The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe"All art should become science and all science art; poetry and philosophy should be made one." Friedrich Schlegel's words perfectly capture the project of the German Romantics, who believed that the aesthetic approaches of art and literature could reveal patterns and meaning in nature that couldn't be uncovered through rationalistic philosophy and science alone. In this wide-ranging work, Robert J. Richards shows how the Romantic conception of the world influenced (and was influenced by) both the lives of the people who held it and the development of nineteenth-century science. Integrating Romantic literature, science, and philosophy with an intimate knowledge of the individuals involved—from Goethe and the brothers Schlegel to Humboldt and Friedrich and Caroline Schelling—Richards demonstrates how their tempestuous lives shaped their ideas as profoundly as their intellectual and cultural heritage. He focuses especially on how Romantic concepts of the self, as well as aesthetic and moral considerations—all tempered by personal relationships—altered scientific representations of nature. Although historians have long considered Romanticism at best a minor tributary to scientific thought, Richards moves it to the center of the main currents of nineteenth-century biology, culminating in the conception of nature that underlies Darwin's evolutionary theory. Uniting the personal and poetic aspects of philosophy and science in a way that the German Romantics themselves would have honored, The Romantic Conception of Life alters how we look at Romanticism and nineteenth-century biology. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 84
Page xiv
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page xv
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page xviii
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 2
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 10
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Contents
A Most Happy Encounter | 1 |
The Early Romantic Movement | 17 |
The Poetry of Nature | 114 |
Farewell to Jena | 193 |
The Meaning of Romanticism | 199 |
Blumenbach and Kant | 207 |
Kielmeyer and the Organic Powers of Nature | 238 |
Johann Christian Reils Romantic Theories of Life and Mind | 252 |
Mechanism Teleology and Evolution | 307 |
The Erotic Authority of Nature | 325 |
Goethes Scientific Revolution | 407 |
The History of a Life in Art and Science | 503 |
The Romantic Conception of Life | 511 |
555 | |
573 | |
579 | |
Other editions - View all
The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe Robert J. Richards No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute aesthetic Alexander von Humboldt animals archetype argued artist beauty became Berlin Bildungstrieb biology Blumenbach Carl August causal century Charles Darwin Charlotte von Stein Christian conception consciousness creative Critique discussion Einleitung empirical essay evolution experience feeling Fichte Fichte's forces Friedrich Schelling Friedrich Schiller Friedrich Schlegel genius German Goethe Goethe's Goethes Briefe Hardenberg Henrik Steffens Herder human Ibid ideal ideas Ideen individual infinite initially intellectual intuition Jena Johann Johann Christian Reil Johann Friedrich Blumenbach judgment Kant Kant's Kantian Karl Kielmeyer kind later laws lectures letter Lorenz Oken mind moral morphology nature Naturphilosophie Novalis object Oken organic original philosophy plants poem poet poetic poetry principle produced Reil Reil's relationship Romantic Romanticism Sämtliche Werke Schelling's Schellings Werke Schiller Schleiermacher scientific seems skull species Spinoza Steffens Stein structure theory thought tion transcendental ture University Verlag vertebrate vols Weimar Weltseele Werther Wilhelm Schlegel wrote young