Romanticism and metaphysical idealism had elevated art to such a fantastic height among the clouds that at last they were obliged to admit that it was so far away as to be absolutely useless.
[1] _Vorles. über die Ästhetik_ (2nd ed., Berlin, 1842), vol. i. p. 78.
[2] Sommer, _Gesch. d. Psych. u. Ästh._ pp. 365-432.
[4] _Briefe ü. d. Ästh. Erzieh._ (in Werke, ed. Goedecke), Letters 15, 27.
[11] _Vorschule der Ästh.,_ 1804 (French trans., _Poétique ou introduction à l'Esth.,_ Paris, 1862), preface.
[13] _Grundl. der Wissenschaftslehre,_ in _Werke_ (Berlin, 1845), vol. i. pp. 214-217.
[14] Danzel, _Ges. Aufs._ pp. 25-30; Zimmermann, _G. d. A._ pp. 522-572.
[15] Hegel, _Vorles. üb. d. Ästh._ introd. vol. i. pp. 82-88.
[16] _Vorles. üb. d. Methode d. akadem. Stud._ (1803), lecture 14; in _Werke_ (Stuttgart, 1856-1861), vol. v, pp. 346-347.
[17] _Üb. d. Verhältniss d. bild. Künste, z. d. Natur_ in _Werke,_ vol. vii. pp. 299-310.
[18] _Philos, d. Kunst,_ posthumous, introd. in _Werke,_ v. p. 362.
[19] _System d. transcend. Idealismus,_ in _Werke,_ § i. vol. iii. introd. § 3, p. 349.
[21] _System d. transcend. Idealismus,_ in _Werke,_ part vi. § 3, p. 627.
[33] _Vorles. üb. Ästhetik_, Heyse, Leipzig, 1829, pp. 35-43.
[36] _Encykl. d. phil. Wiss._ §§ 557-563.
[37] _Vorles. üb. Ästh._ (_ed. cit._) i. p. 118.
[44] Danzel, _Ästh. d. hegel. Sch._ p. 62; Zimmermann, _G. d. A._ pp. 693-697; J. Schmidt, _L. u. B._ pp. 103-105; Spitzer, _Krit. St._ p. 48.
[45] Fr. Ast, _System der Kunstlehre,_ Leipzig, 1805; cf. Spitzer, _op. cit._ p. 48.
[46] _System d. transcend. Idealismus_ (1800), part vi. § 2; in _Werke,_ § I, vol. iii. pp. 622-623.
[47] _Vorles. üb. d. Ästh._ i. pp. 66-67.
[50] _Vorles. üb. d. Ästh._ i. pp. 13-16.
[Sidenote: _Æsthetic mysticism in the opponents of Idealism._]
Nothing, perhaps, shows more clearly how well this imaginative conception of art suited the spirit of the times (not only a particular fashion in philosophy, but the psychological conditions expressed by the Romantic movement) than the fact that the adversaries of the systems of Schelling, Solger and Hegel either agreed with this conception in general or, while believing themselves to be departing widely from it, actually returned to it involuntarily.