Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Domovnik_ t1_jdecut2 wrote

Reply to comment by heehoohorseshoe in How a close group of brilliant friends, in a tiny German university town, laid the foundations of modern consciousness by ADefiniteDescription

It's not for everyone.

I'm curious of what you think is being summarised in the article. The only thing approaching evaluation is the author's woeful misrepresentation of Fichte's thought, and completely reductive and mischaracterized relation of the Jena intellectuals to Rousseau. Rousseau was a of course a significant influence, but not more than the Greeks, Spinoza, Kant, etc.

22

heehoohorseshoe t1_jdf7wop wrote

The author sounds a lot like several other Jena set fans I've talked about, who also claim they were more influential than most would say they were, and often have similarly bizarre takes on Fichte. I actually don't have much beef with the Jena set themselves, they're not my cup of tea but generally are fine, it's how they're lauded as trendsetters and revolutionary thinkers by too many people I know much like the author discussed above.

12

Bribbbbel t1_jdliroo wrote

They were trendsetters in many regards though, especially the broader circle, e.g. Schleiermacher in Theology, the Schlegel brothers in Literature, Schelling, Hegel and Fichte specifically in Philosophy. That was a really interesting time to say the least.

2