ISBN:
9789048187966
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (XV, 434p, digital)
Series Statement:
International Archives of the History of Ideas / Archives internationales d'histoire des idées 202
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T. Vassányi, Miklós, 1966 - Anima mundi: the rise of the world soul theory in modern German philosophy
Keywords:
Philosophy (General)
;
Science History
;
Metaphysics
;
Philosophy of nature
;
Philosophy
;
Philosophy (General)
;
Science History
;
Metaphysics
;
Philosophy of nature
;
Philosophy
;
Ontology
;
Neoplatonism
;
Deutschland
;
Weltgeist
;
Weltseele
;
Philosophie
;
Geschichte 1700-1800
Abstract:
This work presents and philosophically analyzes the early modern and modern history of the theory concerning the soul of the world, anima mundi. The initial question of the investigation is why there was a revival of this theory in the time of the early German Romanticism, whereas the concept of the anima mundi had been rejected in the earlier, classical period of European philosophy (early and mature Enlightenment). The presentation and analysis starts from the Leibnizian-Wolffian school, generally hostile to the theory, and covers classical eighteenth-century physico-theology, also reluctant to accept an anima mundi. Next, it discusses early modern and modern Christian philosophical Cabbala (Böhme and Ötinger), an intellectual tradition which to some extent tolerated the idea of a soul of the world. The philosophical relationship between Spinoza and Spinozism on the one hand, and the anima mundi theory on the other is also examined. An analysis of Giordano Bruno's utilization of the concept anima del mondo is the last step before we give an account of how and why German Romanticism, especially Baader and Schelling asserted and applied the theory of the Weltseele. The purpose of the work is to prove that the philosophical insufficiency of a concept of God as an ens extramundanum instigated the Romantics to think an anima mundi that can act as a divine and quasi-infinite intermediary between God and Nature, as a locum tenens of God in physical reality.
Description / Table of Contents:
Anima Mundi; Acknowledgments; Contents; Signs; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Presentation of the Texts Relevant for the Concept of an anima mundi. The Immediate Natural Theological Setting of the Problem; Chapter 3: The Distinctive Philosophical Content of the Concept of an "anima mundi" in Leibniz and His Followers. Arguments of This School Against the General Theory of anima mundi. A Broader Natural
Description / Table of Contents:
Chapter 4: Preliminary Historical and Conceptual Presentation of "L'Histoire Naturelle" in Selected Major Works of some Leading Naturalists. The Relation of Natural Science to Theology or SpiritualityChapter 5: General Philosophical Analysis of Physico-Theology; Chapter 6: Böhme's Speculative Theology (De signatura rerum, 1622). Ötinger's Cabbalistic Theory of the World as a Glorious Div; Chapter 7: The Philosophical Incompatibility of Spinoza's System with the World Soul Theory. Bayle's Identification of Spinozism with the World Soul Theory, and Wachter's Denial of the Same. Lessing's
Description / Table of Contents:
Chapter 8: The World Soul in Giordano Bruno's De la causa, principio et uno (1584) and De l'infinito, universo e mondi (1584). The Revival of Bruno's Philosophy in Late Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth-Chapter 9: The World Soul in Baader's and Schelling's Conceptions; Bibliography; Index of Titles of Philosophical and Other Works; Name Index; Index of Philosophical and Historical Concepts;
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
DOI:
10.1007/978-90-481-8796-6
URL:
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