Abstract
This essay investigates what a nuanced and revisionary interpretation of Fichte’s Critical-idealist philosophy could reveal about its impact on the philosophic thought of Friedrich Schlegel. It argues that Schlegel sees the Wissenschaftslehre through the lens of the distinction Fichte famous draws between the “spirit” (Geist) and the “letter” (Buchstaben) of a philosophy. He considers the spirit of the Wissenschaftslehre to lie in its acute awareness of its own limitation as a work of art and its letter in the deductive or demonstrative form it inevitably assumes upon being expounded. In the face of the discrepancy, Schlegel rejects the letter of the Wissenschaftslehre in favor of its spirit.
References
Primary
Breazeale, D. (Ed. and trans.) (1988). Fichte: early philosophical writings. Cornell University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Fichte, I. H. (Hrsg.) (1945). Fichtes sämmtliche Werke (FW). Veit und Comp.Suche in Google Scholar
Behler, E., Anstett, J. J., & Eichner, H. (Hrsg.) (1958). Kritische Friedrich-Schlegel-Ausgabe (KA). Schningh.Suche in Google Scholar
Secondary
Behler, E. (1993). German romantic literary theory. Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Behler, E. (1996). Friedrich Schlegel’s theory of an alternating principle prior to his arrival in Jena (6 August 1796). Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 50(197/3), 383–402.Suche in Google Scholar
Beiser, F. (2003). The romantic imperative: The concept of early German romanticism. Harvard University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Breazeale, D. (2016). Thinking through the Wissenschaftslehre: Themes from Fichte early philosophy. Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Eichner, H. (1970). Friedrich Schlegel. Twayne.Suche in Google Scholar
Frank, M. (1997). Unendliche Annäherung: Die Anfänge der philosophischen Frühromantik. Suhrkamp.Suche in Google Scholar
Frischmann, B. (2010). Friedrich Schlegel’s transformation of Fichte’s transcendental into an early romantic idealism. Fichte-Studien-Supplementa, 24, 343–355.Suche in Google Scholar
Haym, R. (1882). Die romantische Schule. Gaertner.Suche in Google Scholar
Hoffmann, S. (2018). “Fichte and the early German romantics,” Brill’s companion to German romantic philosophy (pp. 217–240). Brill.Suche in Google Scholar
Kneller, J. (2007). Kant and the power of imagination. Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Leventhal, R. (2008). Transcendental or material oscillation: An alternative reading of Schlegel’s Alternating Principle (Wechselerweise). In Athenäum Jahrbuch für Romantik 17. Brill.Suche in Google Scholar
Loheide, B. (2000). Fichte und Novalis. Transzendentalphilosophisches Denkens im romantisierenden Diskurs (Fichte-Studien-Supplementa 13). Brill Rodopi.Suche in Google Scholar
Millán, E. (2007). Friedrich Schlegel and the emergence of romantic philosophy. SUNY Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Nassar, D. (2013). The romantic absolute: Being and knowing in early German romantic philosophy, 1795–1804. The University of Chicago Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Reid, J. D. (2020). Novalis’ philosophical fictions: Love, reason, and the given from the Fichte-studies to the Hymns to the night. European Journal of Philosophy, 28, 703–722. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12516.Suche in Google Scholar
Rockmore, T. (1994). Antifoundationalism, circularity, and the spirit of Fichte. In D. Breazeale & T. Rockmore (Ed.), Fichte: Historical contexts/contemporary controversies (pp. 96–112). Humanities Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Von Molnar, G. (1970). Novalis’ “Fichte studies”: The foundations of his aesthetics. Mouton.Suche in Google Scholar
Walzel, O. F. (2022). Deutsche Romantik: Eine Skizze. Good Press.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Philosophy and Jena Romanticism
- Research Articles
- The Contemporary Significance of Early German Romantic Philosophy
- A Note on Friedrich Schlegel’s Reception of the Wissenschaftslehre
- The Mythology of Reason in “Das älteste Systemprogramm”: A Hegelian Project?
- Serious Jokes: Friedrich Schlegel and the Philosophical Use of Irony
- On the Roots of Romantic Irony and the Pleasure of Being (Mis)understood
- Schelling’s Clara: Romantic Psychotherapy
- The Natural Man: Novalis’ Aesthetic Anthropology
- The Transcendental Grounds of Novalis’ Conception of Life as Poetical Work
- Back from the Future. Remarks on Temporality and Totality in the Birth of Classical German Philosophy
- Novalis’ Metaphysics of Having: A Step Towards an Environmental Conception of the Human–Nature Relationship
- Review Essay
- Jena Romanticism Revisited
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Philosophy and Jena Romanticism
- Research Articles
- The Contemporary Significance of Early German Romantic Philosophy
- A Note on Friedrich Schlegel’s Reception of the Wissenschaftslehre
- The Mythology of Reason in “Das älteste Systemprogramm”: A Hegelian Project?
- Serious Jokes: Friedrich Schlegel and the Philosophical Use of Irony
- On the Roots of Romantic Irony and the Pleasure of Being (Mis)understood
- Schelling’s Clara: Romantic Psychotherapy
- The Natural Man: Novalis’ Aesthetic Anthropology
- The Transcendental Grounds of Novalis’ Conception of Life as Poetical Work
- Back from the Future. Remarks on Temporality and Totality in the Birth of Classical German Philosophy
- Novalis’ Metaphysics of Having: A Step Towards an Environmental Conception of the Human–Nature Relationship
- Review Essay
- Jena Romanticism Revisited