Schleiermacher's Revisions to the Second Speech

This paper examines the revisions Schleiermacher made to the Second Speech (“On the Nature of Religion”) in the second edition of the Speeches (1806). I shall focus on his two most important revisions—changes that arguably reshaped his argument. First, Schleiermacher’s use of the terms feeling (Gefühl) and intuition (Anschauung). Historically, it is this issue that has preoccupied scholars for the past two centuries. I shall revisit the issue from a new perspective. Second, Schleiermacher’s reformulation of what can be called The Three: from metaphysics, morality, and religion (1799) to knowing, acting, and feeling (1806). Where the original formulation was simplistically drawn, the new formulation includes a complex, multi-dimensional typology. Moreover, Schleiermacher takes care in his reformulation to explain the interrelations of The Three. These two revisions also lend more coherence to Schleiermacher’s attempt to explain religion as it relates to violence and non-violence.