Overview

Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities-both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alexander Mathäs
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
Volume:   22
ISBN:  

9781836950745

ISBN 10:   1836950748
Pages:   314
Publication Date:   01 September 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. Signs and Wonders: The Humanist Pedagogy of Eighteenth-Century Universal Histories of Mankind Chapter 2. Religion, Anthropology, and the Mission of Literature in Schiller’s Universalgeschichte Chapter 3. The Sublime as an Objectivist Strategy Chapter 4. The Importance of Herder’s Humanism and the Posthumanist Challenge Chapter 5. Humanist Antinomies: Goethe’s Iphigenie auf Tauris and Torquato Tasso Chapter 6. Incorporating Change: The Role of Science in Goethe’s and Carl Gustav Carus’s Humanist Aesthetics Chapter 7. Karl Marx’s and Ludwig Feuerbach’s Materialism in Gottfried Keller’s ""Kleider Machen Leute"" Chapter 8. The End of Pathos and of Humanist Illusions: Schiller and Schnitzler Chapter 9. Blurring the Human/Animal Boundary: Hofmannsthal’s Andreas Chapter 10. Humanism and Ideology: Thomas Mann’s Writings (1914–30) Chapter 11. Between Humanism and Posthumanism: Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf Conclusion Works Cited Index

Reviews

“Beyond Posthumanism is a timely intervention into a high-stakes debate on the value of humanist education today. The book situates this debate in a wider historical framework, thereby demonstrating the often overlooked complexity of humanistic concepts. Highlighting literature's unique ability to serve as a meta-sphere for reflection, this is a comprehensive and thoughtful consideration of one of the great questions of contemporary education.” • Christine Lehleiter, University of Toronto

""Beyond Posthumanism is a timely intervention into a high-stakes debate on the value of humanist education today. The book situates this debate in a wider historical framework, thereby demonstrating the often overlooked complexity of humanistic concepts. Highlighting literature's unique ability to serve as a meta-sphere for reflection, this is a comprehensive and thoughtful consideration of one of the great questions of contemporary education."" - Christine Lehleiter, University of Toronto

Author Information

Alexander Mathäs is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Oregon.

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