David W. Wood

The following is a series of notebook entries from 1798-1800 containing the reflections of the romantic poet-philosopher Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis) on pure and applied mathematics. Although this selection is not exhaustive, it does try to collect together for the first time into English Novalis’s most significant mathematical fragments. There has always been a fascination about Novalis’s thoughts on mathematics. This is partly due to the fact that his most well-known definition of romanticizing is based on a mathematical operation – that of exponentiation, or raising an element to a higher power. Hence, to know more about Novalis’s views on mathematics is to better understand his conception of romanticizing.

For this special issue of the journal SYMPHILOSOPHIE on Romanticism and its Kantian Legacy, the following pages provide a brief sample in English of some of Novalis’s principal references to the critical philosopher Kant. They are presented in four small groups: I. Diaries and Letters II. Fragments III. Kant Studies IV. Romantic Encyclopaedia Naturally, this selection is not exhaustive. It includes some lesser-known and previously untranslated passages and fragments. The origins of the German source texts are indicated in the footnotes.

The following is a brief selection of miscellaneous excerpts drawn from Goethe's oeuvre that have been assembled together under the title "On Mathematical Thinking." The original German sources for this English translation are signaled in the footnotes. There exist a number of informative studies on Goethe and mathematics. However, it is not as well-known as it should be, even among scholars of Goethe's natural scientific writings, that his main scientific work is grounded in a qualitative form of mathematical thinking in the axiomatic Euclidean tradition. Goethe presents and defends this deductive method especially in his essay "The Experiment as Mediator between Subject and Object." The idea of qualitative mathematical thinking and proceeding is repeatedly touched upon in many of the excerpts.

FIICHTEANA 25 (2025) is now published. This issue is dedicated to the memory of our friend and colleague Kienhow Goh. It contains remembrances, two conference reports, and reviews of nine books – three of new editions of Fichte’s works, and six of recent studies. The Bulletin includes brief overviews of the different Fichte societies from around the globe, a bibliography of newly published works, as well as information on conferences, CFPs, translations in progress, and doctoral dissertations defended on Fichte.

This second issue of SYMPHILOSOPHIE is devoted to the women writers of philosophical romanticism. This issue also contains an 80 page translation anthology of texts by Rahel Varnhagen, Sophie Mereau, Caroline Michaelis-Schlegel, Dorothea Veit-Schlegel, Karoline von Günderrode and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim. In addition, there are miscellaneous articles, review essays, book reviews, and a notices section with the latest publications, conferences and calls for papers for events relating to German romantic philosophy.

The main claim in this essay is that there is another vital but overlooked religious meaning and tradition of Tathandlung with which the idealistic philosopher J.G. Fichte engages, in addition to the legalistic tradition of Tathandlung that so far has been the sole tradition noted in Fichte scholarship. Crucially, it is precisely this other neglected religious tradition that especially becomes philosophically transformed by Fichte in his central work of the Jena period, the Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre (Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre) (1794/95). The key elements of this essay on the historical origins of J.G. Fichte’s concept and philosophical use of the term “Tathandlung” were first presented in a talk on 28 April 2018 at an international Fichte conference at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven, Belgium. And then again in a talk on 5 October 2018, at Aix-Marseille Université, France, at the 10th Congress of the International Johann Gottlieb Fichte Society (X. Kongress der Internationalen Johann-Gottlieb-Fichte Gesellschaft).

FICHTEANA: Review of J.G. Fichte Research 24 (2024) is now published. It contains a report of the 2024 London conference of the North American Fichte Society, and ten book reviews in English of recent publications on Johann Gottlieb Fichte and the Wissenschaftslehre, as well as a Bulletin with information about Fichte societies around the globe, and the latest Fichte editions, books, publications, CFPs, and conferences. Originally founded by Daniel Breazeale in 1993, since issue 22 (2022), FICHTEANA has appeared in an expanded form with book reviews. Editor: David W. Wood; with associate editors Kienhow Goh and Gesa Wellmann.