Posted by Clarily on August 21, 1997 at 12:13:24:

In reply to Re: Coleridge & German Idealism posted by Helen on August 21, 1997 at 06:31:01

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] ] Coleridge, like Baudelaire, is one of the more intellectual 'junkies'. I believe laudanum was his monkey.

] Have you ever read any of his notebooks? An interesting fusion of serious and profound philosophical comment with "last night I had the dream where I was pursued by giant blue monsters again" (actually, it's more disgusting than that but I can't think of a euphemistic yet comprehensible way of saying it). Also Biographia Literaria, one of the few books I have ever been compelled to read underlining and writing "how true" in the margin.

] ] Next to Shelley, Coleridge was the most scholarly of the English Romantics. He traveled to Germany, and was highly influence by German Idealism --a school which believes that through reason, we apprehend what is real (noumena) over what is perceived (phenomena).

] ] First promulgated by Kant in the Critique of Pure Reason, this epistomolgy (IMHO, a modern interpretation of Plato --the Plato of the Republic), was further articulated by Hegel and later Marx in the 19th c..

] Does Plato believe that we actually can get to reality? And if so, through reason? And where does that leave us in relation to the ideal? This is what I like about Renaissance neo-Platonism, that it wants to achieve its higher perceptions not through the intellect alone, but through love.

] ] In essence, German Idealism negates what is preceived by the human senses by stating that it (preceived-reality) is not real or as Kant would say, "the thing itself". A conclusion of this concept can cause a 'yearning' for the Real. I can see this in Kubla Khan, this longing for noumena. It's also possible that Coleridge felt that he could attain it through the use if opium-based substances. Something Kant, I'm sure would not recommend.;-)

] Probably Coleridge, on a trip, thought that Kubla Khan was the real, and was yearning for it - I would not be at all surprised. Ironically, of course, he was at that point confronted with the "real" real, in the shape of the Man from Porlock...

] ] Sorry --this has very little to do with S&S --but I couldn't resist talking about it.:-)

] No, thank you so much for explaining it - I have never never been able to find a comprehensible version of Kant before now, everyone ends up trying to emulate him in obscurity.

] Helen

Yes, I agree with Helen; it's hard to get "Kant in a Nut Shell." I recently took a Hist. of Modern Phil. class myself and "learned" all about Kant, but the text writer and the prof. were over my head (and I'm no dummy! :) ) The connection between Kant and the Romantics is exactly what I have been trying to recall, no only because I see the poets' names referenced in Austen and Eliot, but also because I'm about to start a class soon on Romantics. Now, thanks to you I will have something extra clever to say! :)

So don't apologize and say that it has nothing to do with Austen, because it does. Your info was stimulating and informative!

Clarily