UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The sources and limits of political enthusiasm Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7x24v971 Author Poe, Andrew Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Sources and Limits of Political Enthusiasm A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science by Andrew Poe Committee in charge: Professor Tracy Strong, Chair Professor Fonna Forman-Barzilai Professor Harvey Goldman Professor Patchen Markell Professor Philip Roeder 2010 Copyright Andrew Poe, 2010 All rights reserved The dissertation of Andrew Poe is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2010 iii DEDICATION For Alivia, especially for beginning everything by mistakenly saying “I know you!” iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page....................................................................................................................iii Dedication...........................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................viii Vita ....................................................................................................................................xii Abstract of the Dissertation..............................................................................................xiv Introduction: The Problem of Enthusiasm ..........................................................................1 Chapter 1: Transformations in the Concept of Enthusiasm...............................................15 Introduction – Varieties of Enthusiasm..........................................................................15 Section 1 – Schwärmerei and Enthusiasmus ......................................................................21 Section 2 – Defining Religious Enthusiasm...................................................................27 Section 3 – Is Enthusiasm a Disease?.............................................................................33 Conclusions – Hope for a Moral (and thereby Political) Enthusiasm............................41 Appendix to Chapter 1...................................................................................................44 C. M. Wieland’s “Schwärmerei und Enthusiasmus” (1775), German Text .........44 C. M. Wieland’s “Fanaticism and Enthusiasm” (1775), English Translation ......47 Chapter 2: Rhetoric and the Work of Enthusiasm: A Kantian Understanding of Allegiance..........................................................................................................................50 Introduction – Rhetoric and Enthusiasm........................................................................50 Section 1 – Motivating Verfassungspatriotismus ..........................................................62 Section 2 – Raving with Reason: Does Rhetoric Dehumanize......................................75 Section 3 – Understanding Affect..................................................................................87 Section 4 – Political Enthusiasm....................................................................................96 Conclusion – The Work of Enthusiasm.......................................................................105 v Chapter 3: Translating Enthusiasm: Reading Reflections on the Revolution in France – in Prussia .........................................................................................................................110 Introduction – The Danger of Enthusiasm...................................................................110 Section 1 – Burke’s Political Critique of Enthusiasm .................................................117 Section 2 – The Aesthetics of Burke’s Politics............................................................136 Section 3 – Translating Burke’s Critique of Enthusiasm.............................................149 Conclusions – The Costs of a Unified Conception of Enthusiasm..............................169 Chapter 4: The Nation and the Swarm ............................................................................172 Introduction – Motivating Nationalism .......................................................................172 Section 1 – Creating Nations .......................................................................................174 Section 2 – The Limits of Fichte’s Nationalism ..........................................................184 Section 3 – The Logic of Schwärmerei in Fichte’s Nation..........................................202 Conclusion – Creating Objects of Allegiance..............................................................213 Chapter 5: The Allure of Fanaticism...............................................................................215 Introduction – Fanaticism and Schwärmerei ...............................................................215 Section 1 – Romanticism in Context ...........................................................................219 Section 2 – On the Synthesis of Thought and Feeling: Romantic Agency..................231 Section 3 – Novalis’ Inheritance of Kant.....................................................................237 Section 4 – Understanding Schwärmerei.....................................................................252 Section 5 – The Problem of ‘Europe’ (Past and Present) ............................................257 Conclusion – Romantic Psychologies..........................................................................262 Appendix to Chapter 5.................................................................................................268 Novalis’ “Apologie der Schwärmerey” (1789), German Text..............................268 Novalis’ “In Defense of Schwärmerei” (1789), English Translation ...................270 vi Conclusions: Enthusiasm and the Limits of Democracy ............................................... 