Historießlosoß og antropologi. - Poul Behrendt: Viljens former

Resumé

Historical philosophy and anthropology: on Poul Behrendt’s “Types o f Will” - Augustine - Goethe - Grundtvig

Reviewed by Mogens Bj erring-Hansen

Poul Behrendt’s book is of a philosophical and psychological nature, and belongs within the neo-humanist and existential tradition in Danish criticism. It consists of theoretical essays (on existential historical philosophy) and analyses of Augustine’s Confessions, Goethe’s study of botany and Grundtvig’s Nyaars-Morgen (New Year’s Morning) with regard both to their literary quality and to their position in the history of ideas. The starting-point of the book and its main attack is on the divided, super-intellectual, and ahistorical “type of consciousness” in our time, but on the basis of the author’s own anthropological study of historical philosophy a review is undertaken of the major stages in European history of “types of consciousness”. With Augustine comes a liberation from mythical thought, and at the same time the germ of modern individualism and intellectualism is formed. In Goethe and Grundtvig, however, a type of consciousness is reached that goes beyond Augustine, one which is characterised by unity and fullness. In the case of Grundtvig it is, according to Behrendt, his own personal memory and his “historical method” that provide him with the solution: self-realisation and a close connection with one’s surroundings. This reveals itself in Nyaars-Morgen.