Humanistic Values in German Idealism

The tradition of German Idealism was one of the most fertile periods of philosophical activity in Europe. It emerged within the last decade of the eighteenth century in response to the extraordinary advance that Kant’s critical philosophy seemed to promise the human sciences, and lasted well into the mid- nineteenth century. In retrospect, it could be perceived to mark the ultimate development and flourishing of the ideals of the European Enlightenment. Inspired by the earlier revolution within the empirical sciences and Kant’s promise of a similar revolution within the metaphysical sciences, the German Idealists were motivated by unfailing optimism about the power of human reason to resolve not only theoretical questions concerning the nature of the cosmos and the human being’s place within it, but also all practical questions concerning our ethical obligations.