The contributors to this new philosophical and historical examination of Vico, Herder, Schiller, and Goethe are Karl J. Fink (University of Kentucky), James W. Marchand (University of Illinois), Harry Ritter (Western Washington University), K. Michael Seibt (Brigham Young University), and David R. Stevenson (Kearney State College). Their essays and commentary address the question why this generation represented by its great minds suddenly discovered science—a question posed previously but only tentatively explored.
Taken together, the essayists reveal significant new insights into the roles of language, imagination, intuition, empathy, modes of perception, and individualism in scientific creativity and provide important new contributions to the history of arts and sciences.
Karl J. Fink is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Kentucky.
James W. Marchand is Professor of German and of the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Illinois.