The Evolution Of Western Romanticism

In the history of human thinking, romantic ideas, as man’s everlasting spiritualendowment and peculiar prescription, have always been part of human view andhistorical development. However, due to the dominance of rationalism in the course ofhistory and western philosophy, romanticism has somewhat been shielded with its uniquevalue dimmed, which has a negative effect on man’s thorough understanding ofphilosophy as well as the complete history and reality of human nature. Nevertheless,romanticism has never given up its theoretical pursuit in various implicit forms. Althoughit cannot compete with the tradition of rationalism, romanticism to some degree hasplayed a positive role in withholding the flood of rationalism, emphasizing man’semotional experience and pursuing human integrity, etc., showing a spiritual path toman’s all-round development. Therefore, it is necessary to make a comprehensive andobjective study on the logical evolution of romantic ideas in the history of westernphilosophy so as to have a full grasp of western philosophy as well as a historical andlogical clarification of the relationship between Marxist philosophy and romanticism,thus opening a new perspective for contemporary research into Marxist philosophy.In the macro context of western philosophy and cultural spirit, the dissertationstrives to delineate the inner inevitability of romantic spirit in light of the rationalistictradition and the ups and downs of western philosophy. Beginning with the origin ofromantic spirit, the it first analyzes man’s divinity embodied in ancient Greek mythologyand explores the fundamental influence of “Nous”(the opposite of “logos”) onirrationalism. By examining the inheritance of mysticism from romantic spirit in themedieval Christian philosophy, it also illustrates the theoretical forms of romanticism interms of epistemology and criticism of logic on which epistemology is based. In thecontext of Enlightenment, the finity of man’s reason and the philosophical concept ofromanticism are interpreted. It is then pointed out that romanticism has its own plight andcrisis in theory, which Marxist philosophy could transcend. By confirming certainhistorical and theoretical internal consistency between Marxist philosophy andromanticism, the essential differences between the two are indicated as well. In a word,by examining romantic ideas, the dissertation attempts to trace the logical clues of romanticism and summarize its unique role in the history of human beings andphilosophy, which has a great historical and realistic significance.In the history of western philosophy, romantic ideas express man’s existence valueand significance shielded by reason from different perspectives. Against man’s binaryopposition caused by reason and pure reason, romanticism tries to bridge the division toachieve man’s real integrity. Romantic spirit derives from ancient Greek mythology, avivid expression of romanticism in human nature, which includes the thought of onenessbetween man and the world as well as that between man and God. As a symbol of theunity between humanity and divinity, mythology lays a foundation for romanticismwhich heavily relies on experience and intuition. That’s why romanticists worshipmythology when it is rejected by rationalism. If mythology is an expression oftranscendental divinity in humanity,“Nous” is the promoting of rationalism and theultimate basis of everything that exists, which means Nous, beyond thinking and concept,is a spiritual state gained only through God and revelation. In this case, either mythologyor “Nous” goes gradually so far from reason and logic that they combine with mysticism,developing into metaphysics which strives for the truth through belief. Hence, themetaphysics of modern epistemology should be blamed from the perspective of romanticspirit, for when reason can’t prove God’s existence, its universality will be questionedand the other forms of spirit–belief, intuition and emotion, will ultimately appear.In fact, from the viewpoint of epistemology, modern philosophers’ argumentsagainst rationalism set the theoretical basis for later romantic philosophy. Both Vico’shistoricism and Pascal’s criticism against Descartes’ rationalism, in essence, stress man’sirrational ability to grasp the truth, which is indicated in different ways. For instance,Hamann relies on belief, Rousseau relies on emotion to seek the truth, and Schiller relieson aesthetics to find metaphysical basis. Therefore, by overcoming man’s split caused byreason, the Romantic Movement fills the gaps in belief, emotion and aesthetics throughRomantic Poetry, putting romantic thought forward to a new phase in an integrated way.In overcoming the dichotomy, romanticists construct a variety of theories to realizeman’s wholeness, with their aims to reverse traditional philosophy. Romanticists believethat philosophy should start from the middle rather than a one-way flow from subject toobject or vice versa, which clears up the principle of epistemological understanding of object and redefines philosophy as a task to pursue infinity, thus underlining theimportance of human life. In a sense, romanticism overcomes the one-way defect ofrationalism and accomplishes the wholeness of human beings, though in a fictional andillusionary metaphysical reality. Therefore, the reality created by romanticists is illusiveand empty “nothingness”. Consequently, they are doomed to be caught in a dilemmaeither in theory or in logic.From the evolution of rationalism and romanticism, it can be seen that from the verybeginning Marxist philosophy, deeply rooted in western ideological and cultural tradition,has established a historical and logical connection with romantic ideas. In fact, fromMarx’s earlier romantic poetry till the birth of his Communist theory, an innerconsistency with romantic theory can be easily found. Nevertheless, unlike romanticists,Marx not only has romantic sentiments, but also shows great concern over reality. Basedon reality and a logical analysis of capital, he explicitly points out the historical missionfor the proletariat as historical subject, profoundly indicating that the root of man’s splitis alienated labor. He believes that it is possible to fulfill man’s wholeness by abandoningalienation first. In short, it is on the basis of criticizing and transcending romantic thoughtthat Marx indicates the way to restore the wholeness of human beings through “practice”.To study the logical evolution of romantic ideas in the history of western philosophyis to comprehend human nature in a context of reality development, to understand theinteraction between sense and sensibility as well as to grasp the development of therelationship. It is not to discuss romantic ideas for their own sake, but to illustrate thenature of romantic spirit in contrast with rationalism. With the development of romanticideas as a clue, the dissertation offers a historical and logical perspective on how to relateMarxist philosophy to romanticism, which will definitely provide a new view for theresearch into Marxist philosophy.