The Discipline of Pious Reason: Goethe, Herder, Kant Daniel ...

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union is the natural inclination of humanity: humanity lives to ultimately become like God. This natural inclination is also the effect of the divinity implanted in humanity from the beginning. 5 In line with this implant, the individual strives to revert back to her source and, in so doing, rise above the finite realm. For all these doctrines, fusion is the appropriate goal of human striving. The proper—or pious—relation to God is one that puts an end to all relations by merging God and humanity together into the One. In consequence, it also puts an end to all piety and to finitude altogether. This is a self-destructive form of piety. 6 Contemporaneous with Ganymed, Goethe wrote the poem Prometheus. Its second stanza reads, Ich kenne nichts Ärmeres Unter der Sonn’, als euch, Götter! Ihr nähret kümmerlich Von Opfersteuern Und Gebetshauch Eure Majestät Und darbtet, wären Nicht Kinder und Bettler Hoffnungsvolle Toren. I know of no poorer thing Under the sun, than you gods! Wretchedly you feed
Your own majesty On sacrificial offerings And the breath of prayers, And you would starve If children and beggars Were not fools full of hope. The narrator (Prometheus) goes on to narrate his own childish and ‘deluded’ faith in divine mercy, before continuing later in the poem, Ich dich ehren? Wofür? Hast du die Schmerzen gelindert Je des Beladenen? Hast du die Thränen gestillet Je des Geängsteten? … Hier sitz’ ich, forme Menschen Nach meinem Bilde, Ein Geschlecht, das mir gleich sei, Zu leiden, zu weinen, Zu genießen und zu freuen sich, Und dein nicht zu achten, Wie ich! (1919, I/2:76-8) I should respect you? For what?
Page 1 and 2: The Discipline of Pious Reason: Goe
Page 3 and 4: More concretely, Goethe, Herder and
Page 5: that embrace human and God ascend b
Page 9 and 10: question dominant pieties’ (Goodc
Page 11 and 12: Spinoza revival; this is one of the
Page 13 and 14: The similarity to Ganymed is immedi
Page 15 and 16: I conclude from this that everythin
Page 17 and 18: an improvement upon carnal ones pre
Page 19 and 20: Thus, having begun with the intenti
Page 21 and 22: 4:423; p. 120). Humanity’s finitu
Page 23 and 24: perfection’ Spinoza means the bec
Page 25 and 26: Or again, J.G. Müller reports the
Page 27 and 28: Winckelmann, Wieland and Mendelssoh
Page 29 and 30: In the lectures Kant gave on the Me
Page 31 and 32: Kant here almost falls into contrad
Page 33 and 34: The other must always be kept at th
Page 35 and 36: naming possible. 27 This is not a n
Page 37 and 38: unnecessary. Dogmatic philosophy of
Page 39 and 40: Bibliography Abrams, M.H. (1971), N
Page 41 and 42: Johnson, B. A. (2010), ‘Making al
Page 43 and 44: 1 As will become clear as the essay
Page 45 and 46: 18 Of course, I am not claiming tha

The Discipline of Pious Reason: Goethe, Herder, Kant Daniel ...

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