Friedrich Schlegel and Plato - Plato and Friedrich Schlegel

The study presents Friedrich Schlegels interpretation of Plato. Schlegel strongly influenced the reception of Plato in German Romanticism. The profound after-effect of this interpretation is undisputed. The essay examines Schlegel's early reading of Plato (I) and shows especially the philological co-operation with Schleiermacher around 1800 (II). It explains the poetical idea of the romantic Plato interpretation (III) and Schlegel's philosophical application of Plato (IV). Schlegel did not modernize Plato inadequately, as Hans Kramer asserts. Schlegel's criticism of contemporary philosophy is motivated by his knowledge of Greek philosophy. In spite of the contrast between form and substance in his interpretation (V), Schlegel established a new paradigm in the explanation of Plato. And he increased contemporary idealism to German romanticism by applying creatively the unfinished Platonic dialectic.