The Romantic Conception of Life

Robert J. Richards

In this wide-ranging work, Robert J. Richards shows how the Romantic conception of the world influenced (and was influenced by) both the lives of the people who held it and the development of nineteenth-century science. Integrating Romantic literature, science, and philosophy with an intimate knowledge of the individuals involved - from Goethe and the brothers Schlegel to Humboldt and Friedrich and Caroline Schelling - Richards demonstrates how their tempestuous lives shaped their ideas as profoundly as their intellectual and cultural heritage.