finds a vivid presentation of key romantic ideas and questions. Thus, instead of interpreting Schelling as the culmination of romanticism, this chapter proposes that Schelling’s philosophical development clearly evidences the many challenges of thinking the absolute critically.Less
This brief reiteration of Schelling’s development suggests that in Schelling one finds a vivid presentation of key romantic ideas and questions. Thus, instead of interpreting Schelling as the culmination of romanticism, this chapter proposes that Schelling’s philosophical development clearly evidences the many challenges of thinking the absolute critically.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The final section of the book elaborates the connections between the three thinkers examined, and maintains that, in spite of their differences, they agreed on the most fundamental level. It points ...
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The final section of the book elaborates the connections between the three thinkers examined, and maintains that, in spite of their differences, they agreed on the most fundamental level. It points to the distinctive interpretation of The Romantic Absolute, and argues that in the work of the romantics, we find a formidable attempt to grasp and present the relation between mind and nature and in a coherent, but non-reductive way, that continues to be relevant today.Less
The final section of the book elaborates the connections between the three thinkers examined, and maintains that, in spite of their differences, they agreed on the most fundamental level. It points to the distinctive interpretation of The Romantic Absolute, and argues that in the work of the romantics, we find a formidable attempt to grasp and present the relation between mind and nature and in a coherent, but non-reductive way, that continues to be relevant today.
John H. Zammito
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226520797
- eISBN:
- 9780226520827
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226520827.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This study traces the gestation of German biology from the debate about organism between Stahl and Leibniz to the formulation of developmental morphology in the era of Kielmeyer and Schelling. Over ...
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This study traces the gestation of German biology from the debate about organism between Stahl and Leibniz to the formulation of developmental morphology in the era of Kielmeyer and Schelling. Over the eighteenth century, inspired by the “Queries” in Newton’s Opticks, “experimental Newtonianism” opened new fields for empirical inquiry. Some naturalists undertook to reformulate a portion of descriptive natural history (the catalogue of living things) into a distinct branch of explanatory natural philosophy (ultimately, the science of biology). Led by Buffon, a new, historical approach to organisms combined with exclusion of supernatural explanations in the study of life to create a paradigm shift that has been termed “vital materialism.” Reception of experimental Newtonianism, vital materialism, and Buffon’s new natural history proved decisive for the gestation of biology in Germany. Physiology and philosophy carried on a constant dialogue in Germany, from the time of Leibniz and Stahl to that of Schelling and Kielmeyer. Notably, epigenesis – immanent self-organization in nature – triggered controversy between the established eminence, Albrecht von Haller, and the newcomer, Caspar Friedrich Wolff, then culminated in the notion of a formative drive [Bildungstrieb] in Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. The coining of “biology” around 1800 signaled a theoretical convergence of the historicization of nature with comparative physiology. Inquiry in each research domain pointed to the same result: descent explained similarities in organization. Kielmeyer pioneered this convergence. Goethe baptized it developmental morphology. Schelling made it the basis for his philosophy of nature [Naturphilosphie].Less
This study traces the gestation of German biology from the debate about organism between Stahl and Leibniz to the formulation of developmental morphology in the era of Kielmeyer and Schelling. Over the eighteenth century, inspired by the “Queries” in Newton’s Opticks, “experimental Newtonianism” opened new fields for empirical inquiry. Some naturalists undertook to reformulate a portion of descriptive natural history (the catalogue of living things) into a distinct branch of explanatory natural philosophy (ultimately, the science of biology). Led by Buffon, a new, historical approach to organisms combined with exclusion of supernatural explanations in the study of life to create a paradigm shift that has been termed “vital materialism.” Reception of experimental Newtonianism, vital materialism, and Buffon’s new natural history proved decisive for the gestation of biology in Germany. Physiology and philosophy carried on a constant dialogue in Germany, from the time of Leibniz and Stahl to that of Schelling and Kielmeyer. Notably, epigenesis – immanent self-organization in nature – triggered controversy between the established eminence, Albrecht von Haller, and the newcomer, Caspar Friedrich Wolff, then culminated in the notion of a formative drive [Bildungstrieb] in Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. The coining of “biology” around 1800 signaled a theoretical convergence of the historicization of nature with comparative physiology. Inquiry in each research domain pointed to the same result: descent explained similarities in organization. Kielmeyer pioneered this convergence. Goethe baptized it developmental morphology. Schelling made it the basis for his philosophy of nature [Naturphilosphie].
