Beyond Posthumanism : The German Humanist Tradition and the Future of the Humanities

Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities—both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. Signs and Wonders: The Humanist Pedagogy of Eighteenth-Century Universal Histories of Mankind Chapter 2. Religion, Anthropology, and the Mission of Literature in Schiller’s Universalgeschichte Chapter 3. The Sublime as an Objectivist Strategy Chapter 4. The Importance of Herder’s Humanism and the Posthumanist Challenge Chapter 5. Humanist Antinomies: Goethe’s Iphigenie auf Tauris and Torquato Tasso Chapter 6. Incorporating Change: The Role of Science in Goethe’s and Carl Gustav Carus’s Humanist Aesthetics Chapter 7. Karl Marx’s and Ludwig Feuerbach’s Materialism in Gottfried Keller’s “Kleider Machen Leute” Chapter 8. The End of Pathos and of Humanist Illusions: Schiller and Schnitzler Chapter 9. Blurring the Human/Animal Boundary Chapter 10. Humanism and Ideology: Thomas Mann’s Writings (1914–30) Chapter 11. Between Humanism and Posthumanism: Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf Conclusion Works Cited Index La 4eme de couverture indique : "Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities-both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination" "Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities-both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination"-- Provided by publisher Kant, Goethe, Nietzsche, and their fellow eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities-both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathas mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination Against the background of debates about a revival of humanist values, this volume seeks to recast the question of the viability of the humanities by analyzing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy.