Humboldtian science
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| - | :"What is [[Classical]] is [[health]]y; what is [[Romantic]] is [[sick]]." --[[Goethe]], see [[Dark Romanticism]]. | + | '''Humboldtian science''' is a term given to the movement in [[science]] in the 19th century. The ideals and central themes of Humboldtian science are the result of the work of German scientist [[Alexander von Humboldt]]. However, Humboldtian science is a movement and thus is not limited to the work done by Humboldt himself, but refers to many scientists and their works. |
| - | '''Romanticism''' was an artistic, literary and intellectual [[avant-garde]] movement that originated in [[18th century]] [[Western Europe]]. In part a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the [[The Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment period]] (see [[counter-enlightenment]]) and a reaction against the rationalization of nature, in art and literature it stressed strong [[emotion]] as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as [[trepidation]], [[horror]], and the [[awe]] experienced in confronting the [[Sublime (philosophy)|sublimity]] of nature. It elevated [[folk art]], nature and custom, as well as arguing for an [[epistemology]] based on nature, which included human activity conditioned by nature in the form of language, custom and usage. It was influenced by ideas of the Enlightenment and elevated [[medievalism]] and elements of art and narrative perceived to be from the medieval period. The name "romantic" itself comes from the term "[[Romance (genre)|romance]]" which is a prose or poetic heroic narrative originating in medieval literature and romantic literature. | + | |
| - | The ideologies and events of the [[French Revolution]] are thought to have influenced the movement. Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it perceived as misunderstood heroic individuals and artists that altered society. It also legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability in the representation of its ideas. | + | Alexander von Humboldt is known for his highly empirical scientific work and his best recognized works are his ''Personal Narrative'' and ''Kosmos''. The term Humboldtian science is difficult to define simply, as it incorporates many ideals and concepts. Roughly speaking, Humboldtian science was a shift toward an understanding of the interconnectedness of [[nature]] through accurate [[measurement]]. One central concept was what Humboldt called ‘terrestrial physics,’ which encompassed an extensive and pervasive study of the [[earth]]’s many features and forces with accurate scientific instrumentation. Humboldtian science is founded on a principle of ‘general equilibrium of forces.’ General equilibrium was the idea that there are infinite [[force]]s in nature that are in constant conflict, yet all forces balance each other out. |
| - | Key writers of the [[Dark romanticism|darker strains of Romanticism]] include [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]] in Germany, [[Lord Byron]] in England, [[Edgar Allan Poe]] in the United States and [[Charles Baudelaire]] in France. | ||
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| - | == Characteristics == | ||
| - | In a general sense, Romanticism refers to several groups of [[artists]], [[poets]], [[writers]], and [[musicians]] as well as [[political]], [[philosophical]] and social thinkers and trends of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in [[Europe]]. But a precise characterization and a specific description of Romanticism have been objects of [[intellectual history]] and [[literary history]] for all of the [[twentieth century]] without any great measure of consensus emerging. [[Arthur Lovejoy]] attempted to demonstrate the difficulty of this problem in his seminal article "On The Discrimination of Romanticisms" in his ''Essays in the [[History of ideas|History of Ideas]]'' (1948); some scholars see romanticism as completely continuous with the present, some see it as the inaugural moment of [[modernity]], some see it as the beginning of a tradition of resistance to the Enlightenment, and still others date it firmly in the direct aftermath of the French Revolution. Another definition comes from [[Charles Baudelaire]]: "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a way of feeling." | ||
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| - | Many intellectual historians have seen Romanticism as a key moment in the [[Counter-Enlightenment]], a reaction against the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Whereas the thinkers of the Enlightenment emphasized the primacy of [[deduction|deductive]] [[reason]], Romanticism emphasized [[Intuition (knowledge)|intuition]], [[imagination]], and [[feeling]], to a point that has led to some Romantic thinkers being accused of [[irrationalism]]. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | * [[Dark romanticism]] | + | *[[History of biology]] |
| - | * [[American Romanticism]] | + | *[[History of ecology]] |
| - | * [[French Romanticism]] | + | *[[History of geology]] |
| - | * [[German Romanticism]] | + | *[[Romanticism]] |
| - | * [[Romantic hero]] | + | *[[Romanticism in science]] |
| - | * [[Romantic poetry]] | + | |
| - | * [[Romantic nationalism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Romantic realism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Romantic period in music]] | + | |
| - | * [[Romanticism in science]] | + | |
| - | * [[Neo-romanticism]] | + | |
| - | * [[List of romantics]] | + | |
| - | * [[Folklore]] | + | |
| - | * [[Middle Ages in history]] - Romanticism and images of the [[Middle Ages]] | + | |
| - | *[[War of the Romantics]] | + | |
| - | ===Terms sometimes taken as related=== | + | |
| - | * [[Surrealism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Bohemianism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Humboldtian science|Humboldtian]] | + | |
| - | * [[Nationalism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Gothicism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Expressionism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Sentimentalism]] | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Terms sometimes taken as opposed=== | + | |
| - | * [[Classicism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Academy|The Academy]] | + | |
| - | * [[Utilitarianism]] | + | |
| - | * [[realism (arts)|Realism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Rationalism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Age of Enlightenment|The Enlightenment]] | + | |
| - | * [[Moral objectivism|Objectivism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Positivism]] | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ===Movements associated with Romanticism=== | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | *[[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] | + | |
| - | *[[Sturm und Drang]] | + | |
| - | *[[Hudson River School]] | + | |
| - | *[[Düsseldorf School]] | + | |
| - | *[[Hellenism (neoclassicism)]] | + | |
| - | ===Scholars associated with Romanticism=== | ||
| - | *[[Mario Praz]] | ||
| - | *[[Harold Bloom]] | ||
| - | *[[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] | ||
| - | *[[Rene Wellek]] | ||
| - | *[[William Wordsworth]] | ||
| - | *[[Goethe]] | ||
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Humboldtian science is a term given to the movement in science in the 19th century. The ideals and central themes of Humboldtian science are the result of the work of German scientist Alexander von Humboldt. However, Humboldtian science is a movement and thus is not limited to the work done by Humboldt himself, but refers to many scientists and their works.
Alexander von Humboldt is known for his highly empirical scientific work and his best recognized works are his Personal Narrative and Kosmos. The term Humboldtian science is difficult to define simply, as it incorporates many ideals and concepts. Roughly speaking, Humboldtian science was a shift toward an understanding of the interconnectedness of nature through accurate measurement. One central concept was what Humboldt called ‘terrestrial physics,’ which encompassed an extensive and pervasive study of the earth’s many features and forces with accurate scientific instrumentation. Humboldtian science is founded on a principle of ‘general equilibrium of forces.’ General equilibrium was the idea that there are infinite forces in nature that are in constant conflict, yet all forces balance each other out.
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