272 Bibliography....................................................................................................................276 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is an understatement to say this project has benefited greatly from the enthusiasm of others. Throughout my thinking and writing on this subject, a host of colleagues were willing to share their care and wit. All of this I was never sure I deserved, but I have enjoyed it nonetheless. I know in the beginning that it was unclear how very much would depend on them; in the end, it is obvious that I owe them everything. Special thanks go to my committee, each of whom has helped contribute to the very structure of my thinking. Fonna Forman-Barzilai’s faith and encouragement were inspiring, even when seemingly unwarranted. That I was able to openly confess my hopes and anxieties, I think, pushed this project further than it ever could have progressed on my confidence alone. In that way she has proved as much a dear friend as an adviser. From the earliest stages of my study of the history of European political thought, Harvey Goldman has served as an important asymptote to my sometimes- spurious thinking. His grounded and thorough examinations of my thoughts – especially when I set out on the early course of this project – provided a solid foundation from which I developed. Phil Roeder, in what became regular morning conversations on and off this subject, has given shape to my research in more ways than he knows. Whatever apprehensions I had about investigating enthusiasm as a political concept were first viii dispelled by his encouragement. His continued support, even (perhaps most) when my thinking wavered, was especially comforting. As an outside adviser, Patchen Markell has been incredibly generous with his thoughts and time. His work, both directly and indirectly, has proved a model for this project and my research generally. I find it only somewhat ironic that I had to leave Chicago in order for us to first meet. But from that initial introduction on, I’ve been grateful for his personal care and professional guidance. A very special thanks go to my adviser and the chair of this dissertation committee, Tracy Strong. Throughout my intellectual development, Tracy provided an environment where I could be secure in my confusions. Our continual discussions on the history of political theory, especially as that history transformed throughout his lifetime, provided me with a deep context for my own burgeoning views. And his very democratic spirit dissolved what could have been a hierarchical relationship between teacher and student. I have tried, throughout my research, to humbly inherit his spirit. Our dialog is the best example I have of the feeling of enthusiasm. Others, along the way, have given much of themselves to help in my development. Many thanks go to Danielle Allen, who first introduced
Recommended publications
  • Definingromanticnationalism-Libre(1)
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Notes towards a definition of Romantic Nationalism Leerssen, J. Publication date 2013 Document Version Final published version Published in Romantik Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Leerssen, J. (2013). Notes towards a definition of Romantic Nationalism. Romantik, 2(1), 9- 35. http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/rom/article/view/20191/17807 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:30 Sep 2021 NOTES TOWARDS A DEFINITION Romantic OF ROMANTIC Nationalism NATIONALISM [ JOEP LEERSSEN ABSTR While the concept ‘Romantic nationalism’ is becoming widespread, its current usage tends to compound the vagueness inherent in its two constituent terms, Romanticism and na- tionalism. In order to come to a more focused understanding of the concept, this article A surveys a wide sample of Romantically inflected nationalist activities and practices, and CT nationalistically inflected cultural productions and reflections of Romantic vintage, drawn ] from various media (literature, music, the arts, critical and historical writing) and from dif- ferent countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Poetics of Becoming: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's and John Keats's Aesthetics Between Idealism and Deconstruction
