German Idealism of The 18th-19th Centuries

Preconditions for the Formation and Key Features of German Idealism

Between 1770 and 1840, a remarkable cultural phenomenon emerged in Germany, predominantly within four university cities—Königsberg, Weimar, Berlin, and Jena—known in the annals of world philosophical literature as "German Idealism." In terms of its richness in intellectual content and influence on the subsequent development of philosophical thought, it can be compared only to the classical period of ancient Greek philosophy, the time of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Another term adopted in both German and Marxist philosophical literature to describe this phenomenon is "German classical philosophy," which signifies the exceptional level of philosophical thought attained during this era.

German Idealism arose as a consequence of the profound transformations occurring in the economic, social, political, and spiritual life of Europe at the end of the 18th century. Due to political fragmentation and relative economic weakness, the German states were only partially affected by these processes; nonetheless, they became subjects of societal discourse and reflection within German territories.

Following the worldview revolution of the Enlightenment, a pivotal event illustrated the volatility of the political sphere in societal life: the French Revolution (1789-1794), which garnered significant attention across Europe and the world. Fundamental and substantial changes also transpired in the natural sciences: mechanics lost its previous dominance, chemistry fully developed as the science of qualitative transformations of natural substances, and in the early decades of the 19th century, non-mechanical branches of physics, particularly the study of magnetism and electricity, flourished, while biology progressed rapidly (with successes in systematics and the emergence of evolutionary theory). As science advanced, religion lost its foothold in the social and personal realms of human life.

Amidst the tumultuous and contradictory changes of the era, there arose a pressing societal need for ways to comprehend reality that could explain and illuminate the internal dynamics of the world, society, and human thought. German philosophers, beginning with Immanuel Kant, were particularly well-prepared to undertake these tasks, advancing through the development of dialectical modes of thinking. They infused philosophical thought with an intensity and depth previously unknown.

The groundwork for the flourishing of philosophy in Germany was laid by the efforts of the Enlighteners. As early as the beginning of the 18th century, the German language lacked a developed philosophical terminology (the most prominent German philosopher at the time, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, primarily wrote in French and Latin), and philosophical works in German were almost non-existent. One of the first to begin lecturing in philosophy in German rather than Latin was Christian Thomasius (1655-1728). The philosophical potential of the German language was further unveiled by Christian Wolff (1679-1754), who, teaching at the universities of Jena, Halle, and Marburg, developed a German lexicon capable of conveying the complex conceptual frameworks of René Descartes and Gottfried Leibniz. Although Wolff himself was not an original thinker, his works, along with classical textbooks on metaphysics written by his students Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762) and Friedrich Christian Baumeister (1708-1785), established a new German-speaking philosophical tradition. Midway through the century, Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) contributed to its development. Enthralled by the latest ideas of French and British Enlighteners, the "philosopher-king" encouraged translations of their works into German and invited some of them to teach at the University of Berlin. This, on the one hand, spurred the further development of German philosophical terminology, and on the other, allowed a broad educated public to engage with the most contemporary intellectual pursuits.

As philosophy historians note, by the 18th century, unlike their British and French counterparts, whose works were typically tailored for wide readership, German philosophers wrote in a language focused on maximum terminological precision. Their goal was not to popularize ideas but to delve into essential depths, tracing the most subtle shades of meaning and transitions of thought—this task defined the stylistics of German philosophical discourse, rendering it immensely rich in content yet extraordinarily complex for understanding.

German Idealism was not merely a successor to Enlightenment rationalism; it also bore the significant influence of another current of German thought, characterized by irrationalism and mysticism, initially associated with the name of Jakob Böhme (1575-1624). In the 18th century, Pietism emerged as the most influential proponent of irrationalism within the realm of religion (seeking to revive the spirit of the Reformation, Pietists emphasized personal experiences of connection with God, placing the individual believer rather than the church at the center of attention), while in secular life, the literary movement "Sturm und Drang" was prominent, with its ideologue Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) corresponding with Kant. In the interplay and mutual enrichment of the rationalist and irrationalist currents of the Enlightenment, German philosophical thought swiftly approached the forefront of European thinking. The issues of the method of scientific knowledge and ontology, inherited from 17th-century philosophers, took on secondary significance; instead, by the mid-18th century, the focus of philosophical attention shifted to history (Gotthold Lessing), culture, and anthropogenesis (Johann Gottfried Herder).

These conditions of formation delineated the key problems of German Idealism: the justification of the autonomy of reason; attention to the motivations behind human actions, thus bringing to the forefront the thematic examination of not only reason but also will (for the first time in the history of world philosophy, willing became a subject of rational analysis); theoretical-epistemological issues (the limits of the knowability of the world); and anthropologism.

Additionally, a set of common traits inherent in the teachings of its various representatives can be noted: systematicity—the aspiration to explain all natural, historical, and intellectual processes on a singular logical foundation, grounded in a unified principle, encompassing their entirety, logical coherence, and internal completeness; dialectics—the desire to depict the world in motion, dynamics, and inter-transition, to discern the sources and driving forces of processes, and to approach an understanding of their perspectives; the aspiration for comprehensiveness—an awareness of the internal unity of phenomena belonging to diverse spheres of existence—nature, society (history), and thought (cognition, science); the combination of rigorous rational argumentation with the foundational role of the creative principle in either subjective (human) or objective (Spirit) forms of existence.

However, each philosopher united under the concept of "German Idealism"—Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel—differed in their subject matter, approach to resolving common problems, and the substantive content of formally shared "framework" characteristics defined by the circumstances of their time and cultural affiliation. Each thinker of this grand era crafted an original philosophical concept, making a unique contribution to the history of human thought.

We will explore the intellectual achievements of German Idealism through the examples of its two most distinguished representatives—Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.