Hegel’s friendship with Hoelderlin ended in silence. In all of Hegel’s work the name Hoelderlin does not once occur. Wherever he is mentioned in letters, Hegel gives only a scant reply. The period of their association, dominated by the “ideals of adolescence,” seemed as far removed to Hegel—who had developed the Idea into a philosophical system of knowledge —as Hoelderlin himself, silenced by madness. Were it not for scholarly research, we would know nothing about what they had in common.

This is a paradigmatic work of contemporary philosophy.