C. W. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199233540
- eISBN:
- 9780191730948
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233540.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
In addition to the few more practical travelogues analysed in the previous chapter, four ambitious works show the genre aiming to substantially enrich readers’ understanding of the world, works that ...
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In addition to the few more practical travelogues analysed in the previous chapter, four ambitious works show the genre aiming to substantially enrich readers’ understanding of the world, works that echo something of Romantic natural history and ethnography, the heritage of Montesquieu and the political science of Tocqueville, as well as the vision of German Naturphilosophie. On analysis, Chateaubriand's both forward‐ and backward‐looking Voyage en Amérique (1827), Quinet's Germanic experiment in historical geography De la Grèce moderne et de ses rapports avec l'antiquityé (1830), and Custine's apocalyptic diatribe La Russie en 1839 (1843) all prove to have shortcomings (such as the racial prejudices of Custine). But they remind us again that Romantic travelogues also tried at times to communicate more substantial knowledge of the world, beyond all their notorious self‐indulgence.Less
In addition to the few more practical travelogues analysed in the previous chapter, four ambitious works show the genre aiming to substantially enrich readers’ understanding of the world, works that echo something of Romantic natural history and ethnography, the heritage of Montesquieu and the political science of Tocqueville, as well as the vision of German Naturphilosophie. On analysis, Chateaubriand's both forward‐ and backward‐looking Voyage en Amérique (1827), Quinet's Germanic experiment in historical geography De la Grèce moderne et de ses rapports avec l'antiquityé (1830), and Custine's apocalyptic diatribe La Russie en 1839 (1843) all prove to have shortcomings (such as the racial prejudices of Custine). But they remind us again that Romantic travelogues also tried at times to communicate more substantial knowledge of the world, beyond all their notorious self‐indulgence.
Peter Pesic
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262027274
- eISBN:
- 9780262324380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027274.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Those who followed Leonhard Euler’s wave theory of light often re-engaged its relation to sound. The study of electricity and magnetism resonated with ongoing initiatives in light and sound, ...
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Those who followed Leonhard Euler’s wave theory of light often re-engaged its relation to sound. The study of electricity and magnetism resonated with ongoing initiatives in light and sound, reflecting also wider philosophical ideas about the unity of nature epitomized by Naturphilosophie. This chapter examines the intertwined study of electricity and acoustics by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Johann Ritter, and Ernst Chladni. The search to unify the forces of nature often relied on analogies with sound, which in turn looked to electricity for new tools. Félix Savart studied the vibration patterns of violins; after reviewing this work, Jean-Baptiste Biot joined Savart in working on electromagnetism. In the aftermath of Thomas Young’s work, waves became a newly attractive explanatory approach to the problems of electricity. Building directly on Chladni’s sound figures, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the synthesis of “electromagnetism” that brought a new unity to these two formerly separate forces, realizing the unitive hopes of Naturphilosophie. Ørsted’s discovery involved realizing the dynamic, transverse action of electromagnetism, qualities he had previously studied in vibrating plates.
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).Less
Those who followed Leonhard Euler’s wave theory of light often re-engaged its relation to sound. The study of electricity and magnetism resonated with ongoing initiatives in light and sound, reflecting also wider philosophical ideas about the unity of nature epitomized by Naturphilosophie. This chapter examines the intertwined study of electricity and acoustics by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Johann Ritter, and Ernst Chladni. The search to unify the forces of nature often relied on analogies with sound, which in turn looked to electricity for new tools. Félix Savart studied the vibration patterns of violins; after reviewing this work, Jean-Baptiste Biot joined Savart in working on electromagnetism. In the aftermath of Thomas Young’s work, waves became a newly attractive explanatory approach to the problems of electricity. Building directly on Chladni’s sound figures, Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the synthesis of “electromagnetism” that brought a new unity to these two formerly separate forces, realizing the unitive hopes of Naturphilosophie. Ørsted’s discovery involved realizing the dynamic, transverse action of electromagnetism, qualities he had previously studied in vibrating plates.
Throughout the book where various sound examples are referenced, please see http://mitpress.mit.edu/musicandmodernscience (please note that the sound examples should be viewed in Chrome or Safari Web browsers).
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work ...
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The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work in some ways paralleled Darwin’s. Bronn’s version of the book (with his own notes and commentary appended) did much to determine how Darwin’s theory was understood and applied by German biologists, for the translation process involved more than the mere substitution of German words for English. This book tells the story of how On the Origin of Species came to be translated into German, how it served Bronn’s purposes as well as Darwin’s, and how it challenged German scholars to think in new ways about morphology, systematics, paleontology, and other biological disciplines. It traces Bronn’s influence on German Darwinism through the early career of Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous nineteenth-century proponent and popularizer in Germany, who learned his Darwinism from the Bronn translation. The book argues, contrary to most interpretations, that the German authors were not attempting to “tame” Darwin or assimilate him to outmoded systems of romantic Naturphilosophie. Rather, Bronn and Haeckel were participants in Darwin’s project of revolutionizing biology. We should not, the book cautions, read pre-Darwinian meanings into Bronn’s and Haeckel’s Darwinian words. The book describes interpretive problems faced by Bronn and Haeckel that range from the verbal (how to express Darwin’s ideas in the existing German technical vocabulary) to the conceptual.Less
The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work in some ways paralleled Darwin’s. Bronn’s version of the book (with his own notes and commentary appended) did much to determine how Darwin’s theory was understood and applied by German biologists, for the translation process involved more than the mere substitution of German words for English. This book tells the story of how On the Origin of Species came to be translated into German, how it served Bronn’s purposes as well as Darwin’s, and how it challenged German scholars to think in new ways about morphology, systematics, paleontology, and other biological disciplines. It traces Bronn’s influence on German Darwinism through the early career of Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous nineteenth-century proponent and popularizer in Germany, who learned his Darwinism from the Bronn translation. The book argues, contrary to most interpretations, that the German authors were not attempting to “tame” Darwin or assimilate him to outmoded systems of romantic Naturphilosophie. Rather, Bronn and Haeckel were participants in Darwin’s project of revolutionizing biology. We should not, the book cautions, read pre-Darwinian meanings into Bronn’s and Haeckel’s Darwinian words. The book describes interpretive problems faced by Bronn and Haeckel that range from the verbal (how to express Darwin’s ideas in the existing German technical vocabulary) to the conceptual.
Sarah M. Pourciau
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823275625
- eISBN:
- 9780823277179
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823275625.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Chapter One traces the 19th century development of a new way of thinking about language structure, and about systematicity more generally, in the work of German linguists like Jacob Grimm, Franz ...
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Chapter One traces the 19th century development of a new way of thinking about language structure, and about systematicity more generally, in the work of German linguists like Jacob Grimm, Franz Bopp, and their successors. It argues that this new perspective grows out of a widespread backlash, prepared and supported by Friedrich Schelling’s “nature-philosophy,” against the Kantian understanding of system. The most significant German scientists of the period presuppose, as Kant does not, the extra-human reality of the orders they analyze, and thus also the extra-human reality of analyzable structure per se. In the realm of Idealist philosophy, the result is a new theory of History, writ cosmically large. In the realm of language science, the result is a newly rigorous etymological methodology, designed to render writeable the laws of empirical language change, and by doing so, to articulate the essence of a teleologically-unfolding “language spirit” or Sprachgeist.Less
Chapter One traces the 19th century development of a new way of thinking about language structure, and about systematicity more generally, in the work of German linguists like Jacob Grimm, Franz Bopp, and their successors. It argues that this new perspective grows out of a widespread backlash, prepared and supported by Friedrich Schelling’s “nature-philosophy,” against the Kantian understanding of system. The most significant German scientists of the period presuppose, as Kant does not, the extra-human reality of the orders they analyze, and thus also the extra-human reality of analyzable structure per se. In the realm of Idealist philosophy, the result is a new theory of History, writ cosmically large. In the realm of language science, the result is a newly rigorous etymological methodology, designed to render writeable the laws of empirical language change, and by doing so, to articulate the essence of a teleologically-unfolding “language spirit” or Sprachgeist.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores Schelling’s turn to nature, and engages with the debates concerning the origins of his transformed understanding of nature. While in his early writings on nature, Schelling had ...
