The Romantic Imperative: The Concept of Early German Romanticism

by Frederick C. Beiser

The Early Romantics met resistance from artists and academics alike in part because they defied the conventional wisdom that philosophy and the arts must be kept separate. Indeed, as the literary component of Romanticism has been studied and celebrated in recent years, its philosophical aspect has receded from view. This book, by one of the most respected scholars of the Romantic era, offers an explanation of Romanticism that not only restores but enhances understanding of the movement's origins, development, aims, and accomplishments--and of its continuing relevance.

Poetry is in fact the general ideal of the Romantics, Frederick Beiser tells us, but only if poetry is understood not just narrowly as poems but more broadly as things made by humans. Seen in this way, poetry becomes a revolutionary ideal that demanded--and still demands--that we transform not only literature and criticism but all the arts and sciences, that we break down the barriers between art and life, so that the world itself becomes "romanticized." Romanticism, in the view Beiser opens to us, does not conform to the contemporary division of labor in our universities and colleges; it requires a multifaceted approach of just the sort outlined in this book.

Genres: Philosophy, Romanticism, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 22, 2004

About the author

Frederick C. Beiser, one of the leading scholars of German Idealism, is a Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University. Prior to joining Syracuse, he was a member of the faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington where he received a 1999-2000 NEH Faculty Fellowship. He has also taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Harvard and Yale University. Beiser earned his DPhil. degree from Oxford University under the direction of Charles Taylor and Isaiah Berlin.

Beiser's first book, The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Fichte (Harvard, 1987) was widely influential in revising the commonly held, but notorious accounts of German Idealism. In this book, Beiser sought to reconstruct the background of German Idealism through the narration of the story of the Spinoza or Pantheism controversy. Consequently, a great many figures, whose importance was hardly recognized by the English speaking philosophers, were given their proper due.
Beiser has also written on the German Romantics and 19th century British philosophy.

Reviews

[Richard Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't really for me - I don't mean it was a bad book. My grade reflects its usefulness to me, rather than is a general review, which I do not think I am qualified to give.

I think it was pretty good, just it was not what I was after. I wanted an introduction to romanticism and was lent this by a friend who is a philosophy professor. It's really not an introduction, although to be fair it does not claim to be. However, given this long caveat, I did get something from the book and did learn a fair bit about romanticism.

This volume focuses on the very early days of romanticism and really only a few years from about 1797 to 1804 (from memory, the exact dates are in the book introduction). It is a collection of essays by the author, on the same topic, but not originally written as a book, so there is some degree of repetition. The bits I learnt from were clear, but I would imagine hard for anyone without any formal philosophical background. Occasionally, it went over my head, but that points back to my opening point that I am not really the intended reader of this book.

The only annoying thing is that the author uses frequently German language phrases and words without explaining them. Perhaps, they would be clear to anyone who was familiar with romanticism, but I felt it would have been easier with more explanation as some of the terms were critical to understanding the book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wondeful, but difficult. If you can get through this you'll have a good foundation for really understanding German Idealism, which makes it a gift that keeps on giving. It helps to have a background in reading Kant to understand it, though.

[Mohsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

و چقدر فهم فروید با خوانش این کتاب آسان تر شد. گاهی از مردی که می خواهد همه چیز را علمی کند، سخنانی در باب عشق و طبیعت و رانه میخوانی که از خود می پرسی: این از کجا اومد؟! و حال فهمیدم رمانتیسم! حداقل بخشی از ایده هایش وامدار به چنین مکتب فکری-فلسفی‌ست. و اما خود کتاب بسیار دوست داشتنی‌ست. ترجمه ی روانی دارد، ابداعات مترجم برای بهتر فهمیدن کتاب بسیار کمک کننده و قابل ستایش است. مؤلف در تلاش بوده دید منصفانه ای ارائه کند و مناقشات و ابهامات کلی موجود در باب این مکتب را تا حد امکان، بر اساس آرا خود فیلسوفان این مکتب، رفع کند. در کل بسیار دوستش داشتم و کمک شایانی به فهم بخشی از تاریخ فلسفه و نگرش موجود در آن حیطه ی جغرافیایی و زمانه کرد.

