- Reaction against a scientific, mechanistic view of life
- A return to subjectivity and spontaneity
- Emotions & feelings more important than logic & reasoning
- A renewed interest in Nativism
- Glorification of children and "primitive" peoples
- Nature was to be appreciated - not probed and picked apart
- VERY strong influence in poetry, music, art, literature
- Some famous Romantics include:
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
- Stressed freedom of choice & importance of creating meaning in one's own life
- Stressed the uniqueness of each individual
- Would later become very influential in clinical and humanistic psychology
- Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) (Later Existentialists include Camus, Sartre, Doestoevsky)