Uncivil Unions: The Metaphysics of Marriage in German Idealism and Romanticism

Description

In this work, Adrian Daub presents an interdisciplinary look at the story of a generation of philosophers, poets, and intellectuals who turned away from theology, reason, common sense, and empirical observation to provide a purely metaphysical justification of marriage. Uncivil unions -- The metaphysics of dignity: marriage in Kant and Fichte -- The politics of the copula: love, marriage, and the question of judgment -- "Marriage is the most exalted secret": Novalis on the metaphysics and semiotics of marriage -- Marriage between chaos and product: Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel -- Marriage and mediation: the product among the idealists -- Marriage interrupted: Sophie Mereau's Blüthenalter der Empfindung -- Transcendental masturbators: Jean Paul's Siebenkäs -- The fate of marital autonomy in the nineteenth century -- Epilogue: marriage after metaphysics.