[Quentin Kemna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really enjoyed reading this book. Gave a thorough description of the Early German Romantic period. Challenged traditional interpretations of this period which may have contributed to its "idealistic" reputation. Book had me thinking at multiple points, "shit maybe I'm a Romanticist."
Which as a self-identified post-structuralist was confusing. That being said, the concept of the organic, infinite nature, which encompasses a whole outside of human perception is a philosophical idea that exists in many religious traditions and is immensely interesting. However because of its inherent irrationality (??) and resistance to analytical philosophy its mostly been shunned. Beiser does an excellent job constructing this concept so that it can stand up to the weight of modern philosophies criticisms. I also feel that the way that the concept was presented allowed for a post-modern interpretation of this wholly un post-modern concept. The idea of the infinite never being able to be realized by human perception allows for the concept of the discontinuity of the human condition (as post-structuralism/post-modernism understands it) to exist alongside the romantic conception of organic nature. You can see the early beginnings of Hegel's thought here in the dialectic paradox of the universe becoming aware of itself in the self-consciousness of the human. The other quite appealing part of the Romanticism movement described in this book was the emphasis on the aesthetic experience of art to ground us, to ground society in. This strikes me as relevant towards our modern understanding of gender and identity, which have become understood as performative, (hence perhaps, aestheticized...). Although certainly "performative" theories of gender are not so much thought of as an active performance, this insight into the inherent performance of gender and identity could lead us to look back to the Romantics theory of aestheticizing. As all aspects of life could include art, (for this book makes it clear the Romantics had a radically wide definition of art, something along the lines of "living is an art"), then gender and identity certainly become artistic forms of the subjective experience. Art therefore becomes the lens through which our subjectivity is expressed, in the ideal romantic view. As I've somewhat already said, this seems a widely interesting and also applicable insight of the romantics towards the modern day. If morality is dead, alongside God, and if liberal individualism has failed to align ourselves with the human condition, than art may be the last saving grace which with we can hold onto with any hope. Overall, Beiser does an excellent job outlining the arguments of the Early German Romantics while not granting them too much grace for some of their (well, quite "romantic" ideas), but also taking their thought as seriously as possible and as far as possible. Like many of the romantics attempts to bridge the impossible paradoxes of the philosophies of their own time (that of Fichte and Spinoza mainly, but also Kant), post-structuralism may have to grapple with some of the Romanticist concepts and how they can understood within a postmodern framework. As I've somewhat hinted at, this will probably lead to some Hegel like statements such as "the thing in itself becomes aware of its finitude and therefore its infinite nature, of the thing outside itself". Blah. Pls thank Hegel and post-structuralism for such horrid sentences, not me. Nevertheless, Beiser's interpretation of the Early German Romantic period allows for such thinking to occur in the first place. Therefore not shutting the Romantics away in the wastebin of philosophy, but connecting them to the future. This is important and impressive work. Anybody with an interest in this period of philosophy and literary interpretation, (again, Beiser makes it clear that this is a lot more than just a literary movement and artistic movement, it was a philosophical undertaking on a deeply metaphysical level) should read this book. Lastly, one last selfish point on my behalf, I find the connection between the organic concept of nature and its overlap with numerous religious philosophical concepts of "oneness" and "wholeness" to be interesting and worth a thought or two. Particularly the Romantic conception of a permanent striving for this wholeness, which is consistent with again numerous philosophy of religions (Hinduism, Taoism, forms of Buddhism, and many others). It also aligns well with modern philosophy of psychedelics, thinking of the term "holotropic" coined by Dr. Stanislav Grof. "Holo" meaning whole and "Tropic" meaning moving towards in Ancient Greek, Therefore a "moving toward wholeness." The overlapping of all these forms of thought is simply an interesting connection I made reading this book. Perhaps those Early German Romantics had something up their sleeve after all...

