German Idealism: An Anthology and Guide / Edition 1

by Brian O'Connor, Georg Mohr

Overview

Beginning with the publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and extending through to Hegel’s death, the period known as German Idealism signaled the end of an epoch of rationalism, empiricism, and enlightenment—and the beginning of a new “critical” period of philosophy. The most comprehensive anthology of this vital tradition to date, German Idealism brings together an expansive selection of readings from the tradition’s major figures like Kant, Hegel, Fichte, and Schelling.

Arranged thematically into sections on topics such as the relationships between self and knowledge, freedom and morality, law and state, and nature and science, to name a few, German Idealism discloses many of the contrasts that helped to differentiate each of the tradition’s key thinkers. Each expertly translated text comes with an editorial introduction to guide readers through many of the problems the texts specifically deal with, as well as their historical context.

The most accessible and expansive introduction to German Idealism ever, this anthology will be hailed by instructors and scholars as the most dependable guide to the tradition for years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226616735
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	03/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Brian O’Connor is senior lecturer in the School of Philosophy at University College Dublin. His publications include books and papers on the German philosophical tradition.

Georg Mohr is professor of philosophy at the University of Bremen. Included among his works are two books on Kant’s theoretical writings and a chapter-by-chapter commentary on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
 
Introduction

I. Self and Knowledge
  1. Kant: Critique of Pure Reason: Transcendental Deduction B
  2. Fichte: Science of Knowledge: First Introduction
  3. Schelling: 'Of the I as the Principle of Philosophy'
  4. Hegel: Phenomenology of the Spirit: Introduction

II. Freedom and Morality
  5. Kant: Critique of Pure Reason: Of the Principles of Pure Practical Reason
  6. Fichte: System of the Science of Ethics: Deduction of the Principle of Ethics
  7. Hegel: Phenomenology of the Spirit: Lordship and Bondage
  8. Schelling: Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom: The Concept of Freedom

III. Law and State
  9. Kant: Metaphysics of Morals: Introduction to the Doctrine of Right; The Right of a State
  10. Fichte: Foundations of Natural Right: Civil Society; The State

IV. Beauty and Art
  12. Kant: Critique of Judgment: Analytic of the Beautiful
  13. Schiller: On the Aesthetic Education of Man: Letters 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 15
  14. Schelling: System of Transcendental Idealism: Part VI (Essentials of the Philosophy of Art)
  15. Hegel: Lectures on Aesthetics: Introduction

V. History and Reason
  16. Kant: 'Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View'
  17. Schelling: System of Transcendental Idealism:Deduction of the Concept of History
  18. Fichte: The Characteristics of the Present Age: Lecture 1 and 2
  19. Hegel: Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction

VI. Nature and Science
  20. Kant: Critique of Judgment: Critique of Teleological Judgment
  21. Schelling: Introduction to the Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature
  22. Hegel: Existence: Philosophy of Nature: Introduction

VII. God and Religion
  23. Kant: Critique of Practical Reason: The Existence of God as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason
  24. Fichte: 'On the Foundation of Our beleif in a Divine Government of the World'
  25. Schelling: The Ages of the World: The Eternal Life of the Godhead
  26. Hegel: Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion: The Relation of the Philosophy of Religion to the Current Principles of the Religious Consciousness; The Concept of Religion

Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This is a welcome and helpful collection of key texts by the four great German Idealists which will be a very valuable resource for students and teachers alike.

Stephen Houlgate

"The primary texts of these of this excellently organized collection are well selected by experts who have a deeep understanding of the period as a whole and its contribution to subject areas that continue to be of contemporary interest."

Karl Ameriks