German Idealism: The Struggle Against Subjectivism, 1781-1801 - Hardcover

Beiser, Fc

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674007697 ISBN 13: 9780674007697

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This work advances and revises our understanding of both the history and the thought of the classical period of German philosophy. As he traces the structure and evolution of idealism as a doctrine, Frederick Beiser exposes a strong objective, or realist, strain running from Kant to Hegel and identifies the crucial role of the early romantics - H lderlin, Schlegel, and Novalis - as the founders of absolute idealism. Traditionally, German idealism is understood as a radical form of subjectivism that expands the powers of the self to encompass the entire world. But Beiser reveals a different - in fact, opposite - impulse: an attempt to limit the powers of the subject. Between Kant and Hegel he finds a movement away from cosmic subjectivity and toward greater realism and naturalism, with one form of idealism succeeding another as each proved an inadequate basis for explaining the reality of the external world and the place of the self in nature. Thus German idealism emerges here not as a radical development of the Cartesian tradition of philosophy, but as the first important break with that tradition.

About this title

Review:

Expository writing of unfailing lucidity is supported by reference to an unrivalled range of sources, both primary and secondary... -- Times Literary Supplement 24 January 2003

About the Author:

Frederick C. Beiser is Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University and the author of many books, including The Fate of Reason and Enlightenment, Revolution, and Romanticism (both from Harvard).

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0674007697
• ISBN 13: 9780674007697
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 768