Human Nature, Cosmic Evolution and Modernity in Holderlin (German Poet Friedrich Holderlin‪)‬

Abstract: The German Romantic Friedrich Holderlin developed a unique perspective on the relationship between humankind and the rest of nature. He believed that humanity has a positive role to play in cosmic evolution, and that modernity is the crucial stage in fulfilling this role. In this paper I will be arguing for a reinterpretation of his ideas regarding the position of humankind in cosmic evolution, and for an application of these ideas to the 'environmental crisis' of modernity. This reinterpretation is significant because it entails an inversion of the conventional notion of causality in the 'environmental crisis'; instead of humans 'harming' nature, in the reinterpretation it is nature that causes human suffering. Keywords: Human Nature, Organismic Evolution, Fate, Culture, Technology, Modernity, Environmental Crisis, Human Suffering, Anthropocentricism.