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This chapter explores Schelling’s turn to nature, and engages with the debates concerning the origins of his transformed understanding of nature. While in his early writings on nature, Schelling had insisted that nature must be grasped as a product of the mind, in his 1799 Einleitung to the Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie, he maintains that nature is independent of mind. The chapter argues that his transformed understanding of nature is based on his appropriation of Goethe’s notion of natural metamorphosis. It offers an elaboration of Goethe’s conception of metamorphosis and illustrates Schelling’s debt to Goethe through biographical evidence and a detailed analysis of the Einleitung. The chapter concludes with an examination of Schelling’s notion of experimentation and its role in the philosophical construction of nature.Less
This chapter explores Schelling’s turn to nature, and engages with the debates concerning the origins of his transformed understanding of nature. While in his early writings on nature, Schelling had insisted that nature must be grasped as a product of the mind, in his 1799 Einleitung to the Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie, he maintains that nature is independent of mind. The chapter argues that his transformed understanding of nature is based on his appropriation of Goethe’s notion of natural metamorphosis. It offers an elaboration of Goethe’s conception of metamorphosis and illustrates Schelling’s debt to Goethe through biographical evidence and a detailed analysis of the Einleitung. The chapter concludes with an examination of Schelling’s notion of experimentation and its role in the philosophical construction of nature.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199682959
- eISBN:
- 9780191763090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199682959.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Chapter 2 discusses Lotze’s early years in Zittau and Leipzig, especially the important influences upon him (Fechner and Weisse) and his general intellectual context. It analyzes Lotze’s early ...
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Chapter 2 discusses Lotze’s early years in Zittau and Leipzig, especially the important influences upon him (Fechner and Weisse) and his general intellectual context. It analyzes Lotze’s early unpublished writings and his early published reviews. Special emphasis is laid on Lotze’s debts to the romantic age and to idealism. His early scientific work is also placed in the context of the scientific currents of the 1830s.Less
Chapter 2 discusses Lotze’s early years in Zittau and Leipzig, especially the important influences upon him (Fechner and Weisse) and his general intellectual context. It analyzes Lotze’s early unpublished writings and his early published reviews. Special emphasis is laid on Lotze’s debts to the romantic age and to idealism. His early scientific work is also placed in the context of the scientific currents of the 1830s.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter offers a discussion of Novalis’ philosophy of nature, and his parallel concern with education and moral development. It argues that in both instances, Novalis is concerned with ...
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This chapter offers a discussion of Novalis’ philosophy of nature, and his parallel concern with education and moral development. It argues that in both instances, Novalis is concerned with “romanticizing” the world— whether it be through discerning the ideal in the real (nature), or instantiating the ideal through moral action— and argues that, for Novalis, understanding nature and undertaking moral action are interdependent activities. The chapter offers a detailed account of Novalis’ turn to the study of nature in 1797-98, demonstrates the significance and influence of Goethe on Novalis’ scientific practice, in particular, Goethe’s use of imagination in his study of nature. It then moves to explore Novalis’ notion of moral harmony, and shows that for Novalis, the activity of nature remains incomplete without moral activity.Less
This chapter offers a discussion of Novalis’ philosophy of nature, and his parallel concern with education and moral development. It argues that in both instances, Novalis is concerned with “romanticizing” the world— whether it be through discerning the ideal in the real (nature), or instantiating the ideal through moral action— and argues that, for Novalis, understanding nature and undertaking moral action are interdependent activities. The chapter offers a detailed account of Novalis’ turn to the study of nature in 1797-98, demonstrates the significance and influence of Goethe on Novalis’ scientific practice, in particular, Goethe’s use of imagination in his study of nature. It then moves to explore Novalis’ notion of moral harmony, and shows that for Novalis, the activity of nature remains incomplete without moral activity.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores the meaning and implication of this claim, and elaborates Novalis’ conception of an “encyclopedia” of knowledge. It argues that for Novalis the artistic or creative mind is most ...
