Many years ago, I chanced upon an extremely old, brief short story, which was called “WHY THE PHILOSOPHER’S LETTER WAS NOT MAILED”. It relates an incident during the Napoleonic wars, when Napoleon invaded the university town in which the philosopher G.W.F. Hegle was living. Supposedly, Hegel saw the emperor and was so moved that he bowed deeply.
Is this true? Did the famous philiosopher ever meet Napoleon?
And, does anybody know the date and author of the story?
I suppose Hegel would have liked Napoleon-he embodoed many of the characteristics that Hegel liked.
Anybody know?
It’s a reference to Hegel having seen Napoleon enter Jena in triumph in October 1806, as recorded in a letter he wrote the same day:
This page quotes it in the original German.
No idea what the short story might be.