The root of romanticism-the so-called romance

If I have enough time, energy and wisdom, I mean if I have enough ability, then I will study philosophy.

The Roots of Romanticism was written by Berlin, a famous British philosopher and historian of political thought. To be exact, it is based on 1965 isaiah berlin's Mellon series of romantic lectures recorded by BBC. This is a book in the field of philosophy The whole book discusses the definition, background, representative figures, core viewpoints of romanticism and its influence on later generations.

The first time I knew this book was in a novel, and it was the novel's favorite book. Just because I like the characters in the novel is not enough to drive me to read this book. I think the person who brought me into the field of philosophy is my teacher Mao Jue. This is how I described it to my classmates: in high school, I thought the smartest person was a math teacher, but now I think the smartest person is a philosophy teacher. Everyone is a scientist and ultimately a philosophy. I didn't understand it before, but now I feel very correct.

Back to this book, first of all, list the words related to romanticism in this book: enlightenment, religious movement, tragedy, will, freedom, morality, action, ideal, value, nature, ego, unconsciousness, symbol ... these are all what I saw in the book. I list them because I am worried about my expressive ability, but I want to say that I should leave the field of philosophy. The logic and wisdom of philosophy can be seen here. The professional knowledge about philosophy and foreign language expression makes this book look obscure. "There is no way to solve doubts, and there is another village." This is a true portrayal of my mental journey when I read it. In addition, I feel that my ability is really limited. Although I have read the whole book, I am not confident that I can fully summarize Berlin's thoughts and great romanticism. It can only be an index. I recommend you to read the original work and experience the author's thoughts and the greatness of romanticism.

Romanticism originated in Germany in the18th century. Why? This is related to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. To be exact, romanticism (you can understand it as an ideological movement here) is a rebellion against rationalism. Rationalism provides the world with three propositions: first, all practical problems can be solved. If a problem can't be solved, it must not be a problem. The second proposition is that all the answers are knowable, and some people get these answers through learning and teaching; The third proposition is that all answers must be compatible. This is the idea of the Enlightenment-inspired by Newton, they think that the world is a systematic operating structure, and people can run the world through regular, unified and calm methods-according to certain systems or rules. In short, rationalism believes that there is a universal axiom in this world, and everyone should follow this principle.

But the Germans at that time didn't think so. About the Enlightenment in the18th century, the thinkers concerned are Montesquieu, Concetto, Buffon, Volney, Green and Holbach. In the eyes of the Germans, their existence angered them and humiliated them. In 1970s, Herder (one of the representatives of romanticism) came to Paris, and he couldn't get close to any of these people. In his view, these people are artificial, fussy, conceited and boring. Not only held, but in the eyes of most Germans, they strongly dislike France, wigs, stockings, salons, corruption, generals, emperors and all the grand images in the world that are actually the embodiment of wealth, sin and evil. Why is this happening? Berlin mentioned the religious movement in his book-the author called it the source of romanticism. In the17th and18th centuries, Germans lived in a relatively backward area, but in fact, in the16th century, Germany, like Britain and France, played an obvious role in promoting the development of European civilization, but in the17th and18th centuries, they showed backwardness. As for the reason, the author can't say, I can't say, probably, but for one reason or another, Germany didn't establish a centralized nation-state like Britain and France. In the 18th century, Germans were ruled by 300 princes and 1200 lords. The emperor always coveted Italy and other places and could not concentrate on governing the country. Most importantly, the Thirty Years' War tore Germany apart. The war was fatal to Germany at that time, and more importantly, it destroyed the spirit of Germany, not just politically and economically. "German culture has shrunk into a local culture, wandering in those dull little courts. At that time, Germany did not have "Paris", no center, no vitality, no pride, no awareness of progress, change and authority. " Based on this background, the real source of romanticism-religious movement penetrated into Germany. At this time, the lingering German culture, on the one hand, slipped into the extreme scholasticism of Lutheran style-subtle but quite boring; On the other hand, it goes deep into the human soul. If you can't get what you want in this world, you should teach yourself how not to get it. This is a common form of spiritual retreat to the depths and soul castles. This is the atmosphere of German piety, which leads to a strong inner life style, a large number of touching and interesting but quite personal and emotional literature, and hatred for intellectuals. "Perhaps the differences between Germany and France are also an opportunity for the rise of the Romantic Movement." The author said.

Seeing this, I can't help but think of the Second World War initiated by German fascists. I've seen this statement before. In the First World War, although Germany was indeed the initiator of the war and was defeated, the execution in Germany after the war was too harsh, which led to the resentment of Germany as a whole. Fascism only took advantage of socialist sentiment, similar to the hatred of rationalism in the Enlightenment. But it is true that an important influence of romanticism is fascism. Fascism is also the successor of romanticism. Fascism draws lessons from romanticism because they share the same idea, that is, the unpredictable will of a person or a group of people advances in an unorganized, unpredictable and irrational way. This is what fascism is all about: what the leaders will say tomorrow, how the spirit will push us, where we will go and what we will do-everything is unpredictable. "The hysterical self-affirmation and nihilism destruction of the existing system, because it fetters the only free will that is valuable to mankind; Superior people conquer inferior people because they have stronger will; This is a direct inheritance of romanticism-undoubtedly, through an extremely distorted and chaotic form, but it is still an inheritance after all. This legacy has played an extremely important role in our lives. "

The religious movement in Germany is a dazzling refutation of rationalism, which is the soil for romanticism. I think it will be much easier to understand the reasons and conditions of one thing. So for romanticism, I don't want to elaborate too much, and my ability is limited, but in general, it is just a rebellion against rationalism.

As for romanticism, Berlin divides it into the following parts.

It can be said that it is very clear. In this book, Berlin introduced us to the definition of romanticism in his mind, and I want to say the last point, starting with the representative figures of romanticism. Before the chapter "Father of True Romanticism", Montesquieu and Hume were the first to be branded with firm rationalism-one showed that the whole world was not the same everywhere, and the other showed that there was no inevitability but only possibility, which was contrary to rationalism. Under the title of the true father of romanticism, Harman was first mentioned in Berlin. He was introduced because Berlin thought he was the first person to declare war on the Enlightenment most openly, fiercely and thoroughly. Harman's importance is not only to clearly put forward all kinds of remarks that strongly impacted the Enlightenment, but more importantly, his influence. In Berlin mentioned later, Harman's influence and enlightenment on them is enormous.

Anyway, there are two people in Berlin who can really be called the father of romanticism-one is Herder and the other is Kant.

Held's contribution to the romantic movement is mainly reflected in his three viewpoints. One is the view of confession, the other is the view of belonging, and the third is that real ideals are often incompatible or even not harmonious enough. The first point of view, repentance, is this: Holder believes that one of the basic behaviors of human beings is repentance and has something to say. No matter what a person does, he is fully expressing his nature. This view was learned by Held from his mentor Haman. Not only people, but also lifeless works of art, for them, it is also a confession of the attitude towards life of someone and the creator. Holder said, I hope everyone who professes himself can use words, and the concept of "words" is related to communication and groups, so his concept of confession is linked to his concept of belonging-that is, the concept of "nation" is put forward. Words cannot be produced alone, but must be in groups and nations. "Thus, the whole concept of historical determinism and evolution was born. The so-called concepts of historical determinism and evolution are that you can only understand the people there if you understand the environment that is very different from yourself. " This concept is also the basis of the concept of attribution. There is a more important conclusion about Held, which leads to his third point of view. This view is as follows: if the value of each culture is hidden in the ideal of a particular culture, then, as held said, each culture will have its own center of gravity. If you want to understand people of a certain cultural type, you must find its cultural center of gravity. If you find a cultural center of gravity, you will find the fact that different times have different ideals. But if Herder is right, it is meaningless to say that Greeks have Greek ideals, Indians have Indian reasons, and China people have China people's development needs. It doesn't mean anything, because all the answers may be incompatible with each other. From Holder's three viewpoints, we can draw his final theory: that is, every human group should fight for what they are born with or for their traditions. This is the romanticism in holder's mind.