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This chapter explores the meaning and implication of this claim, and elaborates Novalis’ conception of an “encyclopedia” of knowledge. It argues that for Novalis the artistic or creative mind is most able to grasp nature, precisely because the artist, through the creation of works of art or “living thoughts,” partakes in the activity or productivity of nature. The chapter illustrates that, although the work of the creative mind transforms nature, this transformation does not imply falsification, but a higher manifestation of nature— a manifestation that discerns the fundamental characteristics of the natural phenomena and articulates them with intention and clarity. It also shows that for Novalis, the encyclopedia of knowledge is not a closed and static system, but a dynamic open system, constructed to mirror the growth and development of the natural organism.Less
This chapter explores the meaning and implication of this claim, and elaborates Novalis’ conception of an “encyclopedia” of knowledge. It argues that for Novalis the artistic or creative mind is most able to grasp nature, precisely because the artist, through the creation of works of art or “living thoughts,” partakes in the activity or productivity of nature. The chapter illustrates that, although the work of the creative mind transforms nature, this transformation does not imply falsification, but a higher manifestation of nature— a manifestation that discerns the fundamental characteristics of the natural phenomena and articulates them with intention and clarity. It also shows that for Novalis, the encyclopedia of knowledge is not a closed and static system, but a dynamic open system, constructed to mirror the growth and development of the natural organism.
Dalia Nassar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084060
- eISBN:
- 9780226084237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084237.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores Schlegel’s understanding of the relationship between the infinite and the finite, and shows how Schlegel seeks to conceive the relation in decisively different terms from the ...
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This chapter explores Schlegel’s understanding of the relationship between the infinite and the finite, and shows how Schlegel seeks to conceive the relation in decisively different terms from the relation between the unconditioned and conditioned. It argues that the infinite and finite are not two separate or distinct entities, such that the infinite precedes and predetermines the finite. Rather, the infinite and finite are reciprocally conditioning and conditioned grounds— the infinite is only in and through the finite, and vice versa. The chapter also illustrates that, according to Schlegel, being or reality is necessarily historical because it is always in a state of transition— the infinite becoming finite, and the finite becoming infinite. The chapter concludes with an exploration of Schlegel’s notion of “infinite becoming” and his view that nature is historical.Less
This chapter explores Schlegel’s understanding of the relationship between the infinite and the finite, and shows how Schlegel seeks to conceive the relation in decisively different terms from the relation between the unconditioned and conditioned. It argues that the infinite and finite are not two separate or distinct entities, such that the infinite precedes and predetermines the finite. Rather, the infinite and finite are reciprocally conditioning and conditioned grounds— the infinite is only in and through the finite, and vice versa. The chapter also illustrates that, according to Schlegel, being or reality is necessarily historical because it is always in a state of transition— the infinite becoming finite, and the finite becoming infinite. The chapter concludes with an exploration of Schlegel’s notion of “infinite becoming” and his view that nature is historical.
Leif Weatherby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823269402
- eISBN:
- 9780823269457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823269402.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter describes the process of scientific disciplinarization in the different uses of “organ” among the Naturphilosophen and in the works of Franz Joseph Gall. Even as functional morphology ...
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This chapter describes the process of scientific disciplinarization in the different uses of “organ” among the Naturphilosophen and in the works of Franz Joseph Gall. Even as functional morphology and comparative anatomy shifted the focus of developmental biologists away from organs as such, the proto-positivist discourse of phrenology clashed on the European stage with the organological programs of Schelling’s students, resulting in the splintering of research programs in the opposed projects of “new mythology” (Friedrich Schlegel, Schelling, Joseph Görres, Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert) and “mere science” (Gall). Hegel’s only contribution to the history of organology (in the Phenomenology of Spirit) was a reaction to Gall, and the chapter argues that Schelling’s famous Essay on Freedom belongs to Romantic organology, and not to Schelling’s later turn to theological positivism.Less
This chapter describes the process of scientific disciplinarization in the different uses of “organ” among the Naturphilosophen and in the works of Franz Joseph Gall. Even as functional morphology and comparative anatomy shifted the focus of developmental biologists away from organs as such, the proto-positivist discourse of phrenology clashed on the European stage with the organological programs of Schelling’s students, resulting in the splintering of research programs in the opposed projects of “new mythology” (Friedrich Schlegel, Schelling, Joseph Görres, Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert) and “mere science” (Gall). Hegel’s only contribution to the history of organology (in the Phenomenology of Spirit) was a reaction to Gall, and the chapter argues that Schelling’s famous Essay on Freedom belongs to Romantic organology, and not to Schelling’s later turn to theological positivism.
