St. Louis Hegelians facts for kids
The St. Louis Hegelians were a special group of thinkers who lived in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1860s. They were very interested in ideas from Germany, especially something called German Idealism and the philosophy of Hegelianism. Think of them as a club of smart people who loved to discuss deep ideas!
Two of the main leaders of this group were William Torrey Harris and Henry Conrad Brokmeyer. They even started their own magazine called the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, which was published from 1867 to 1893. This magazine was a place for them to share their thoughts and essays. For example, a famous thinker named Josiah Royce wrote an early essay about Friedrich Schiller for it. Other important members of the St. Louis Hegelians included William McKendree Bryant and Thomas Davidson.
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Understanding the St. Louis Hegelians
The St. Louis Hegelians were a unique group in American history. They took complex ideas from German philosophy and tried to make sense of them in their own way. They believed that understanding these ideas could help people understand themselves and society better.
What is German Idealism?
German Idealism was a big movement in philosophy that started in Germany. It focused on the idea that our minds and thoughts play a huge role in how we see and understand the world. It's like saying that what you think and believe shapes your reality.
What is Hegelianism?
Hegelianism comes from the ideas of a German philosopher named Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. He had a very detailed way of looking at how ideas develop over time. He believed that everything, from history to art, moves forward through a process of opposing ideas clashing and then combining into something new. The St. Louis Hegelians were fascinated by this way of thinking.
Views on Transcendentalism
The St. Louis Hegelians lived at the same time as another important American philosophy movement called Transcendentalism. Even though they were influenced by these American Transcendentalists, the St. Louis Hegelians had some different ideas.
Why They Disagreed with Transcendentalism
In an essay called The Speculative, Harris wrote about his thoughts on Transcendentalism. He felt that Transcendentalists focused too much on just one person's ideas and feelings. He believed they missed an important part of how people connect with each other in society. Harris thought that people are not just individuals, but also part of a bigger group, and that our connections with others are very important. He called this the "negative" element of a person's "interrelatedness with other individuals."
