The Magus of the North: J.G. Hamann & the Origins of Modern Irrationalism

Sir Isaiah Berlin here explores the world & the ideas of a man he calls the Enlightenment's "most passionate, consistent, extreme, & implacable enemy," a philosopher whom he considers perhaps the only "wholly original critic of modern times." J.G. Hamann was an eccentric Prussian thinker of the 18th century whose peculiar & difficult work was cherished by Kant, Goethe & other luminaries, yet to the 20th century this self-styled Magus of the North is all but unknown. With his customary eloquence & insight, Berlin penetrates to the heart of Hamann's concerns & shows how important they are to modern life--ideas about creativity, the nature of language & thought, human knowledge, secular & spiritual authority. Tho Hamann opposed the values we think of as modern--rationalist, secular individualism--& he lived his life in poverty & neglect, his visionary pietism & skeptical empiricism, Berlin argues--his genius--deserve attention & respect.