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German Romanticism

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lightbulbAbout this topic
German Romanticism is a cultural and artistic movement that emerged in the late 18th to mid-19th century, characterized by an emphasis on emotion, individualism, nature, and the glorification of the past. It sought to challenge the rationalism of the Enlightenment and foster a deeper connection to the human experience through literature, philosophy, and the arts.
lightbulbAbout this topic
German Romanticism is a cultural and artistic movement that emerged in the late 18th to mid-19th century, characterized by an emphasis on emotion, individualism, nature, and the glorification of the past. It sought to challenge the rationalism of the Enlightenment and foster a deeper connection to the human experience through literature, philosophy, and the arts.

Key research themes

1. How did German Romanticism negotiate the relationship between Enlightenment rationality and mythological cognition?

This theme investigates the Romantic movement's critical engagement with Enlightenment ideals of reason, particularly its perceived disenchantment of the world, and the Romantic effort to revive mythology as a source of unitive cognition. German Romantics like Schiller, Schlegel, Novalis, and their British counterparts sought to reconcile reason with imagination by reappropriating mythological narratives, viewing them as symbolic gateways to a holistic understanding of human and natural unity. This research area is pivotal for understanding how Romanticism challenged dominant epistemologies by embracing myth as a mode of philosophical and aesthetic insight that transcended rationalism.

Key finding: Sosa Revol (2025) philosophically interprets Friedrich Hölderlin’s poetry as embodying Romantic tensions between divinity and human fragility, employing rhythmic interruptions as a deliberate literary strategy to mediate the... Read more

2. What role did philosophical idealism and dynamics of matter and life play in shaping German Romantic thought?

This research theme explores German Romanticism’s engagement with evolving philosophies of nature, matter, and life, especially focusing on dynamical idealism as articulated by thinkers like Schelling, Novalis, and Coleridge. Emphasizing the interplay between scientific developments and metaphysical speculation, these thinkers contested mechanistic materialism by positing vital forces or energies (Kraft) as constitutive of living matter. This strand shaped Romantic conceptions of subjectivity, aesthetics, and the unity of nature, integrating empirical inquiry with idealist metaphysics.

Key finding: This edited volume elaborates on the category of 'dynamical idealists' including Schelling and Coleridge, who developed energy-based accounts of matter and life overriding corpuscularian materialism. It contextualizes German... Read more
Key finding: This paper identifies the English Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth’s influence on Herder’s revision of Spinozist metaphysics—central to German Romantic transitions. Herder’s concept of Kraft integrates Cudworth’s ‘plastik’... Read more

3. How did German Romanticism engage with nationalism, identity, and cultural representation through arts and institutions?

This theme encompasses Romanticism’s role in articulating and shaping emerging national identities in 19th-century Germany and Europe more broadly. It focuses on the interplay between culture, politics, and historiography, investigating how museums, folklore, language, and visual arts functioned as vehicles for national consciousness. The work analyzes the complex dynamics of state-sponsored and grassroots nationalist movements intertwined with Romantic aesthetics and historiographical projects.

Key finding: This encyclopedia documents the pivotal role of cultural institutions such as national museums in nation-building efforts across Europe, including the German states. It details how Romantic historians, folklorists, artists,... Read more
Key finding: This article uncovers the ambivalent racial and colonial attitudes in Romantic visual portrayals by Johann Moritz Rugendas, illustrating how Romantic art participated in cultural constructions tied to national identity, race,... Read more

