The theme of this book is the conflict that arose in the early nineteenth century between the literary and scientific intellectuals of Europe, as they competed for recognition as the chief analysts of the new industrial society in which they lived. Sociology was conceived as the third major discipline, a hybrid of the scientific and literary traditions. The author chronicles the rise of the new discipline by discussing the lives and works of the most prominent thinkers of the time, in England, France, and Germany. The book presents a penetrating study of idealists grappling with reality when...
The theme of this book is the conflict that arose in the early nineteenth century between the literary and scientific intellectuals of Europe, as they...
Edward Gibbon's allegation at the beginning of his Essay on the Study of Literature (1764) that the history of empires is that of the miseries of humankind whereas the history of the sciences is that of their splendour and happiness has for a long time been accepted by professional scientists and by historians of science alike. For its practitioner, the history of a discipline displayed above all the always difficult but fmally rewarding approach to a truth which was incorporated in the discipline in its actual fonn. Looking back, it was only too easy to distinguish those who erred and...
Edward Gibbon's allegation at the beginning of his Essay on the Study of Literature (1764) that the history of empires is that of the miseries of huma...
During the Allied bombing of Germany, Hitler was more distressed by the loss of cultural treasures than by the leveling of homes. Remarkably, his propagandists broadcast this fact, convinced that it would reveal not his callousness but his sensitivity: the destruction had failed to crush his artist's spirit. It is impossible to begin to make sense of this thinking without understanding what Wolf Lepenies calls The Seduction of Culture in German History.
This fascinating and unusual book tells the story of an arguably catastrophic German habit--that of valuing cultural...
During the Allied bombing of Germany, Hitler was more distressed by the loss of cultural treasures than by the leveling of homes. Remarkably, his p...
Der Intellektuelle klagt über die Welt, und aus dieser Klage entsteht das utopische Denken, das eine bessere Welt entwirft und damit die Melancholie vertreiben soll. Deswegen ist aus den Utopien Melancholie verschwunden. Mehr noch: in Utopia herrscht ein rigoroses Melancholieverbot. Dieser Zusammenhang bildet den Kern von Melancholie und Gesellschaft.
Der Intellektuelle klagt über die Welt, und aus dieser Klage entsteht das utopische Denken, das eine bessere Welt entwirft und damit die Melancholie ...
