Karl von Eckartshausen’s Kantian Theosophy

Abstract

Karl von Eckartshausen (1752–1803) is usually remembered for his short book on Christian mysticism— The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary (1802)—that inspired many later esoteric thinkers in Britain and the continent. Although mostly known during his lifetime as a popular Catholic author, Eckartshausen was also discussed by his German Romantic contemporaries—including Hamann, Novalis, Goethe, and Schiller—notably earning Herder’s admiration. Eckartshausen also formatively influenced Franz von Baader, who shared his affinity for Martinist theosophy and helped transmit Jakob Böhme’s mysticism to Hegel and Schelling. This article situates Eckartshausen within the history of philosophy by examining his original theosophical reception of Kant’s idealism, and more provisionally, by relating his ideas to post-Kantian thought. Discussion centers on Eckartshausen’s Neopythagorean “number-theory” and his notion of a latent “spiritual sensorium” that opens with the moral “regeneration” of the will and enables intuition of things-in-themselves.