German Idealism, Industrial Revolution, and the Rise of Romanticism
German Idealism: A Philosophical Movement
German Idealism was a significant movement in German philosophy that began in the 1780s and lasted until the 1840s. Immanuel Kant is one of the most famous representatives of this movement. Kant’s transcendental idealism was a philosophical doctrine about the difference between appearances and things in themselves. He claimed that the objects of human cognition are appearances and not things in themselves. German Idealism is remarkable for its systematic treatment of all the major parts of philosophy, including logic, metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy, and aesthetics. The idealists believed that these parts of philosophy would find a place in a general system of philosophy. Kant thought this system could be derived from a small set of independent principles.
This movement emerged in Germany as a reaction to Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and was closely linked with both Romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment. Kant’s basic project can be seen as an effort to resolve the conflict between dogmatism and skepticism. He argued against the dogmatists, stating that they cannot claim to know what lies beyond the drawn limit. He also argued against the skeptics, asserting that we have synthetic knowledge independent of all experience, a kind of knowledge that makes all our experience possible.
To make this argument, Kant had to resort to what Romantics called “dualisms.” He made distinctions like those between “noumena” and “phenomena,” the “intellectual” and the “sensible,” and the “regulative” and “constitutive” uses of reason, among others. One of the main motivations behind making these key distinctions was to make a place for human freedom, which, for Kant, is the necessary condition of morality.
The Industrial Revolution and its Impact
The Industrial Revolution refers to a series of significant shifts in traditional practices of agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation, as well as the development of new mechanical technologies that took place during the late 18th and 19th centuries in much of the Western world. The Industrial Revolution had a profound effect upon society in the United Kingdom.
It gave rise to the working and middle classes and allowed them to overcome the long-standing economic oppression that they had endured for centuries beneath the gentry and nobility. However, while employment opportunities increased for common working people throughout the country and members of the middle class were able to become business owners more easily, the conditions workers often labored under were brutal.
Romanticism as a Reaction to Industrialization
Romanticism developed in the United Kingdom, in some measure, as a response to the Industrial Revolution. Many English intellectuals in the early 19th century considered industrialism inhumane and unnatural. They revolted against what they felt to be the increasingly inhumane and unnatural mechanization of modern life.
English writers such as Byron, William Blake, and Wordsworth wrote about the psychological and social effects of the newly industrial world upon the individual. They felt that industrialization countered the human spirit and the intrinsic rights of men. They believed that the modern industrial world was harsh and deadening to the senses of the spirit. These intellectuals called for a return, both in life and in spirit, to the emotional and natural, as well as to the ideas of the pre-industrial past.
Romanticism: A Movement Beyond Literature
Romanticism was an artistic movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century. It was a reactionary response against the scientific rationalism of nature during the Enlightenment, commonly expressed in literature, music, painting, and drama. People and nature were objectified and reduced to commodity status. This was regarded as undesirable and leading to the degradation of humans.
According to the Romantics, the solution was a return “back to nature” because nature was seen as a pure and spiritual source of renewal. It was also a way for the newly industrial rich to escape the fumes of the growing industrial centers. This ultimately led to an appreciation of the landscape, described in terms such as the “sublime.” These ideas are still with us today and paved the way for modern-day conservation and environmentalism, as well as outdoor recreation and appreciation for natural and historical heritage.