What defines philosophy in Romanticism?
Romanticism marked a major turn away from the exact analytical scientific principles of the Age of Reason in the eighteenth century which did not allow for the freedom of the human spirit or emotions. Romantic philosophers believe that the universe is a single interconnected whole full of life and not consisting of lifeless matter where its parts can be studied in isolation in minute detail. Mankind is merely a part of the system. They believed humans cannot create moral values if they are merely a mechanical functioning entity in biological terms. Philosophical romanticism can be traced back to the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau who first outlined the idea of the noble savage uncorrupted by artificial civilisation.
People in this field include Philosophers, theologians and historians:
Thomas Carlyle: (1795-1881) Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. See the Carlyle page here.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: (1772-1834) English poet, philosopher, literary critic and theologian. See the Coleridge page here.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet. See the Emerson page here.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) German philosopher and founder of German Idealism and the concept of self awareness. See the Fichte page here.
Johann Joseph Görres (1776-1848) German writer, philosopher, theologian, historian and catholic journalist. See the Gorres page here.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: (1770-1831) German philosopher. One of the founding fathers of modern thought. See the Hegel page here.
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. See the Herder page here.
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) German poet and philosopher and a key figure in German Romanticism. See the Holderlin page here.
Friedrich Wilhelm von Humboldt: (1767-1835) Prussian philosopher, linguist, diplomat and government official. See the Humboldt page here.
Soren Kierkegaard: (1813-1855) Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, religious author and proto-existentialist. See the Kierkegaard page here.
Allessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni: (1785-1873) Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. See the Manzoni page here.
Maurycy Mochnacki: (1803-1834) Polish literary, theatre and music critic, journalist, pianist, and historian. See the Mochnacki page here.
Adam Heinrich Müller: (1779-1829) Austrian philosopher, literary critic and political economist. See the Muller page here.
Friedrich Nietzsche: (1844-1900) German philologist, philosopher, prose poet and cultural critic. See the Nietzsche page here.
Novalis: (Birth name Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg) German aristocrat and poet, novelist, philosopher and mystic. See the Novalis page here.
Petar II Petrovic-Njegos: (1813-1851) Prince-Bishop of Montenegro and poet and philosopher. See the Petovic-Njegos page here.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: (1712-1778) Swiss philosopher, writer, and composer. See the Rousseau page here.
Friedrich Schelling: (1775–1854) German philosopher placed at the midpoint of German idealism. See the Schelling page here.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller: (1759-1805) German physician, playwright, poet, and philosopher. See the Schiller page here.
August Wilhelm von Schlegel: (1767-1845) German, translator and critic. See the August Schlegel page here.
Caroline Schlegel-Shelling: (1763-1809) German translator and critic. See the Caroline Schlegel-Shelling page here.
Friedrich von Schlegel: (1772-1829) German poet, philosopher, philologist, critic and Indologist. See the Friedrich Schlegel page here.
Friedrich Schleiermacher: (1768-1834) German Reformed theologian, biblical scholar and philosopher. See the Schleiermacher page here.
Arthur Schopenhauer: (1788- 1860) German philosopher of the will. See the Schopenhauer page here.
Madame Germaine de Stael: (1766-1817) French woman of letters, political theorist and literary hostess. See the de Stael page here.
Henry David Thoreau: (1817-1862) American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. See the Thoreau page here.