John H. Zammito
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226520797
- eISBN:
- 9780226520827
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226520827.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
There is need for history of eighteenth-century biology, especially concerning German developments in that era. German approaches to the life sciences have suffered continual disparagement by ...
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There is need for history of eighteenth-century biology, especially concerning German developments in that era. German approaches to the life sciences have suffered continual disparagement by association with Romantic Naturphilosophie, and this needs to be contested. In fact, Naturphilosophie contributed constructively to the gestation of German biology. The introduction sets the frame for this in terms of general developments in eighteenth-century natural inquiry. Learned medicine entered theoretical crisis by 1700, demanding theoretical reconstruction. At the same time, experimental Newtonianism created new resources for natural inquiry. Herman Boerhaave proved crucial in bringing these impulses together in the Leiden medical school. In Germany, developments in life science concentrated within the medical faculties of the universities and a few research-oriented Academies of Science. The tension between Pietism and Enlightenment had a major impact on early-eighteenth-century medical faculties, especially the new faculty at Halle. In addition, French dominance posed a challenge to German cultural self-assertion. In particular, the “radical Enlightenment” embodied in French “vital materialism,” with its evocation of the médecin philosophe as protagonist, had a profound impact on the German Enlightenment affirmation of Freigeisterei, with consequences for German naturalists.Less
There is need for history of eighteenth-century biology, especially concerning German developments in that era. German approaches to the life sciences have suffered continual disparagement by association with Romantic Naturphilosophie, and this needs to be contested. In fact, Naturphilosophie contributed constructively to the gestation of German biology. The introduction sets the frame for this in terms of general developments in eighteenth-century natural inquiry. Learned medicine entered theoretical crisis by 1700, demanding theoretical reconstruction. At the same time, experimental Newtonianism created new resources for natural inquiry. Herman Boerhaave proved crucial in bringing these impulses together in the Leiden medical school. In Germany, developments in life science concentrated within the medical faculties of the universities and a few research-oriented Academies of Science. The tension between Pietism and Enlightenment had a major impact on early-eighteenth-century medical faculties, especially the new faculty at Halle. In addition, French dominance posed a challenge to German cultural self-assertion. In particular, the “radical Enlightenment” embodied in French “vital materialism,” with its evocation of the médecin philosophe as protagonist, had a profound impact on the German Enlightenment affirmation of Freigeisterei, with consequences for German naturalists.
John H. Zammito
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226520797
- eISBN:
- 9780226520827
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226520827.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
To establish life science on a systematic basis required an integrating principle for the specific conception of organic form and its integration further into a general system of nature. The key ...
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To establish life science on a systematic basis required an integrating principle for the specific conception of organic form and its integration further into a general system of nature. The key ideas found their fullest articulation respectively in Goethe’s conception of developmental morphology as the principle of a science of life forms and in Schelling’s conception of Naturphilosophie, that is, nature as a whole conceived as a developmental, living organism. Both Goethe and Schelling self-consciously embarked on the “daring adventure of reason” against which Kant had warned. This chapter explores their respective theoretical constructions in terms of the intellectual development of their progenitors. Goethe conceived his ideas of developmental morphology in the mid-1790s. His encounter and collaboration with Schelling in 1798 brought about a dramatic fusion of their two trajectories in a conception of Polarität [polarity] and Steigerung [intensification] constituting the self-organization of nature. That energized the synthesis of life science under the new rubric of “biology” in the first years of the nineteenth century.Less
To establish life science on a systematic basis required an integrating principle for the specific conception of organic form and its integration further into a general system of nature. The key ideas found their fullest articulation respectively in Goethe’s conception of developmental morphology as the principle of a science of life forms and in Schelling’s conception of Naturphilosophie, that is, nature as a whole conceived as a developmental, living organism. Both Goethe and Schelling self-consciously embarked on the “daring adventure of reason” against which Kant had warned. This chapter explores their respective theoretical constructions in terms of the intellectual development of their progenitors. Goethe conceived his ideas of developmental morphology in the mid-1790s. His encounter and collaboration with Schelling in 1798 brought about a dramatic fusion of their two trajectories in a conception of Polarität [polarity] and Steigerung [intensification] constituting the self-organization of nature. That energized the synthesis of life science under the new rubric of “biology” in the first years of the nineteenth century.
