Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762–1814)

By Breazeale, Daniel

Fichte developed Kant’s Critical philosophy into a system of his own, which he named ‘Theory of Science’ or Wissenschaftslehre. Though Fichte continued to revise this system until ...

German idealism

By Franks, Paul

From the late eighteenth century until the middle of the nineteenth, German philosophy was dominated by the movement known as German idealism, which began as an attempt to ...

Political philosophy

By Miller, David

Political philosophy can be defined as philosophical reflection on how best to arrange our collective life - our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic ...

Vysheslavtsev, Boris Petrovich (1877–1954)

By Scanlan, James P.

Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev, Russian idealist philosopher and religious thinker, was exiled from his homeland in 1922 because of his anti-Marxism (which he later elaborated in a full-fledged philosophical ...

Herbart, Johann Friedrich (1776–1841)

By Langewand, Alfred

From 1798, Herbart developed a ‘realistic’ alternative to the idealistic philosophy of Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. His theoretical philosophy, which centres around metaphysics and psychology, is sharply ...

Lassalle, Ferdinand (1825–64)

By Tudor, H.

Ferdinand Lassalle was one of the principal founders of German social democracy and a strong advocate of state socialism. He was associated with Marx, although he was not ...

Beck, Jacob Sigismund (1761–1840)

By Forster, Eckart

Beck played a brief but important role in the development of post-Kantian philosophy. A former student of Kant, he published at his teacher’s instigation three volumes of ‘Explanatory ...

Carlyle, Thomas (1795–1881)

By Le quesne, A.L.

Although widely influential as a historian, moralist and social critic, Carlyle has no real claim to be considered a philosopher. He does have some importance as one of ...

Fackenheim, Emil Ludwig (1916–2003)

By Morgan, Michael L.

Fackenheim is best known for his account of authentic philosophical and Jewish responses to the Nazi Holocaust. Fackenheim’s thought, indebted to German philosophy, always had a practical, existential ...

Reinhold, Karl Leonhard (1757–1823)

By di Giovanni, George

A catalyst in the rise of post-Kantian idealism, Reinhold popularized Kant’s critical philosophy by systematizing it in the form of a theory of consciousness. Reinhold shifted from one ...

Schlegel, Friedrich von (1772–1829)

By Beiser, Frederick

Schlegel was the major aesthetician of the Romantic movement in Germany during its first formative period (1797–1802). In these years he developed his influential concepts of Romantic poetry ...

Tieck, Ludwig (1773–1853)

By Macdonald, Iain

Ludwig Tieck was perhaps not the most historically influential figure of early German Romanticism, but he was one of its most important proponents; moreover, he was also among ...

Heine, Heinrich (1797–1856)

By Bowie, Andrew

Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German literary and political figures during the period after the Napoleonic wars until the 1848 Revolution. He is associated with ...

Meinecke, Friedrich (1862–1954)

By Hausheer, Roger

Friedrich Meinecke was a German historian of moral and political ideas who addressed the problems of his age through critical study of the writings of past thinkers. He ...

Novalis (Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg) (1772–1801)

By Bowie, Andrew

Novalis (the name is a pseudonym adopted for his published writings) was, together with Friedrich Schlegel and Friedrich Schleiermacher, the leading philosophical thinker of ‘early German Romanticism’. Until ...

Hölderlin, Johann Christian Friedrich (1770–1843)

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Herbart, Johann Friedrich (1776–1841)

Johann Friedrich Herbart was born on 4 May 1776 in Oldenburg and died on 14 August 1841 in Göttingen. He was a German philosopher, educator, and psychologist who ...