Abstract

In this article, I explore Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s diagnosis of the crisis of his age, Golden Age Denmark, in his treatise On the Significance of Philosophy, published in 1833. Althoughin recent times there is a renewed interest in the intellectual scene of Golden Age Denmark, in part due to the current relevancy of a thinker such as Søren Kierkegaard, it is a fact that one of its most important figures, J. L. Heiberg, has been more or less ignored by contemporary scholars. Thus, in this article I try to shed light on his figure and thought, especially on his attempt to use Hegelian philosophy to solve the cultural crisis of his time.