John H. Zammito
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226520797
- eISBN:
- 9780226520827
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226520827.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Schelling’s Naturphilosophie provided a powerful theoretical support system for the innovations in physiology that established biology as a special science in the early nineteenth century. He clearly ...
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Schelling’s Naturphilosophie provided a powerful theoretical support system for the innovations in physiology that established biology as a special science in the early nineteenth century. He clearly undertook – and was taken to be undertaking – a supercession of Kant’s philosophy of science in order to open the way for the “daring adventure of reason” necessary to create an empirical science of biology as a historical-developmental understanding of life forms. This chapter demonstrates the problematic relation of Kant to empirical physiology and medicine in this period and why the latter community of inquiry turned from him to Schelling. The crucial advocacy of Henrik Steffens marks this transition. Then the chapter explores Schelling’s engagement with Brownian medicine at the Bamberg General Hospital and then the University of Würzburg, culminating in the key journal Jahrbücher der Medizin als Wissenschaft. It concludes with a consideration of Ignaz Döllinger as a key mediator between the eighteenth-century gestation of biology, culminating in its embrace of Naturphilosophie, and the early nineteenth-century figures recognized as eminently engaged in a special science of biology, like Karl Ernst von Baer.Less
Schelling’s Naturphilosophie provided a powerful theoretical support system for the innovations in physiology that established biology as a special science in the early nineteenth century. He clearly undertook – and was taken to be undertaking – a supercession of Kant’s philosophy of science in order to open the way for the “daring adventure of reason” necessary to create an empirical science of biology as a historical-developmental understanding of life forms. This chapter demonstrates the problematic relation of Kant to empirical physiology and medicine in this period and why the latter community of inquiry turned from him to Schelling. The crucial advocacy of Henrik Steffens marks this transition. Then the chapter explores Schelling’s engagement with Brownian medicine at the Bamberg General Hospital and then the University of Würzburg, culminating in the key journal Jahrbücher der Medizin als Wissenschaft. It concludes with a consideration of Ignaz Döllinger as a key mediator between the eighteenth-century gestation of biology, culminating in its embrace of Naturphilosophie, and the early nineteenth-century figures recognized as eminently engaged in a special science of biology, like Karl Ernst von Baer.
Dan C. Christensen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199669264
- eISBN:
- 9780191748745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669264.003.0013
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
Ørsted encounters the early Romantic spirit of Jena University represented by Fichte, Goethe and Schiller. In Berlin he becomes a regular guest at Madam Herz's salon, magnetized by her charm, and is ...
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Ørsted encounters the early Romantic spirit of Jena University represented by Fichte, Goethe and Schiller. In Berlin he becomes a regular guest at Madam Herz's salon, magnetized by her charm, and is consequently introduced to the intellectual community, many of which are Jews. Her husband, the much older physician Marcus Herz, had formerly been close to Kant in Königsberg. The informal rules of salons and the many venues of entertainment are outlined. He also made friends with a good many Freemasons and pondered becoming initiated. Ørsted joins Fichte's lectures and discusses Schelling's philosophy with him. Ørsted takes a critical stand against Naturphilosophie, which is apparent not only in his letters but also in his article ‘Overview of the Latest Progress of Physics’ written for Fr. Schlegel's journal Europa.Less
Ørsted encounters the early Romantic spirit of Jena University represented by Fichte, Goethe and Schiller. In Berlin he becomes a regular guest at Madam Herz's salon, magnetized by her charm, and is consequently introduced to the intellectual community, many of which are Jews. Her husband, the much older physician Marcus Herz, had formerly been close to Kant in Königsberg. The informal rules of salons and the many venues of entertainment are outlined. He also made friends with a good many Freemasons and pondered becoming initiated. Ørsted joins Fichte's lectures and discusses Schelling's philosophy with him. Ørsted takes a critical stand against Naturphilosophie, which is apparent not only in his letters but also in his article ‘Overview of the Latest Progress of Physics’ written for Fr. Schlegel's journal Europa.