After Herder, Berlin mentioned Kant in the section "Rigid Romanticism". Kant advocates science because his moral philosophy is enough to be the father of romanticism. In Kant's moral philosophy, Kant advocates freedom and strongly opposes any form of rule. "The concept of moral merit, the concept of moral deficiency, which should be praised by us, which should be condemned by us, and which behaviors should be encouraged or accused are all based on the premise that people can choose freely." Through free choice, Kant put forward a theory about value: "The reason why value is value-or to a lesser extent, it is a goal beyond desire and emotional prejudice-is determined by people's choice rather than their own objective and inherent nature. Values are not stars in the moral sky, they exist in people's hearts. They are things that people are willing to choose freely, to live for, to fight for and to die for. " This is the basic theory advocated by Kant. In Kant's thought, the most important thing of romanticism should still belong to the concept of will-the only thing worth having is unrestrained will-which is the core proposition that Kant repeatedly emphasized. Schiller is also a loyal defender of the will. This touched the heart of the romantic movement. What people get is not the knowledge about value, but the creation of value. The core of this idea of "unyielding will" is that, to some extent, the world comes from your choice and your creation.

In addition to will, romanticism is also willing to promote, that is, to believe that there is nothing in the world. This is the most active counterattack against rationalism. "Once you try to understand something, no matter what kind of power you use, you will find that what you want to explore is endless." In this way, unreality and fantasy appear-that is, an attempt: always cover up the irresistible, pursue the truth where there is no truth, stop the restless current, let the movement stand still, capture time with space, and capture light with darkness. This is a romantic sermon. There are countless reasons. In this case, when they ask themselves, how does one begin to understand reality-in the sense of the word "understanding"? When they ask one how to gain some insight into reality, but at the same time, how do they find the answer instead of categorically dividing themselves into subjects, dividing reality into objects and killing reality in the process of insight? The only way is to use myths and symbols.

Berlin described a lot about romanticism in his book, some of which I mentioned earlier, but of course I didn't mention more. There are Schelling, Friedrich schlegel, Fichte, drama, poetry, music, politics, economy and culture ... Regarding the influence of romanticism, if the Renaissance and rationalism turned the human perspective from God to mankind, then the Romantic movement is to turn the perspective from. The basic views of romanticism are will, freedom, creation and value ... At the end of the book, Berlin said that the end of romanticism is liberalism, tolerance, decent behavior and understanding of imperfect life; It is the promotion of rational self-knowledge to various degrees.

Berlin ends here, but I want to go back to the definition of romanticism that I didn't mention just now. Berlin said that romanticism is unity and diversity, which is the result of his simple generalization. I want to use the original text of this book, a paragraph I like, about romanticism to make a summary:

"Romanticism is primitive and rude. It is youth, a natural person's rich perception of life, but it is also morbid and pale, a fever, a disease, a depravity, a century disease, a heartless beauty, a dance of death, which is actually death itself. It is Shelley's colored glass dome and his eternal white light. It is the richness of life, the richness of life, the inexhaustible diversity, the turmoil, violence, conflict and chaos. It is also peaceful, the unity of "I am", the harmony of natural order, the music of the sky, and the eternal all-inclusive spirit. It is strange, strange, strange, mysterious and supernatural; It is a ruin, a moonlight, a demon-possessed castle, a hunting horn, an elf, a giant, a lion-headed monster, a waterfall, an ancient mill on the Floss River, a dark power, a ghost, a vampire, an indescribable fear, an irrational and unspeakable thing. "

"It is energy, strength, will, youth and self-expression, and it is also self-abuse, self-mutilation and suicide; It is primitive and simple, a natural mind, a green field, a cow's neck bell, a trickle, and an infinite blue sky. However, this is also a dude, a desire to dress up. Red vest, green wig, dyed blue hair, this is the dress of followers of Gé rard de Nerval who paraded through the streets of Paris at some time. "