Vol. 1. Edition -- v. 2. Anhang, Einführung, Kommentar, Dokumente.

1. Bd. 1751-1759.--2. Bd. 1760-1769.--3. Bd. 1770-1777.--4. Bd. 1778-1782.--5. Bd. 1783-1785.--6. Bd. 1785-1786.

Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) is a major figure not only in German philosophy but also in literature and religious history. In his own time he wrote penetrating criticisms of Herder, Kant, Mendelssohn, and other Enlightenment thinkers; after his death he was an important figure for Goethe, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and others. It was only in the twentieth century, however, that the full and radical extent of his 'linguistic' critique of philosophy was recognized. This volume presents a new translation (...) of a wide selection of his essays, including both famous and lesser-known works. Hamann's enigmatic prose-style was deliberately at odds with Enlightenment assumptions about language, and a full apparatus of annotation explains the numerous allusions in his essays. The volume is completed by a historical and philosophical introduction and suggestions for further reading. (shrink)

Contents \t\t\t\t\t \tTRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION \t\t1 \t \tNOTE ON THE TRANSLATION \t\t39 \t OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEELING OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND SUBLIME \t\t\t\t\t \tSECTION ONE: \t\t\t\t \t\tOf the Distinct Objects of the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime \t\t45 \tSECTION TWO: \t\t\t\t \t\tOf the Attributes of the Beautiful and Sublime.

Als die Osmanen im 15. Jahrhundert immer weiter nach Europa vordrangen und die Christenheit eine militärische Niederlage nach der anderen kassierte, entwickelte seit dem Basler Konzil (1431-1449) eine Gruppe führender Philosophen, Humanisten und Theologen eine Alternative zu Krieg und Kreuzzügen: die friedliche Bekehrung der Muslime. Ein Netzwerk um Nikolaus von Kues, Heymericus de Campo, Johannes von Segovia, Enea Silvio Piccolomini und Georg von Trapezunt erarbeiteten mit- und gegeneinander höchst originelle philosophische und rhetorische Argumentationen. Beispielsweise erdachten sie Pläne für eine (...) Friedenskonferenz mit den Muslimen und versuchten, den Koran selbst gegen den Islam ins Feld zu führen, womit sie übrigens die Basis für die Islamstudien der Neuzeit legten. Dieses Buch handelt von einem spannenden propagandistischen Feldzug und gewährt neue Einblicke in Geschichte, Gedankenwelt und Islamrezeption des Spätmittelalters und der Renaissance. (shrink)

THE PROBLEM OF THE INTERPRETATION OF HAMANN Johann Georg Hamann is an intriguing but poorly known figure in the contemporary intellectual world. Yet this is the man whom Kierkegaard saluted as "Emperor!", whose writings were to have been arranged for publication by none other than Goethe himself, and whom Dilthey numbered among the primordial figures in the rise of modern historical consciousness. There are reasons for the persistence of this general ignorance. Hamann is deep. And, (...) in addition, there is his forbidding style. The readers of Kierkegaard and Dilthey, two other giants who them selves achieved late recognition, have not had to face this kind of imposing obstacle. Not only does Hamann expect his readers to handle themselves in deep water, but to intuit their way between his ideas which bob up like islands with no visible connection between them. Like Kierkegaard too, Hamann has had his troubles with the public. He himself referred to the hope that he would be understood by a "better posterity". In fact only the last few years have seen the printing of some of his more controversial writings, in particular his theories on the nature of human sexuality. (shrink)

Johann Georg Hamann fue el primer crítico de la Ilustración y también su primera víctima. Su pensamiento, enormemente complejo y articulado a través de algunas ideas adelantadas a su tiempo, fue rápidamente revestido de “irracionalismo” por la incapacidad hermenéutica de los círculos ilustrados del momento, lo que a posteriori tuvo como consecuencia un notable menosprecio hacia su obra por parte de la Historia de la Filosofía. El presente artículo pretende mostrar que las categorías usadas en su momento (...) para definir el pensamiento de Hamann son inadecuadas. Más concretamente, se intentará mostrar que la revisión de la Ilustración llevada a cabo por Hamann denota una actitud de “ilustrado radical” y no de “irracionalista”. (shrink)