All papers in German Romanticism

A Book Review of Ware's Return of the Gods: Mythology in Romantic Philosophy and Literature (OUP, 2025).
The denpa girl receiving electromagnetic signals in her carefully curated room is the direct heir to the central crisis of early German Romanticism: the subject who refuses the world's claim to totality. This essay argues that... more
Biographie zur Gewinnung neuer Kriterien aus dieser Arbeit für seine späteren Werke verfaßt. Antike Preisschriften loben die Gerechtigkeit des Sieges in einem Wettstreit. So beschreibt Pindar den Gewinner eines Wagenrennens, Arkesilas von... more
En este trabajo se analiza la crítica del Romanticismo, por medio de la ironía, a los excesos racionalistas de querer reducir como único criterio de verdad filosófica a la razón, ya sea ilustrada, kantiana o idealista.
En este trabajo se rivisa la propuesta ética del pensador romántico Friedrich Schleiermacher en su obra Monólogos.
According to Alberto Caeiro-one of Fernando Pessoa's main heteronymswe must learn to free ourselves from thought and language in order to see reality as it really is and to be in harmony with it. But what does it mean, for Caeiro, to free... more
O presente trabalho busca circunscrever certos aspectos essenciais ao conceito kierkegaardiano de Dialetica, localizando-o numa tradicao que tem Hegel como seu principal representante. Para tanto, a exposicao sera dividida em tres... more
This paper examines the nature of symphilosophy as articulated and performed in Bettina Brentano von Arnim's 1840 Günderode and the role that history plays in both her thinking and that of her friend, Karoline von Günderrode. In... more
In Chapter 10 of The Twenty-Five Years of Philosophy, Eckart Förster offers one of the most thorough explications of Schelling's understanding of the philosophy of nature. 1 Schelling's complicated and obscure ideas about the construction... more
Occasioned by the 500th anniversary of the Furioso’s first edition, this richly contextualized, interdisciplinary volume, edited by Christian Rivoletti, is a welcome contribution to many fields of related study. L’Orlando furioso oltre i... more
in 1825 Eduard Mörike and Ludwig Bauer concocted Orplid, the first fictional secondary work of high fantasy, in the contemporary sense. This essay describes Orplid as a high fantasy venue according to the main features of this fictional... more
The following is a list of abbreviations used throughout the volume for core references, along with their English translations. References to pages in English translations are provided only when the translation lacks pagination from the... more
El tratado sobre la esencia de la libertad humana de Schelling es de una complejidad inusitada, pues en este texto tienen lugar ciertas intuiciones que parecieran no estar todavía decantadas o dilucidadas del todo por el autor, lo que... more
Książka przynosi próbę równoległego czytania pisarstwa historycznego Joachima Lelewela i tekstów o historii Adama Mickiewicza – dyskursywnych oraz literackich – powstałych w latach 1815-1833, a więc w okresie bliższej znajomości ich... more
WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR REVIEWS
Resoconto del quarto incontro del progetto PRIN Philosophical Reviews in German Territories (1668-1799).
Ferrara, 5-6 dicembre 2024.
La propriété intellectuelle, en tant que fruit de la créativité humaine, est protégée par la loi au moyen du droit d’auteur et de la marque, à condition qu’elle possède un niveau suffisant d’originalité et qu’elle soit exprimée de manière... more
Phantasma: absolut positives Szenario, welches das Positive des Begehrens in Szene setzt, das nur Positives kennt. Mit anderen Worten, das Phantasma ist (offensichtlich!) nicht dialektisch. In der Phantasie allein leben wollen und... more
Kant famously carves out space for transcendental freedom by dint of the distinction between appearances and things in themselves. In doing so, he denies establishing the actuality of freedom, as this would transcend the legitimate use of... more
The proposal explores the fantastic genre focusing on the domains of female water creatures. These beings appear in different types of storytelling and art, from ancient Greco-Roman and Germanic-Scandinavian myths to contemporary fiction.... more
The subject of this inquiry is the conflict of the conceptual faculties as they remain operative, strained, and sometimes opposed within the act of thinking itself. Where most treatments of the mind aim for harmony, this one begins... more
Analyse de séquence tirée de : L’analyse de séquences 5e édition refondue Armand Colin 2015, Coll. Cinéma/Arts visuels, 224 p. ISBN-10 : 2200625162.
Resumen: El presente artículo analiza la relación de Walter Benjamin con la fenomenología desde sus tempranos años de formación universitaria hasta la publicación de su tesis de habilitación no aprobada, El origen del Trauerspiel alemán... more
This essay critically focuses on the functions of literature in understanding the complexities of human life and society, perceiving cultural values, and evoking aesthetic relish from a literary humanistic approach. It is an attempt to... more
