Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Sensibility
(1,501 words)

1. Definition

Sensibility is an historico-cultural phenomenon of the second half of the 18th century, in which a literary movement coincided with a historical mentality. In the 1740s, the terms sentimental and sensibility (French sensible/sensibilité, German empfindsam/Empfindsamkeit) began to appear in philosophical and literary texts [4. 11–20]. At the suggestion of Gotthold E. Lessing, Johann J.C. Bode translated Lauren…

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Huber, Martin, “Sensibility”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 29 September 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_018736>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20210601



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