ABSTRACT
Immanuel Kant was a thinker of such comprehensive vision that his disciples, of whom there were many, tended to concentrate upon and develop certain aspects of his system to the neglect of others. Such are the drawbacks of discipleship; the applause of enthusiastic followers drowns many a great man’s true message. To Fichte’s lofty idealism was opposed, as might be expected, a movement of practical scientific thought for which the German people have since been distinguished. Simultaneously, but again not unexpectedly, a remarkable revival of another kind took place. Schiller and Goethe are universal figures. Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, Tieck and above all Holderlin, are the great German romantic writers. Schelling and Hegel, at least at the beginning of their careers, were ‘romantic’ philosophers. The philosophy of Schelling, in its first phase, was a curious blend of mysticism, poetry, and almost magical science.