Dados Internacionais de Catalogação-na-Publicação (CIP) Rosimarizy Linaris Montanhano Astolphi -Bibliotecária CRB/9-1610 Este livro foi editado pelo Instituto Quero Saber em parceria com a ANPOF. O teor da publicação é de responsabilidade... more
The thesis I defend in this article is that, while it's true that literature isn't the immediate cause of Werther's suicide, it nevertheless plays a significant role, providing a context that shapes the hero's identity and influences his... more
This is what is terrible for my eyes, that I find the human being (Mensch) in ruins and scattered as over a battlefield or a butcher-field. And when my eyes flee from the now to the past, they always find the same: fragments and limbs and... more
This paper shows the manifold aspects of the non-translation phenomenon : besides shortened and summarized versions, which alter the source text in a quantitative way, non-translation can also have a qualitative effect, for instance when... more
The article is devoted to the analysis of drawings by the artist and scientist from Nuremberg Maria Clara Eimmart. The drawings were made in 1693 and 1695 in gouache and pastel techniques, were dedicated to the Swiss scientist Johann... more
This paper investigates the personality of so-called “Dr. Harrison” whose short stories were immensely popular in the early nineteenth century Russian media. The use of historical and bibliographical sources helps us to solve this puzzle... more
The Kantian aporia of reason, characterized by a fundamental agnosticism regarding ultimate reality, was not a final state but the beginning of a two-century-long intellectual re-evaluation. This philosophical boundary was first... more
Die Beziehungen zwischen deutschsprachiger Literatur und jüdischer Kultur haben eine reiche und komplexe Geschichte, die tief in die kulturelle und literarische Entwicklung Deutschlands eingewoben ist. Das Rahmenthema „Deutsch-jüdische... more
In the early decades of the last century, scholars largely interpreted Johann Georg Hamann as a singular opponent of the Enlightenment, a "prophet" of irrationalism, and the real force behind the Sturm und Drang's repudiation of the... more
This paper addresses a significant lacuna in the canonical historiography of German Idealism: the systematic omission and marginalization of women thinkers, writers, and intellectual interlocutors. While the traditional narrative focuses... more
Usually, the reception of Nikolaus Lenau’s work appears rather rarely or not at all in connection with his birthplace. Supported by biographical information, the article puts the poet’s life path in an overall context of contemporary... more
Оригинални сликарски израз и богат опус у црквеном сликарству града Ниша и његове околине оставили су иконописци и живописци Влатко Бјелица и Славица Секулић. Њихов стил, за разлику од критеријума савремене уметности, треба анализирати на... more
The paper represents an attempt to understand Kant's view on the concept of reflexion (Überlegung) in the Critique of Pure Reason. After pointing out the difficulties faced by the existing readings, I try to give some support to the claim... more
Bu çalışmada mit, akıl ve sanatı bütüncül bir dünya görüşünde birleştirmeyi amaçla- yan kültürel ve entelektüel bir hareket olan Jena Romantizmi incelenmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı, Jena Romantizminin Aydınlanma, Fransız Devrimi ve... more
a definition of the constitution in homeopathic text books. In fact, I cannot find one. The closest may be when Barbara Harwood, as Principal of the College of Homeo­ pathy, wrote in a personal summary for students that the constitution... more
In: Katharina Bechler u.a. (Hrsg.), Kosmos Schloß Erbach: Sammeln als fürstliche Passion, Publikationen der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Hessen Bd. 11, 2025, 359–360. ISBN: 978-3-96176-304-7
Booklet for the recording of P. Scharwenka, The nocturnal Poet by Cansu Sanlidag. The booklet explores the pianos pieces composed by Scharwenka in the 1890's. Livret pour l'enregistrement de P. Scharenka - The Nocturnal Poet par Cansu... more
Mobilisées dans un premier temps pour préserver l’idéal et l’universel au sein de la philosophie pratique kantienne, les notions de norme et de valeur sont ensuite remodelées afin de redéfinir l’universel à partir de l’individu et plus... more
Joseph von Eichendorff und Heinrich Heine, zwei prominente Vertreter der Epoche der Romantik, sind bei aller Unterschiedlichkeit bezüglich ihrer dichterischen Auffassung und weltanschaulichen Geisteshaltung beide als Grenzgänger und... more
Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Task of the Translator,” the most widely cited twentieth century philosophical statement on translation, is commonly seen as one of the most opaque and misunderstood essays in the field. This paper uses a... more
There is one text that has haunted me for years: Camiel van Winkel’s *The Myth of Artistic Practice*. When I first read it, it felt like a sobering wake-up call. What was I, a visual artist, supposed to do with this analysis? I found... more
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