ABSTRACT
From his youth Franz Rosenzsweig enjoyed keeping diaries on his relationship with the outside world and on his inner life, and communicating his thoughts and opinions through letters to family, friends and colleagues. In the diaries and letters written between 1905 and the autumn of 1913 he talks about many things, describing figures from his entourage, characterizing the various university circles he associated with, recalling readings, expressing his opinion on the culture and events of his time, and his own moods and feelings. One could say that in a relatively short period he underwent a series of rapid passages, demonstrating his existential and intellectual restlessness and the courage of his choices. However, Rosenzweig claims to be unsatisfied with a point of view which, through a more careful consideration of reality's complexity, seems to be flawed by abstraction and pure formalism.
