Danish Golden Age Studies – serie

This is the third volume of a three-volume work dedicated to exploring the influence of G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical thinking in Golden Age Denmark. The work demonstrates that the largely overlooked tradition of Danish Hegelianism played a profound and indeed constitutive role in many spheres of the Golden Age culture.This third tome covers the most exciting and dynamic time in the Danish Hegel reception from 1842 to 1855. This heterogeneous period saw the emergence of several new figures, many of whom were associated with the left-Hegelian school. This period is best known for the publication of the pseudonymous works of Søren Kierkegaard. The present tome places these famous works in the context of other contemporary Danish discussions about Hegel’s philosophy. It shows that many of Kierkegaard’s criticisms had been raised by other Danish thinkers before him and that a large part of his polemical campaign was aimed at the leading figures of the previous periods of the Danish Hegel reception, namely, Johan Ludvig Heiberg and Hans Martensen.

Poul Martin Møller (1794–1838) was a well-known figure in Golden Age Denmark, and his versatile intelligence was acknowledged by his contemporaries. Møller was a philologist, novelist, poet, theologian and philosopher, and his work included poems, translations, philosophical essays, aphorisms, reviews, and the fragment of a novel. His sudden death in 1838 interrupted what could have been a brilliant intellectual career. This anthology offers a series of articles written by leading scholars specialized in the Danish Golden Age; the aim is to shed light on different aspects of Møller’s thought and to show how his ideas may still be relevant to us.