Biography and psychological romance: Herder, Moritz and the expression of sensitivity

• Grant number: 17/18147-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: December 01, 2017
• End date: March 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Oliver Tolle
• Grantee: Oliver Tolle
• Host Investigator: Martin Disselkamp
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to show how the foundation of sensitive knowledge and criticism of abstraction led Herder to consider the literary genre of biography, perhaps even more than poetry, as a discourse appropriate to modern man, serving as a guide in the return to its interiority, that is, to the bodily root of its sensations, passions and feelings. For if Homeric poetry was the expression of the concrete knowledge of the world experienced by the Greek man and spoke directly to his soul, the individual corrupted by the emptiness of metaphysical-scholastic discussions would first of all have to learn to remake the connections between his thoughts and sensations. It is in this same context that Moritz conceives his psychological novel Anton Reiser, partly autobiographical but also model of a new way of artistic production, more in accordance with the needs of his time, believing that once a large number of Reports of personal experiences, men can find a safe way to a harmonious life. (AU)