A History of Western Philosophy

The Romantic movement in the arts had a decisive influence on the world of thought, forming its “cultural background.” Romanticism prized feeling and emotion (“sensibility”) in reaction to the previous emphasis on reason that had held sway during the Enlightenment period. Romantic thinkers valued aesthetic instead of utilitarian standards and craved excitement, passion, and adventure instead of safety and convention. The Romantics “aimed at liberating human personality from the fetters of social convention and social morality” (684) in the interests of “self-realization.” Thus, Romanticism became preoccupied with the self and tended to treat reality as a projection of the self (subjectivism)—this shift in focus would have major consequences on philosophical thought.

Although not a philosopher in the conventional sense, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) had “a powerful influence on philosophy, as on literature and taste and manners and politics” and is often considered “the father of the Romantic movement” (684). Rousseau idealized the “natural man” who was free from the refinements of civilization and shunned conventional morality. He derived truths (e.g. the existence of God) not from rational arguments but from human emotions. His liberal political ideas encouraged the French Revolution and led to an idolization of power, nationalism, and the “general will” (or will of the common people) in French political thought.