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Friedrich Hölderlin

1770–1843

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Before every judgment that divides subject from object there is an original unity of being, which only poetry can still approach.

Placement

German Idealism & Its Heirs · Western Europe · Aesthetics, Metaphysics

Poet-philosopher; roommate of Hegel and Schelling in Tübingen. “Judgment and Being” criticizes Fichte.

Key ideas

  • Judgment and Being
  • Poetic dwelling

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Influence

Influenced by 3

  • Plato

    influenced by

    In Hyperion (1797–99) Hölderlin named the beloved after Diotima in Plato’s Symposium and, in a Platonic vein, made beauty the visible sign of the unity of all being. F. Hölderlin, Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland (1797–99); Plato, Symposium

    Evidence: AI draft

    Plato › 428–348 BCE

  • Baruch de Spinoza

    influenced by

    In Tübingen Hölderlin made excerpts from Jacobi’s Letters on Spinoza (c. 1790–91), and ‘hen kai pan’, one and all, became a watchword he shared with Hegel. F. Hölderlin, excerpts from F. H. Jacobi, Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen (c. 1790–91); D. Henrich, Der Grund im Bewußtsein (1992)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Baruch de Spinoza › 1632–1677

  • Immanuel Kant

    influenced by

    Hölderlin studied Kant from his Tübingen years and, writing to his brother (1799), called him ‘the Moses of our nation’, leading it out of Egyptian slackness. F. Hölderlin, letter to his brother Karl Gok, 1 Jan. 1799

    Evidence: AI draft

    Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804

Influenced 4

  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

    influenced

    In Frankfurt (1797–1800) Hegel took up Hölderlin’s philosophy of unification, which shaped his early concepts of love and life, as D. Henrich has argued. D. Henrich, “Hegel und Hölderlin” (1970), in Hegel im Kontext (1971); G. W. F. Hegel, Der Geist des Christentums und sein Schicksal (1798–1800)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

    influenced ✓

    Hölderlin’s share in Schelling’s turn is debated; D. Henrich reads ‘Urtheil und Seyn’ (1795), which puts Being before subject and object, as a step towards Schelling’s identity philosophy. F. Hölderlin, “Urtheil und Seyn” (1795); D. Henrich, Der Grund im Bewußtsein (1992)

    Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata

    Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling › 1775–1854

  • Friedrich Nietzsche

    influenced ✓

    As a pupil at Schulpforta Nietzsche wrote an essay recommending Hölderlin to a friend as his favourite poet (1861), at a time when Hölderlin was little read. F. Nietzsche, “Brief an meinen Freund, in dem ich ihm meinen Lieblingsdichter zum Lesen empfehle” (1861)

    Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata

    Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900

  • Martin Heidegger

    influenced

    Beginning with lectures on ‘Germanien’ and ‘Der Rhein’ (1934–35), Heidegger read Hölderlin as the poet of poetry’s essence and of the gods’ absence (Erläuterungen zu Hölderlins Dichtung, 1944). M. Heidegger, Hölderlins Hymnen “Germanien” und “Der Rhein” (lectures 1934–35; publ. 1980); “Hölderlin und das Wesen der Dichtung” (1936); Erläuterungen zu Hölderlins Dichtung (1944)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976

Criticism

Criticizes 1

  • Johann Gottlieb Fichte influenced by

    influenced by

    Hölderlin heard Fichte’s lectures in Jena in the winter of 1794–95 and studied the Wissenschaftslehre closely; his own philosophical sketches start from its problem of the absolute I. J. G. Fichte, Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre (1794); F. Hölderlin, letters from Jena (1794–95); D. Henrich, Der Grund im Bewußtsein (1992)

    Evidence: AI draft

    criticised

    Hölderlin objected that Fichte’s absolute I, lacking any object, could have no consciousness, and placed Being before the division of subject and object (‘Urtheil und Seyn’, 1795). F. Hölderlin, “Urtheil und Seyn” (1795); letter to Hegel, 26 Jan. 1795; D. Henrich, Der Grund im Bewußtsein (1992)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Johann Gottlieb Fichte › 1762–1814

Works

  • c. 1795Judgment and Being

    Being lies prior to any separation of subject and object – against Fichte's I.

Position

Though best known as a poet, Hölderlin made a decisive philosophical move in his short fragment “Judgment and Being”. Against Fichte he argued that the self-conscious “I” cannot be the first principle, since self-consciousness already splits subject and object. Before every such division lies “Being” as an original unity, which we can never grasp in a judgment but only intimate – above all in poetry and beauty. This idea fed into Schelling’s and Hegel’s turn beyond Fichte. His late hymns, with their meditation on the absence of the gods and on “dwelling poetically”, later became central for Heidegger.

Life & context

Hölderlin studied theology at the Tübingen seminary, sharing a room and ideas with Hegel and Schelling, and heard Fichte in Jena. He earned his living as a private tutor; in Frankfurt his love for Susette Gontard became the “Diotima” of his work. From 1806 he lived, mentally ill, for 36 years in a tower room in Tübingen in the care of a carpenter’s family.

Further main works

  • Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece (1797–1799)
  • The Death of Empedocles, fragments (1797–1800)
  • Late hymns, e.g. “Patmos” (1803)

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made

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