ROSENKRANZ, JOHANN KARL FRIEDRICH. – German philosopher and historian of literature, born 23 April 1805 in Magdeburg, died 14 June 1879 in Königsberg. He studied in Berlin, Halle, and Heidelberg. From 1828 he taught at the University of Halle and then, in 1833, succeeded J. Fr. Herbart (v.) at the University of Königsberg. For one year (1848) he was an official of the Ministry of Worship in Berlin.
R. was the most active representative of the middle tendency among the divergent trends of the continuators of Hegelian philosophy. While retaining its fundamental conception, he modified the structure of the system by separating logic and metaphysics from the theory of ideas. For him, the absolute principle is idea (v.), the primordial unity of thought and reality, which produces the fullness of its material determinations by unfolding itself in the realm of nature and spirit. R. also developed aesthetics (v.) in a highly personal manner. Of particular interest is his attempt to interpret the history of poetry within the framework of a philosophy of spirit.
Principal works: Handbuch einer allgemeinen Geschichte der Poesie (Halle 1832–33; Italian translation by F. De Sanctis, Naples 1853); Psychologie (Königsberg 1837; 3rd ed. 1863); Hegels Leben (Berlin 1844); Wissenschaft der logischen Idee (Königsberg 1858–59); Hegels Naturphilos. u. ihre Erläuterung durch den ital. Philosophen A. Vera (Berlin 1868); Ästhetik des Hässlichen (Königsberg 1853); Hegel als deutscher Nationalphilosoph (Leipzig 1870).