The Early American Reception of German Idealism

Many people say that mid 19th-century American philosophy was home-grown and uninfluenced by European ideas. But in fact there was an active group of American writers of the period whose outlook was cosmopolitan. They were well aware of the philosophical revolution that had occurred in German Idealism around 1800, and they sought to transplant it on to American soil. In time, Idealism would become an important force in American philosophy, but the writings of these early pioneers have been largely forgotten. Thoemmes Press presents a collection of five of the most interesting and influential of their books. The set opens with Frederich A. Rauch's "Psychology" (1841) which was the first statement of Hegelian psychology in the English language. Volume 2 is "The Remains of the Rev. James Marsh" (1843), a work that sparked the New England Transcendentalists' interest in German philosophy, and was studied by the young John Dewey. Next comes Frederic H. Hedge's "Prose Writers of Germany" (1847), a book that introduced many Americans to German Idealism, including H.C. Brokmeyer of the St Louis School. Volume 4 is Laurens P.
Hickok's massive "Rational Psychology" (1849) in which he presented the first study of Kantian philosophy of mind to the New World. The final volume is Charles C. Everett's "The Science of Thought" (1869) - the earliest attempt to articulate Hegelian logic outside Europe. Despite their large influence, these books have all become extremely rare, and historians of American thought should be pleased to have them accessible at last, enhanced by James A. Good's introductions.