Stephens' life

Stephens, one of the first-class engines of science in Germany, is especially famous as a literary philosopher. A friend of Schelling, at first his original follower, then the original creator of his own movement, he did not form, however, any special school, did not compile any systematic teaching; but it had a strong and exciting effect on all schools, on all systems, on all opinions and parties. Therefore, the traces of his influence on anthropology, geology, botany, physics, zoology and almost all natural sciences, but especially philosophy, were not so noticeable as significant. But if his views always had a life-giving effect on German wisdom, despite the disagreement of his aspirations with the hitherto dominant direction of rationalism, then in our time, it seems, he is destined to receive even more special meaning and significance from the coincidence of his demands with the real requirement of philosophy. The nature of his thinking lies in the continuous striving from the abstract concept to the living concept, and from living being to rational consciousness. He was constantly looking for that intangible feature where science and faith merge into one living understanding, where life and thought are one, where the highest, most intimate demands of the spirit find themselves not an abstract formula, but an answer clear to the heart. He was born for this aspiration: in him all the movements of the mind, every fluctuation of the mind, every flutter of thought, involuntarily turned into a musical vibration of the soul; numbers turned into sounds, abstract formulas into living views. He experienced everything to satisfy his deep need - to recognize the living truth: he not only studied, but experienced all philosophical systems, tried on himself various forms of Western belief, becoming a Catholic from a Protestant, and then moving from a Catholic to a Protestant again. His life, written by himself, entitled: Was ich erlebte, and not yet brought to the present moment, is one of the most remarkable books of modern literature. It combines the entertaining nature of a psychological novel with the interest of reality and the significance of a philosophical view. It is filled with the most vivid stories along with the deepest thoughts, presented with fascinating and poetic clarity. External and internal events of his own life merge in it with the entire history of his time, variously mixed with picturesque descriptions of nature, with private anecdotes, with witty characteristics and deep remarks. After the confessions of Rousseau, the notes of Las Casas, the memoirs of Byron and Goethe, Stephens' life will remain as a necessary complement to the characterization of our time: a window on the inner development of the philosopher. The volume of this work makes a complete translation impossible for the journal. We offer here excerpts, releasing everything that relates to the sciences, to the description of lands and cities, to little-known scientific personalities, but preserving what concerns the author’s own development, along with his description of the most famous people and trends in Germany, and even passing on anecdotes and small remarks, where it seemed to us that they were not without interest. You might be interested in: