Nature and Romanticism

3 credits · Undergraduate

Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” in philosophy, ironically, marked a resurrection of a full-blown “idealist” philosophy of nature. This course will investigate the attempts of Kant’s followers to construct a natural philosophy and its engagement with the rival mechanical world picture. It explores the implications of this endeavour for the growth of romanticism, vitalism, and our modern picture of “nature”. It begins with an examination of the ambiguous heritage presented by Kant’s writings on nature and proceeds through the attempts to develop a complete program of idealist Naturphilosophie and its spread throughout European thought by the medium of romanticist art and natural philosophy. CROSSLISTED: HSTC 4300.03 EXCLUSIONS: HIST 5004.03 FORMATS: Lecture | Tutorial