Schleiermacher’s Soliloquies (Monologen) were written a few months after the Speeches on Religion, his best known work, and the two supplement each other. In Germany the Soliloquies have been, like Fichte’s Vocation of Man which bears the same date, one of the few original expressions of philosophic idealism to become a popular classic. The text appeared in four editions during Schleiermacher’s life, in 1800, 1810, 1822, and 1829. Thereafter it was republished in 1836, in 1843, 1846, 1848, 1853, 1860, in 1866 by two different publishers, again in 1869, and in 1870. Since then it has been incorporated as a German classic in various libraries such as Reclams Universalbibliothek and Hendels Bibliothek der Gesamtliteratur also in Meyers Volksbücher. In 1902 Friedrich Michael Schiele of Marburg University published a critical edition, which has been several times reprinted, and is by far the most useful edition for scholars. This is the edition used in making the present translation. A French translation was printed in 1837 and republished in 1864, but until now no English translation has appeared.
In making his critical edition Schiele used the original version of 1800 for the main body of his text, and I have followed him in this respect. In footnotes he put the numerous changes made by Schleiermacher in the second and third editions, 1810 and 1822 respectively. The greater number of these changes are purely stylistic, but there are some important revisions of the thought also. I have not translated those footnotes of Schiele’s which contain the purely stylistic changes, since these can be of interest only to a reader of German, but I have included in notes of my own all the material changes. (See pp. 104-112.)
Most of the English literature on Schleiermacher has been concerned primarily with his work as a theologian. The philosophical current underlying this work has scarcely been tapped. In my Introduction I have tried to characterize the romantic spirituality of the Soliloquies, to show its origins in the growth of our culture and its relations to modern religious currents. This theme seems to me to be the most significant one in the first half of Schleiermacher’s life, that is from 1768-1800.
The second half of his life, from 1800-1834, is another story, and one that I have not attempted to tell on the same scale, partly because it is so different a story as to require another book, and still more because the materials for it have not yet been adequately sifted by those who know the sources to make its general significance accessible. The materials themselves, i. e., the systematic philosophical works of Schleiermacher’s later years, in the present state of their editing and interpretation are of interest to the special student only. For the use of such special students, who can not read German, I have added an appendix, giving a brief account of the dialectical development of Schleiermacher’s philosophy, especially in his later years. (See pp. 113ff.)
Professor John J. Coss of Columbia University, who first suggested to me that a translation of the Monologen would be desirable, has faithfully sponsored the project with constructive suggestions throughout. In the course of my work I have also come into closer touch with the thought of three teachers, John Dewey, F. J. E. Woodbridge, and Felix Adler, to whom I am indebted for fundamental ideas of great value, not only for my immediate purpose, but far beyond it. Dr. Adler has taken an especially helpful interest in the translation. My friends, James Gutmann and J. H. Randall, Jr., have given no end of encouragement and help to the last detail. Finally, I wish to acknowledge some special points of advice and criticism given by Professor J. Bauer of Heidelberg and Dr. A. C. McGiffert of Union Theological Seminary. To each and all of these I extend warm thanks.
Horace L. Friess.
Columbia University, May, 1926.