Johann Georg Hamann was a German philosopher who offered in his writings a radical critique of the Enlightenment's reverence for reason. A pivotal figure in the Sturm und Drang movement, his thought influenced such writers as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder. As a friend of Immanuel Kant, Hamann was the first writer to comment on the Critique of Pure Reason, and his work foreshadows the linguistic turn in philosophy as well as (...) numerous elements of twentieth century hermeneutics and existentialism. Johann Georg Hamann and the Enlightenment Project addresses Hamann's oeuvre from the perspective of political philosophy, focusing on his views concerning the public use of reason, social contract theory, autonomy, aesthetic morality and the politics of 'taste, ' and the technocratic ideal of enlightened despotism. Robert Alan Sparling situates Hamann's work historically, elucidates his somewhat difficult writing, and argues for his relevance in the ongoing culture wars over the merits of the Enlightenment project. (shrink)

l. Experimentum mundi, 1730-1759 -- 2. In domo patris, 1760-1763 -- 3. Pelicanus solitudinis, 1763-1773 -- 4. Origines, 1774-1779 -- 5. Metacritica, 1780-1784 -- 6-7. Officium tenebrarum 1785-1788.

Johann Georg Hamann, a contemporary of Kant and Herder, was an important German philosopher of the 18th century, whose significance, however, is not sufficiently recognized today. His cryptic and short writings full of allusions and deep scholarship do not make him an easily accessible writer. He was a sharp critic of sophistry maskerading as philosophy, thus taking over the role of Socrates for his time, connecting a defense of Christian beliefs with a radical re-interpretation of enlightenment, thereby (...) trying to enlighten enlightenment about itself. Hamann's concept of reason as language is an important contribution to the understanding of human nature as such, stressing the concreteness and historicality of human reason. Contrary to earlier interpretations, though, Hamann is no irrationalist, but a thinker who ridicules the absurdities of enlightenment rationalism and proved to be an important source of inspiration for writers like Sören Kierkegaard and Ernst Jünger. (shrink)

In 1828, G. W. F. Hegel published a critical review of Johann Georg Hamann, a retrospective of the life and works of one of Germany’s most enigmatic and challenging thinkers and writers. While Hegel’s review had enjoyed a central place in Hamann studies since its appearance, Hegel on Hamann is the first English translation of the important work. Philosophers, theologians, and literary critics welcome Anderson’s stunning translation since Hamann is gaining renewed attention, not only (...) as a key figure of German intellectual history, but also as an early forerunner of postmodern thought. Relationships between Enlightenment, Counter Enlightenment, and Idealism come to the fore as Hegel reflects on Hamann’s critiques of his contemporaries Immanuel Kant, Moses Mendelssohn, J. G. Herder, and F. H. Jacobi. Hegel on Hamann also includes an introduction to Hegel’s review by Anderson, as well as an essay on the role of friendship in Hamann’s life, in Hegel’s thought, and in German intellectual culture more broadly. Rounding out the volume are its extensive annotations and bibliography, which facilitate further study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century philosophy in English and German. This book is essential both for readers of Hegel or Hamann and for those interested in the history of German thought, the philosophy of religion, language and hermeneutics, or friendship as a philosophical category. (shrink)

I. EITHER-OR? NEITHER! The main features of the Enlightenment were the same everywhere: the autonomy of reason, the solidarity of intellectual culture, ...

Band 10 der Gesammelten Schriften Sulzers enthalt den gesamten Briefwechsel zwischen J. G. Sulzer (1720-1779) und J. J. Bodmer (1698-1783), der hier zum ersten Mal vollstandig nach den Handschriften transkribiert und kommentiert wird. Fur die Edition von Sulzers Schriften ist dieser Briefwechsel geradezu fundamental: Mit seinen 453 Briefen, die in 35 Jahren (1744-1779) entstanden sind, zahlt er zu den umfangreichsten Korrespondenzen Sulzers und liefert zahlreiche neue Informationen zu zentralen Themenfeldern der europaischen Aufklarung, zur Genese von Sulzers und Bodmers Schriften, zu (...) ihrem Netzwerk, insbesondere in Preuaen und in der Schweiz, sowie zu Aspekten ihres Privatlebens. Damit erweist sich dieser Briefwechsel als eine unumgangliche Quelle, will man die Formierung des literarischen und akademischen Feldes in der Aufklarungsepoche untersuchen. (shrink)

PřekladJohann Georg Hamann, Metakritika purismu čistého rozumu.

Hamanns letztes Werk wird hier begriffen als Selbstdeutung und bewusster Abschluss der Autorschaft. Hamann formuliert in diesem Text seinen prophetischen Anspruch, mit dem er der Philosophie seiner Zeit entgegentrat. Die Basis dieses Anspruchs, Hamanns figurales Denken, erweist sich als Zentrum seines Denkens überhaupt. Daraus ergibt sich auch eine differenzierte Einschätzung seiner Aufklärungskritik. Im «Anhang» wird eine neue Edition des «Fliegenden Briefes» mit kritischem Apparat und Kommentar geboten.

