On the history of religion and philosophy in Germany

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The text on the history of religion and philosophy in Germany is a treatise written in essayistic style by the German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine (1797–1856). It was written in 1833/34 at the time of Heine's exile in Paris, was initially published in French and thus forms part of his efforts to better understand each other for both peoples. The German first edition took place in Der Salon. Second volume (1834).

General information on the text

The content follows some recurring motifs . On the one hand, Heine developed a teleological conception of history, according to which in German history a religious revolution leads to a philosophical and finally to a political revolution. This is to be understood above all against the impression of the French Revolution of 1789, which so far has not occurred in Germany before 1848. On the other hand, Heine is a “dialectician” in that he essentially works with opposites. The key is the pair of terms body / mind or sensualism / spiritualism (the latter in a sense that is no longer common today).

Heine criticizes the scientific understanding of idealistic philosophy . Their works are thorough and profound, but just as incomprehensible. With his work on a popularly written intellectual history, he pursues a practical goal, emancipation :

"The people hunger for knowledge and thanks me for the piece of spiritual bread that I honestly share with them."

Therefore, time-critical comments can often be discovered, such as For example, about the state censorship , which has repeatedly mutilated Heine's writings, or the scholars' fear of their ideas being announced to the people, which Heine therefore sees as his task.

first book

For Heine, the first stage of historical development is the Reformation, which saw the disempowerment of Catholic Christianity in Germany. For Heine, Christianity before Luther suppressed the physicality of man:

"Once when humanity regains its full health, when peace is restored between body and soul, and they penetrate each other again in original harmony: then one will hardly be able to understand the artificial quarrel that Christianity has created between the two."

The thinking and acting of the “complete human being” Luther marked a decisive turning point in history, because firstly he demonized the body, e.g. B. abolishes the principle of celibacy and, secondly, makes Holy Scriptures accessible to everyone through the German translation of the Bible:

“When Luther uttered the sentence that one had to refute his teaching only through the Bible itself, or through reasonable reasons, human reason was granted the right to explain the Bible and reason was the supreme judge in all religious matters Disputes recognized. "

Luther is also important for Germany because he played a decisive role in shaping the German language:

“But this Martin Luther not only gave us freedom of movement, but also the means of movement, namely he gave the spirit a body. He also gave the thought the word. He created the German language. "

second book

According to Heine, the “philosophical revolution” is not the product of one man like the religious one, but the result of the history of philosophy from René Descartes to Immanuel Kant to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . The described philosophers, u. a. Locke , Leibniz , Spinoza and Lessing , a spiritual 'family bond'; all of them are working, sometimes contradictingly, on the perfecting of philosophy.

Four definitions are important here. According to Heine, the pair of terms (objective) idealism / materialism is purely descriptive and he means “with the former the doctrine of innate ideas, of the ideas a priori , and with the other name I denote the doctrine of spiritual knowledge through experience, through the senses, the doctrine of ideas a posteriori ”. In contrast, the terms spiritualism / sensualism are used here more as judgmental battle terms:

“We therefore leave the name spiritualism to that outrageous presumption of the spirit, which strives for sole glorification, seeks to trample underfoot, at least to flirt, and we leave the name of sensualism to that opposition which, zealous against it, rehabilitates matter aims and vindicates the senses ['demands'] their rights, without denying the rights of the spirit, not even without the supremacy ['priority', 'higher importance'] of the spirit. "

When describing the important philosophers, Heine repeatedly refers to their lives, which appear to be deeply rooted in their thinking. For example, the Sephardic- Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) lived a flawless way of life and was able to bring the previously divergent schools of thought of materialism and idealism back together.

With regard to the role of God, Heine prefers pantheism over a Christian personified God, but also over atheistic ideas such as those of the French Revolution:

"We do not fight for the human rights of the people, but for the rights of God of the people."

According to Heine, God should not be given up, but rather should be located in everything that surrounds us. Religious dogmas are incompatible with this attitude:

"'God is all that is there', and doubt about him is doubt about life itself, it is death."

Third book

According to Heine, the special value of Immanuel Kant's philosophy lies in the following epistemological insight:

"Kant proved to us that we know nothing of things as they are in and of themselves, but that we only know something about them as far as they are reflected in our mind."

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel finally ended the philosophical revolution. Just as Heine understands the French revolutionary Robespierre only as the implementer of the ideas of the French enlightenment, so in Germany too, the word must be followed by the deed.

The end of the treatise consists in an ironic warning from the French against a united Germany (HSA, vol. 8, 229ff). This shows Heine's skepticism about the course of history, which, despite the fundamental tendency for the better, he always describes as ambivalent, since the political revolution brings with it not only the liberation of the people but also the destruction of high culture and traditions. One last quote should be mentioned on the 'delay' of Germans in European history:

“The thought precedes the deed as lightning precedes thunder. The German Donner is, of course, also a German and is not very agile, and comes rolling up a little slowly; but it will come, and when you hear it crash like never before in world history, know that the German thunder has finally reached its destination. "

effect

Although the salon. The second volume did not sell particularly well and is not one of Heine's best-known works even today, the publication was followed by a remarkable wave of prohibitions. The Austrian politician and head of the Restoration, Prince Metternich, valued Heine's abilities and at the same time feared his writings:

“I recommend [...] this work because it contains the quintessence of the intentions and hopes of the baggage with which we are concerned. At the same time, the Heine product is a true masterpiece in terms of style and presentation. "

The ban in Austria was preceded by bans in Prussia and Hamburg.

In research, the importance of publication when the 'Young Germans' were banned in 1835 is discussed.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Höhn 2004, 347
  2. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, p. 131
  3. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 153 f.
  4. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 134 f.
  5. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 150
  6. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 153
  7. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 155
  8. ↑ z. B. HSA, Vol. 8, 169, 178
  9. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 164
  10. ↑ Jakob Heinrich Kaltschmidt: The latest and most complete foreign dictionary to explain all words and expressions borrowed from foreign languages ​​that occur in the arts and sciences, in trade and traffic. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1870, p. 378 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  11. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 164
  12. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 169 ff.
  13. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 175
  14. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 200
  15. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 197
  16. ↑ HSA, Vol. 8, 229
  17. ↑ DHA, Vol. 8/2, 554
  18. ↑ DHA, Vol. 8/2, 556