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling stuff from Beiser as usual. I particularly enjoyed Beiser's account of how, rather than Jacobi's Briefe , it was Herder's Gott, Einige Gespräch that influenced Schlegel, Schelling and von Hardenberg's idiosyncratic reinterpretation of Spinoza. This then leads to an interesting discussion around internal and external teleology.

[noblethumos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frederick C. Beiser’s The Romantic Imperative: The Concept of Early German Romanticism (2003) offers a lucid and rigorous examination of the philosophical foundations of early German Romanticism, an intellectual movement often overshadowed by its artistic and literary dimensions. Beiser’s work succeeds in rehabilitating Romanticism as a coherent and systematic philosophical project, challenging the reductive view that it is merely a reactionary retreat into emotion or an aestheticized form of irrationalism.

Beiser situates early German Romanticism within its historical and philosophical context, particularly its relationship to German Idealism and its reaction to the perceived limitations of Kantian philosophy. The Romantics—figures such as Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis, and Hölderlin—sought to address the dichotomy between reason and imagination, as well as the tension between systematization and individuality. Beiser argues that Romanticism is better understood as a continuation of the Enlightenment’s project of reason, albeit through a broader and more holistic lens. For the Romantics, the ultimate aim was a synthesis of art, science, and philosophy—a goal they referred to as “progressive universal poetry” (progressive Universalpoesie).

One of Beiser’s most valuable contributions is his emphasis on the philosophical depth of Romanticism, which he contrasts with the prevailing tendency to conflate Romanticism with sentimentality or subjective idealism. Beiser dismantles these misconceptions by highlighting the movement’s intellectual rigor and its engagement with key philosophical issues, such as the nature of self-consciousness, the relationship between freedom and necessity, and the role of art in achieving human self-realization. Central to this project is the Romantic concept of irony, which Beiser interprets not as mere playfulness but as a dynamic and self-critical mode of thought that reflects the incompleteness of human understanding.

Beiser also demonstrates how early German Romanticism was deeply influenced by Spinoza, Fichte, and Schelling, among others. He portrays Romanticism as a critical response to Fichtean subjectivism and its potential solipsism, proposing instead a more relational view of the self and its connection to the world. The Romantic emphasis on Bildung (self-cultivation) and Streben (striving) reflects this relational ethos, with the human quest for knowledge and unity framed as an infinite and open-ended process.

Structurally, the book is concise yet comprehensive, balancing historical analysis with philosophical exposition. Beiser’s prose is clear and accessible, though it demands familiarity with the intellectual currents of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century German thought. His erudition is evident in his ability to synthesize a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and his engagement with contemporary scholarship enriches the text.

However, one limitation of the book is its relative brevity, which occasionally leaves certain topics underexplored. For example, while Beiser adeptly examines the philosophical core of Romanticism, his treatment of its broader cultural and political implications could have been expanded. The book also assumes a level of prior knowledge that may render it less accessible to readers unfamiliar with German Idealism or Romantic aesthetics.

Despite these minor shortcomings, The Romantic Imperative is an indispensable resource for scholars and students of German philosophy, Romanticism, and intellectual history. Beiser succeeds not only in clarifying the philosophical ambitions of early German Romanticism but also in demonstrating its relevance to enduring debates about reason, creativity, and human flourishing. In doing so, he affirms the movement’s significance as a critical juncture in the history of Western thought.

In sum, Beiser’s The Romantic Imperative is a masterful work that reclaims early German Romanticism as a serious and sophisticated philosophical enterprise. Its nuanced exploration of Romantic thought challenges readers to reconsider the movement’s legacy and to appreciate its contributions to the development of modern philosophy.

GPT