GERM 308 Art, Nature, Self: German Romanticism

This course introduces students to the literature, philosophy, art and science of German Romanticism, a wide-ranging intellectual movement that flourished in German-speaking lands at the turn of the 19th century. Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss seminal works of German Romanticism by such prominent authors, artists and intellectuals as Friedrich Hölderlin, Novalis, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, F. W. J. Schelling, Caspar David Friedrich and Friedrich Schlegel. In conjunction with our readings, we will address key topics and issues related to German Romanticism, including but not limited to: Romantic poetry and the critique of art; the philosophy of nature and Romantic science; the role of the self in constituting, mediating and perceiving the world; the philosophy of language; and the expression of religious feeling. 

This course will meet three times a week, twice with CSLC 108 with lectures and discussion in English, and a third weekly meeting in which all readings and discussion will be conducted in German.