    Towards a Poetics of Becoming: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s and John Keats’s Aesthetics Between Idealism and Deconstruction Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät IV (Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften) der Universität Regensburg eingereicht von Charles NGIEWIH TEKE Alfons-Auer-Str. 4 93053 Regensburg Februar 2004 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Rainer EMIG Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dieter A. BERGER 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DEDICATION .............................................................................................................. I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... II ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... VI English........................................................................................................................ VI German...................................................................................................................... VII French...................................................................................................................... VIII INTRODUCTION Aims of the Study......................................................................................................... 1 On the Relationship Between S. T. Coleridge and J. Keats.......................................... 5 Certain Critical Terms................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Novalis's Magical Idealism
    Symphilosophie International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism Novalis’s Magical Idealism A Threefold Philosophy of the Imagination, Love and Medicine Laure Cahen-Maurel* ABSTRACT This article argues that Novalis’s philosophy of magical idealism essentially consists of three central elements: a theory of the creative or productive imagination, a conception of love, and a doctrine of transcendental medicine. In this regard, it synthesizes two adjacent, but divergent contemporary philosophical sources – J. G. Fichte’s idealism and Friedrich Schiller’s classicism – into a new and original philosophy. It demonstrates that Novalis’s views on both magic and idealism, not only prove to be perfectly rational and comprehensible, but even more philosophically coherent and innovative than have been recognised up to now. Keywords: magical idealism, productive imagination, love, medicine, Novalis, J. G. Fichte, Schiller RÉSUMÉ Cet article défend l’idée selon laquelle trois éléments centraux composent ce que Novalis nomme « idéalisme magique » pour désigner sa philosophie propre : la conception d’une imagination créatrice ou productrice, une doctrine de l’amour et une théorie de la médecine transcendantale. L’idéalisme magique est en cela la synthèse en une philosophie nouvelle et originale de deux sources philosophiques contemporaines, à la fois adjacentes et divergentes : l’idéalisme de J. G. Fichte et le classicisme de Friedrich Schiller. L’article montre que les vues de Novalis tant sur la magie que sur l’idéalisme sont non seulement réellement rationnelles et compréhensibles, mais philosophiquement plus cohérentes et novatrices qu’on ne l’a admis jusqu’à présent. Mots-clés : idéalisme magique, imagination productrice, amour, médecine, Novalis, J. G.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dialectic of Freedom 1St Edition Pdf Free Download
    THE DIALECTIC OF FREEDOM 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Maxine Greene | 9780807728970 | | | | | The Dialectic of Freedom 1st edition PDF Book She examines the ways in which the disenfranchised have historically understood and acted on their freedom—or lack of it—in dealing with perceived and real obstacles to expression and empowerment. It offers readers a critical opportunity to reflect on our continuing ideological struggles by examining popular books that have made a difference in educational discourse. Professors: Request an Exam Copy. Major works. Max Horkheimer Theodor W. The latter democratically makes everyone equally into listeners, in order to expose them in authoritarian fashion to the same programs put out by different stations. American Paradox American Quest. Instead the conscious decision of the managing directors executes as results which are more obligatory than the blindest price-mechanisms the old law of value and hence the destiny of capitalism. Forgot your password? There have been two English translations: the first by John Cumming New York: Herder and Herder , ; and a more recent translation, based on the definitive text from Horkheimer's collected works, by Edmund Jephcott Stanford: Stanford University Press, Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Peter Lang. The truth that they are nothing but business is used as an ideology to legitimize the trash they intentionally produce. Archetypal literary criticism New historicism Technocriticism. The author concludes with suggestions for approaches to teaching and learning that can provoke both educators and students to take initiatives, to transcend limits, and to pursue freedom—not in solitude, but in reciprocity with others, not in privacy, but in a public space.
    [Show full text]
  • SCHILLER, NOVALIS, and the CONCEPT of AUFHEBUNG Hammam Aldouri
    Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, vol. 15, no. 1, 2019 BEFORE HEGEL: SCHILLER, NOVALIS, AND THE CONCEPT OF AUFHEBUNG Hammam Aldouri ABSTRACT: Philosophical explorations of the concept of Aufhebung (sublation, supersession) immediately prior to its formulation in Hegel’s work have remained relatively absent within the context of both Hegel scholarship and German Idealism studies. Hegel is often simply represented as the originator of the concept and the latter is understood almost exclusively within his oeuvre. This essay addresses this lack by offering an exposition of the notion as it unfolds in two works from 1795-1796: Friedrich Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man and Novalis’ Fichte Studies. In these works, we find distinctive examinations of Aufhebung understood as the name of a process in which a subject comprehends itself in relation to its own processual development. My guiding premise is that without an adequate comprehension of the way in which Aufhebung is constructed and comprehended in the last years of the eighteenth century, we cannot establish the vantage point from which to reconstruct Hegel’s early conception of the notion, a conception which begins to emerge in his earliest Frankfurt writings in 1797, as a contribution to the constellation of post-Kantian conceptions. Keywords: Aufhebung, Schiller, Novalis, Aesthetic Education, Fichte Studies INTRODUCTION The concept of Aufhebung (sublation, supersession) is, without question, one of the most contested and discussed concepts of Hegel’s philosophical enterprise th th 1 and its critical reception in the 19 and 20 centuries. One distinctive 1 So much so, in fact, that it has led philosopher’s such as Jean-Luc Nancy to state that there is “no great study of Hegel that is not a study on the Aufhebung.” Nancy 2001, 158n7.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concept of Bildung in Early German Romanticism
    CHAPTER 6 The Concept of Bildung in Early German Romanticism 1. Social and Political Context In 1799 Friedrich Schlegel, the ringleader of the early romantic circle, stated, with uncommon and uncharacteristic clarity, his view of the summum bonum, the supreme value in life: “The highest good, and [the source of] ev- erything that is useful, is culture (Bildung).”1 Since the German word Bildung is virtually synonymous with education, Schlegel might as well have said that the highest good is education. That aphorism, and others like it, leave no doubt about the importance of education for the early German romantics. It is no exaggeration to say that Bildung, the education of humanity, was the central goal, the highest aspiration, of the early romantics. All the leading figures of that charmed circle—Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel, W. D. Wackenroder, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), F. W. J. Schelling, Ludwig Tieck, and F. D. Schleiermacher—saw in education their hope for the redemption of humanity. The aim of their common journal, the Athenäum, was to unite all their efforts for the sake of one single overriding goal: Bildung.2 The importance, and indeed urgency, of Bildung in the early romantic agenda is comprehensible only in its social and political context. The young romantics were writing in the 1790s, the decade of the cataclysmic changes wrought by the Revolution in France. Like so many of their generation, the romantics were initially very enthusiastic about the Revolution. Tieck, Novalis, Schleiermacher, Schelling, Hölderlin, and Friedrich Schlegel cele- brated the storming of the Bastille as the dawn of a new age.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Concept of Injustice. Trichotomy Critique, Explanation, and Normativity
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2014v13n1p50 A CRITICAL CONCEPT OF INJUSTICE. TRICHOTOMY CRITIQUE, EXPLANATION, AND NORMATIVITY UM CONCEITO CRÍTICO DE INJUSTIÇA. A TRICOTOMIA CRÍTICA, ESCLARECIMENTO E NORMATIVIDADE MAREK HRUBEC1 (Charles University, Czech Republic) ABSTRACT The article deals with an issue of a critical concept of injustice. It concentrates on injustice by focusing on three fundamental elements of Critical theory of society: critique, explanation, and normativity. Firstly, it clarifies the need for critical social criticism to have an internal character. Secondly, it concentrates on relations between individual elements of the above-mentioned trichotomy, and stresses the consequences of such an analysis for a Critical social theory. It shows that only an articulation of all three elements in their mutual constitutive relations will enable to work out a critical concept of in/justice. Keywords: Injustice. Justice. Critical Theory. Critique. Explanation. Normativity. A theory of justice requires a critical concept of injustice2. I will articulate such a concept from the point of view of Critical Theory of Society. I will analyze three fundamental elements of Critical Theory – critique, explanation and normativity – which can be identified already in the initial programmatic documents of the founders of Critical Theory (the Frankfurt School), and consequently mapped in texts of their followers up until today. Although these elements have been present in Critical Theory since its beginning, and their existence was an implicit precondition for Critical Theory, they have been articulated only vaguely in their complex mutual relations. This is because only some of these elements have as a rule been addressed, and because just a few of the relations between them have been discussed.
    [Show full text]
  • Enga, Zoe, Herder Şi Paşoptiştii Români, În Valori Şi Echivalenţe Umanistice, Bucureşti, Editura Eminescu, 1973, P
    MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ”1 DECEMBRIE 1918” UNIVERSITY OF ALBA IULIA FACULTY OF HISTORY AND PHILOLOGY AARON FLORIAN (1805-1887) BETWEEN ENLIGHTENMENT AND ROMANTICISM DOCTORAL THESIS (Abstract) THESIS SUPERVISOR: PROF. UNIV. DR. IACOB MÂRZA DOCTORAL CANDIDATE: OCTAVIAN-CĂTĂLIN MARCU Alba Iulia 2009 1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. ROMANTICISM AND NATIONALISM DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY 1. Contemporary visions on the problem regarding the origin and birth of the concept of nation 2. Johann Gottfried Herder 3. History and nation during the romantic period 4. Romantic historians in Central and South – Eastern Europe 5. Romanian enlightenment and romanticism 6. The romantic nationalism of the 1848 generation 7. School and society in Wallachia during the first half of 19th century II. AARON FLORIAN: HISTORIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE POINTS 1. An excursion in the realm of historiography 2. Didactic career and cultural activity during the pre-revolutionary period 3. The portrait of the revolutionary 4. The period in Sibiu 5. The last years of activity III. AARON FLORIAN BETWEEN ENLIGHTENMENT AND ROMANTICISM; EUROPEAN INFLUENCES AND NATIVE REALITIES 1. Studies, lectures, influences 2. Wallachian mentors: Dinicu Golescu and Heliade Rădulescu 2 3. Aaron Florian and his contemporaries IV. ASPECTS OF THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 1. The use of sources 2. Ethnical and historical nation 3. Linguistic and cultural nation 4. Political and revolutionary nation 5. The spreading and impact of his historical writings V. FROM NATIONAL TO UNIVERSAL 1. World history in Romanian schools before the pre-revolutionary period 2. Elements of method in the manual Elemente de istoria lumii 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Prelim Test 2
    48th Annual ISA Convention Chicago, IL Feb. 28th - March 3rd, 2007 “Politics, Policy and Responsible Scholarship” J. Ann Tickner, 2007 ISA President Andrei Tsygankov, 2007 ISA Program Chair ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Program Updated on 3/2/2007 at 7:06:30 AM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WA01 Wednesday 8:30 - 10:15 AM Engaging Contemporary Discourses and Practices of Exception Sponsors Cooperative Organizations International Political Sociology European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Coop Org Panel Chair(s) Didier Bigo Institut d'Études Politiques Paris Michael Loriaux Northwestern University Justice and Sovereignty: In Whose Name? Elspeth Guild Radboud University Nijmegen Political Agency and Human Rights in the Context of the Politics of Security Vivienne Jabri King's College London Sovereignty, State Law and International Law RBJ Walker University of Victoria The Field of the Professionals of (In)security and the Logics of Resistance Didier Bigo Institut d'Études Politiques Paris Xenophobia, Terrorism and Iimmigration: the Neo-Conservative Agenda in Australia David Camroux Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales Discussant(s) Alex Macleod Université du Québec à Montréal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WA02 Wednesday 8:30 - 10:15 AM Security, Knowledge,
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction the Spirit of Young America
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87564-6 - The Young America Movement and the Transformation of the Democratic Party, 1828-1861 Yonatan Eyal Excerpt More information Introduction The Spirit of Young America In 1853, New York writer and lecturer George William Curtis tried to put into words the elusive mindset known as Young America. Curtis attempted to define a concept that had many meanings in the antebellum United States, and in his speech he focused on its spirit of freshness and boldness. “Youth, or Young America, smiles at greatness,” he observed. It confidently expects to exceed and rival in greatness, “the noblest Roman of them all.” It says “well done” to Alexander, and pats Hannibal on the back; it smiles patronizingly on Julius Caesar, and will acknowledge Homer to be a good poet, if you insist upon it; and even admits that, at present, two and two make four. But it is secretly convinced that all these works of antiquity are only partial and incomplete affairs, not to be compared with what can be done in our day, and resolves that the time shall come when two and two shall make five.1 The Young American “prowls about Cuba,” he continued, “seeking how he may devour it, and sends Commodore Perry to Japan, with the very pleasant message that he is the sun, that the moon is his wife, and the earth their her- itage.” This assessment only barely exaggerated the quest for novelty that lay at the heart of the Young America ethos.2 Curtis’s contemporaries came to similar conclusions about Young America.
