For centuries, Medieval life in Europe meant a world determined and prescribed by church and royalty. The social sphere was very much a pyramid, and everybody had to answer to and fit within the schemes of those on top. And then, on wings of reason, Modern selves emerged to scrutinize these systems and at great cost swap them for others that more evenly distribute power and authority. Cosmic forces preordained one’s role within a transcendental order…but then, across quick decades of upheaval, philosophy and politics started celebrating self-determination and free will. Art and science blossomed as they wove together. Nothing was ever the same.Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.This week we engage with returning guest, New York Times best-selling author of seven books and SFI Miller Scholar Andrea Wulf, about her latest lovingly-detailed long work, Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and The Invention of The Self. In this episode we explore the conditions for an 18th century revolution in philosophy, science, literature, and lifestyle springing from Jena, Germany. Over just a few years, an extraordinary confluence of history-making figures such as Goethe, Schelling, Schlegel, Hegel, and Novalis helped rewrite what was possible for human thought and action. Admist a landscape of political revolt, this braid of brilliant friends and enemies and lovers altered what it means to be a self and how the modern self relates to everything it isn’t, inspiring later British and American Romantic movements. Arguing for art and the imagination in the work of science and infusing art with reason, Jena’s rebels of the mind lived bold, iconoclastic lives that seem 200 years ahead in retrospect. We stand to learn a great deal from a careful look at Jena and the first Romantics…maybe even how to replicate their great successes and avoid their self-implosion in the face of social turbulence.If you value our research and communication efforts, Please subscribe to Complexity Podcast wherever you prefer to listen, rate and review us at Apple Podcasts, and/or consider making a donation at santafe.edu/podcastgive. You can find numerous other ways to engage with us at santafe.edu/engage — in particular, you may wish to celebrate ten years of free online courses at Complexity Explorer with SFI Professor Cris Moore’s Computation in Complex Systems, starting March 28th. Learn more in the show notes…and thank you for listening!Podcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedIn Related Reading & Listening:Episode 60 - Andrea Wulf on The Invention of Nature, Part 1: Humboldt's NaturegemäldeEpisode 61 - Andrea Wulf on The Invention of Nature, Part 2: Humboldt's Dangerous IdeaThe Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New Worldby Andrea WulfMagnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and The Invention of The Selfby Andrea WulfCommon As Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownershipby Lewis HydeEpisode 37 - The Art & Science of Resilience in the Wake of Trauma with Laurence Gonzales“Nature” (1844)by Ralph Waldo EmersonChopin’s PreludesFinnegans Wakeby James JoyceInterPlanetary Voyager (Interactive Golden Record Liner Notes)by SFI’s InterPlanetary FestivalBlue Planet (BBC)with David Attenborough

Award-winning historian Andrea Wulf, author of 'Magnificent Rebels', dives into the lives of late 18th-century German Romantic thinkers like Goethe and Schiller. She uncovers how their progressive ideas shaped our modern self-obsession and individualism. Explore the vibrant intellectual scene in Jena and how it fostered creativity, as well as the philosophical tensions that influenced romantic relationships. Wulf also connects these historical insights to today's societal challenges, revealing the lasting impact of Enlightenment thinkers on contemporary thought.

Author Andrea Wulf discusses the convergence of arts and sciences, exploring the transition from Enlightenment to Romanticism, the interplay between science and life, and the intertwined relationship between art and science. The dialogue highlights the unity of self and nature, reimagining freedom, and the value of collaborative creativity and connections in fostering innovation.

Andrea Wulf, eine deutsch-britische Historikerin und Autorin, beleuchtet die Ideen der Frühromantiker aus Jena und deren Einfluss auf das Individuum. Sie diskutiert, wie Denker wie Fichte die Selbstverwirklichung prägten und welche Relevanz diese Konzepte heute noch haben. Wulf hebt Caroline Schlegels Rolle als aufklärerische Intellektuelle hervor und analysiert, wie romantische Gedanken in modernen sozialen Herausforderungen, wie der Klimakrise, zum Ausdruck kommen. Ihre Erkenntnisse zeigen auch die kreative Kraft aktuellen Protests.

Andrea Wulf, author and historian, joins Lewis H. Lapham to discuss 'Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self.' They explore the origins of self-centeredness, individual empowerment, and the interplay between individual identity and group membership. They discuss the scandalous personal lives and impact of German Romantics in 18th-century Germany, revealing their contributions to philosophy and shaping modern concepts of identity and free will.