Krausism is a

doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...

named after the German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1832) that advocates doctrinal

tolerance Tolerance or toleration is the state of tolerating, or putting up with, conditionally. Economics, business, and politics * Toleration Party, a historic political party active in Connecticut * Tolerant Systems, the former name of Veritas Software ...

and

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...

from

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

. One of the

philosophers of identity In philosophy, identity (from , "sameness") is the relation each thing bears only to itself. The notion of identity gives rise to many philosophical problems, including the identity of indiscernibles (if ''x'' and ''y'' share all their propertie ...

, Krause endeavoured to reconcile the ideas of a

monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxfor ...

singular God (as understood by

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

) with a pantheistic or

empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...

understanding of the world. According to Krause,

divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

, which is intuitively known by

conscience Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...

, is not a personality (because personality implies limitations), but an all-inclusive essence (''Wesen''), which contains the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...

within itself. This cosmology and theory of the nature of God, known as

panentheism Panentheism ("all in God", from the Greek grc, πᾶν, pân, all, label=none, grc, ἐν, en, in, label=none and grc, Θεός, Theós, God, label=none) is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends be ...

, is a combination of

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxfo ...

and

pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...

. Krause's theory of the world and of humanity is a form of philosophical idealism.

Spanish Krausism

Krausism was widespread in

Restoration Spain The Restoration ( es, link=no, Restauración), or Bourbon Restoration (Spanish: ''Restauración borbónica''), is the name given to the period that began on 29 December 1874—after a coup d'état by General Arsenio Martínez Campos ended the F ...

, where it reached its maximum practical development, thanks to the work of its promoter, Julián Sanz del Rio (1814-1869), the Free Institution of Education led by

Francisco Giner de los Ríos Francisco Giner de los Ríos (10 October 1839 in Ronda, Spain – 18 February 1915 in Madrid) was a philosopher, educator and one of the most influential Spanish intellectuals at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Bio ...

(1839-1915), and the contributions of the jurist Federico de Castro y Fernández. Spanish Krausism was a cultural movement that was rooted in the publication in the 19th-century of Krause's voluminous writings. Krause's philosophy, which was a version of idealism, had largely been eclipsed in his own country (Germany) by the prestige of idealism's leading figures: Fichte, Schelling and especially

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

. Around 1840, a group of Spanish

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

s, notably Julián Sanz del Río, were seeking a political doctrine within the liberal tradition, in order to initiate a regenerative process that they felt was necessary to modify and extend the philosophical concepts then in vogue. At about the same time, Ruperto Navarro Zamorano (1813-1855) - a member of the Friends of Sanz del Rio - had just translated (in 1841) a work by

Heinrich Ahrens Julius Heinrich Ahrens (14 July 1808 – 2 August 1874) was a German philosopher and jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly ...

(1808-1874) titled ''Cours de droit naturel ou de philosophie du droit'' (Paris, 1837) (''Course in Natural Law, or Philosophy of Law''). Ahrens was one of the principal disciples of Krause. In this work, Ahrens affirmed that the foundation of law is "compliance": the set of external conditions upon which the fate of the rational man and

humanity Humanity most commonly refers to: * Humankind the total population of humans * Humanity (virtue) Humanity may also refer to: Literature * ''Humanity'' (journal), an academic journal that focuses on human rights * ''Humanity: A Moral History of t ...

could be developed, systematically, as a universal order of piety, devotion, and

altruism Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a cor ...

. The essence of Ahrens' philosophy of law can be summarized in the phrase "harmonious rationalism", a concept which was the main theme of a work by Krause titled ''The Ideal of Humanity and Universal Federation'' (1811).

Latin American Krausism

Latin Americans came into contact with Krause's doctrines mostly through studying or going into exile in Spain. The most outstanding case was that of

Eugenio María de Hostos Eugenio María de Hostos (January 11, 1839 – August 11, 1903), known as "''El Gran Ciudadano de las Américas''" ("The Great Citizen of the Americas"), was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, novelist, an ...

, a Puerto Rican who studied philosophy with Sanz del Rio at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

. De Hostos' novel ''The Inner Pilgrimage of Eugenio Mara de Hostos as Seen Through Bayón'' is a romantic novel in the form of a diary, outlining his dream of a unified social philosophy. De Hostos supports the liberation of women, not as a human right. but rather as a practical mechanism for the greater good of the community and for social organization.

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

, the Cuban writer and national hero, suffered political imprisonment with forced labor, but escaped prison for exile in Spain. There he wrote letters against the transatlantic military brutality of the colonial regime. He also studied law, where he encountered the philosophy and doctrines of Krause. These two proponents of Krausism, Martí and De Hostos, although having very different personal emphases and agendas, greatly furthered the propagation of Krausism, according to which individuals must take personal responsibility to act for the betterment of society. The writings and activities of Marti and De Hostos contributed to the emergence of a movement known as "Anti-Imperialist Nationalism". This movement, which later was promoted and continued by Dr. Rafael Cuevas Molina (born 1954), began with the rebellion of Augusto César Sandino (1895-1934) against the United States' occupation of Nicaragua. De Hostos and Martí became heroes and allies in their anti-colonial struggle for the independence of both

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

from Spain. Both men were initiated into

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, thus confirming the influence of Freemasonry in the promotion of Krausism, and vice versa. These links promoted a kind of social network that supported the migration of Krausist liberal educators, who reached out to Latin America's liberal leaders who were seeking autonomy from colonial Spain. Later proponents of Krausism included

Hipólito Yrigoyen Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (; 12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second ...

, José Batlle y Ordóñez,

Alfonso Reyes Alfonso Reyes Ochoa (17 May 1889 in Monterrey, Nuevo León – 27 December 1959 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and has been acclaimed as one of t ...

, Jose Enrique Rodo, Alejandro Deustua, Arturo Umberto Illia and

Alejandro Korn Alejandro Korn (3 May 1860 – 9 October 1936) was an Argentine psychiatrist, philosopher, reformist and politician. For eighteen years, he was the director of the psychiatry hospital in Melchor Romero (a locality of La Plata in Buenos Aires). H ...

. Reyes, for example, gave lectures at the

Residencia de Estudiantes The Residencia de Estudiantes, literally the "Student Residence", is a centre of Spanish cultural life in Madrid. The Residence was founded to provide accommodation for students along the lines of classic colleges at Bologna, Salamanca, Cambridge ...

in Madrid, whilst Rodo promoted aesthetic concerns through Krausism in his extensive correspondence with Leopoldo Alas.

Spanish Krausism

Latin American Krausism

References

Further reading