    [Show full text]
  • Related Material in Democracy
    RELATED MATERIAL IN DEMOCRACY Abizadeh, A. “Border Coercion and Democratic Legitimacy.” Territory and Justice network: repository of pre-publication papers. Presented at October 2009 workshop in Novi Vinodolski, Croatia. Accessed: 15/11/10. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1644290. ———. “Democratic Legitimacy and State Coercion: A Reply to David Miller.” Political Theory (Forthcoming). ———. “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion: No Right to Unilaterally Control Your Own Borders.” Political Theory 35, no. 1 (2008): 37-65. ———. “Does Liberal Democracy Presuppose a Cultural Nation? Four Agruments.” American Political Science Review 96 (2002): 495-509. Acemoglu, D., J. Robinson, and T. Verdier. “Kleptocracy and Divide-and-Rule: A Model of Personal Rule.” MIT Department of Economics Working Paper No. 03-39. Beran, H. The Consent Theory of Political Obligation. New York: Croom Helm, 1987. ———. “The Place of Secession in Liberal Democratic Theory.” In Nations, Cultures and Markets, edited by P. Gilbert and P. Gregory, 47-66. Ashgate: Aldershot, 1994. Buchanan, A. “Political Legitimacy and Democracy.” Ethics 112 (July 2002): 689-719. Christiano, T. “Democracy, Territory, and Global Institutions.” Journal of Social Philosophy 37, no. 1 (2006). ———. The Constitution of Equality: Democratic Authority and its Limits. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Copp, D. “Democracy and Communal Self‐Determination.” In The Morality of Nationalism, edited by R. McKim and J. McMahan, 277-300. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Dietrich, F. “Plebiscites and the Justification of Territorial Claims.” Territory and Justice network: repository of pre-publication papers. Presented at October 2009 workshop in Novi Vinodolski, Croatia. Accessed: 15/11/10. http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~plcdib/territory/papers/Dietrich_Plebiscites.pdf.
    [Show full text]
  • Fichte's Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810
    Seeking Originality: Fichte’s Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810 By Laura Eakes Utrecht University Department of History W.W. Mijnhardt, Ph.D. Adviser Leen Dorsman, Ph.D. Second Reader 2015 Abstract Seeking Originality: Fichte’s Contribution to Higher Education in Germany and the Foundation of the University of Berlin, 1810 By Laura Eakes Under the crisis of the failing university system and subsequent Napoleonic war, a number of German thinkers formulated a new idea of the university that spawned the modern concept of the research university. Among these thinkers, one man distinguished himself as a pedagogical giant in his own right due to the complexity and thoroughness of his plan. Yet, in history, his contributions are widely overlooked, in large part because his ideas were not implemented by his contemporary, Wilhelm von Humboldt. That man’s name was J.G. Fichte—a thinker perhaps best known for his extremist tendencies and his overwhelming desire to unite all existence under his philosophical system, the Wissenschaftlehre. This thesis is devoted to uncovering Fichte’s originality as an educational thinker, utilizing a methodology inspired by Quentin Skinner, so as to locate Fichte’s intentions within the intellectual matrix in which he found himself in 1807-1808. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………..……………4 2. Problems and Solutions……………………………………………………….…………...……………22 3. Fichte’s Contribution……………………………………………………...….………………………….48 4. Seeking Fichte’s Originality…………………………………………………………..………………..71 5. Epilogue……………………………………………………………………………………………………….90 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………96 3 Introduction Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a number of civic-minded members of the German professoriate took it upon themselves to find a solution to the problems posed by a failing German education system, against the backdrop of the disappearance of the university as an institution all across Europe.
    [Show full text]