Band 7 der «Gesammelten Schriften» von Johann Georg Sulzer bietet erstmals eine philologisch zuverlässige Präsentation sowie eine detaillierte Kommentierung und Kontextualisierung von Sulzers Beiträgen zur Dichtung und Literaturkritik der Aufklärungsepoche. Abhandlungen, Vorreden und Rezensionen dokumentieren seine vielfältige Partizipation an den literarischen Debatten seiner Zeit. Zugleich rückt Sulzer selbst als Dichter ins Blickfeld, der etwa die Erzählung «Damon oder die platonische Liebe» und das Schauspiel «Cymbelline» verfasste. Die versammelten literarischen und literaturkritischen Texte umfassen Sulzers gesamte Schaffensphase (1745-1779) und stellen (...) eine entscheidende Schnittstelle zu weiteren Bänden der Edition dar, etwa zu den ästhetischen und philosophischen Schriften (Band 2, 3 und 4) und zu dem Briefwechsel Sulzers mit Johann Jacob Bodmer (Band 10). (shrink)

This is a complicated and ingenious study of one of the famous friendships of German intellectual history. Miss Knoll's aim is not so much to analyze philosophical ideas as to find the major structural elements of this highly emotional literary friendship between Hamann and Jacobi. The book begins with a short review of Hegel's and Dilthey's treatment of the "subject," Hamann-Jacobi. The author objects to these treatments which, like practically all other students of the question viewed the letters (...) from an exclusively philosophical and speculative viewpoint, and never tackled the deeply personal structure of this metaphysical-religious correspondence. This is exactly what the present author attempts to do. The analysis of Hamann's highly complex reactions to Jacobi's famous book on Lessing's Spinozism reveals to us how strongly and on how many levels the "magician of the North" criticized Jacobi—and through him any attempt to combat the Enlightenment which does not reject it in integro. On the other hand Hamann continuously sent his manuscripts to Jacobi to be read and criticized, and, in this way, he sought to help the latter to grow by making him contribute to works of a dimension and depth completely alien to his own thought But the destiny of Hamann was to be misunderstood by Jacobi, and this misunderstanding was recognized and corrected only by Schelling. Though H. Fuhrmans has already forcefully pointed out what Schelling owed to Hamann, the present book is the first to do justice to Schelling's Hamann-interpretation, until now entirely overshadowed by that of Hegel.—M. J. V. (shrink)

Johann Georg Hamann, filozof z Królewca, filolog oraz teolog był nazywany przez Goethego „najuczeńszą głową swojego czasu”. Twierdził, że właśnie od niego „najwięcej się nauczył”. Dlatego też zbierał i czytał jego pisma. To samo można powiedzieć o stosunku Ernsta Jüngera do „maga Północy”. Usłyszał o nim przypadkowo w roku 1924 od lipskiego docenta filozofii Hugo Fischera i odtąd był Hamannem zafascynowany. Często powoływał się na niego w węzłowych miejscach twórczości, jak np. w postaci motta z Hamanna w (...) obu wersjach swojej pierwszej pracy Das abenteuerliche Herz. Także dzięki Hamannowi powziął przekonanie, że „wyrazistość jest słusznym podziałem między światłem i cieniem”, jak i to, że najważniejsze fenomeny nie są zjawiskami przyczynowo uszeregowanymi, możliwymi do opanowania przez człowieka, lecz zjawiskami podpowierzchniowo powiązanymi ze sobą. Można je poprzez analogię opisać w zbliżony sposób. Jünger stanął tutaj w jednym szeregu z Hamannem i Goethem. Pod koniec swoich opublikowanych dzienników nazwał swoją znajomość z magiem Północy „nieuniknionym” i zaliczył go do „budzicieli”, którzy uformowali jego charakter. (shrink)

Hamann is one of the greatest religious writers of the eighteenth century in Germany. He is the person whom Schelling, Hegel, and Kierkegaard admired, read, and quoted. This book treats the major themes and insights of Hamann. Texts of Hamann are represented by a large number of quotations. Hamann never wrote a systematic treatise; he wrote short, devastating, illuminating essays and criticisms, as well as letters. Especially interesting are the chapters dealing with Hamann's criticism of (...) contemporary philosophy, and his views concerning the relation of philosophy and faith. This is a fine study which helps the reader to gain some orientation and perspective on Hamann's subtle and obscure writings.--M. J. V. (shrink)