German is muddled in general. Nietzche was one of the few who could write good prose. At least it translates well. I would say that Kant contributed a lot more to philsophical thought than Ayn Rand (is that contreversial?). Hegel and Marx were part of the 19th century urge towards evolutionary thinking (in the broad sense, everything moving forward to some ‘end’). As for the Infleunce Game, Marx was also influenced by Adam Smith (who he admired).
One of my favorite philosophers is the brilliant Nietzsche. Love his passion and aphorisms (writing) and complete understanding of all the nihilism of Postmodern German philosophy. He is arguably the most brilliant of the 19th century philosophers, IMHO.
I think philosophy is so intertwined, you can’t completely separate it from previous philosophy. Just the direction it takes....either it sends culture into a good direction, a bad direction, or it maintains the status quo. (Just my simplistic analysis.)
The Postmodern German philosophy is one of nihilism and pessimism. It leads to ugliness no matter how you spin the “utopia” without a God and hope.
The Christian paradigm led to the Miltons, the Michelangelos, the Shakespeares, the Newtons, the Galileos, the Dostoevskys, etc. and wealth creation and the most freedom and equality ever in the history of man.
If you study Christian Theology, it is no accident of nature that the above happened.
This Christian paradigm led to the elimination of slavery, the idea of dignity and worth and Free Will for every human on earth whose morality created America and the most dominate, creative, wealthy, free culture in the history of mankind. Power rests with God and not governments. Hope is created by God and not government.
But then, history and reality really doesn’t matter to German philosophy.
No one can deny the pervasiveness of Kantian philosophy in everyday life. Sadly, it is so very obvious. That Rand recognized the destruction of cultures and freedom, where certain philosophy was implemented, was her brilliance.
I am not saying she was one of the most brilliant thinkers....I am saying she probably had a better grasp on reality and the eventual consequence of ideas than many so-called intellectuals.
No ones philosophy is perfect. They all have flaws....some more devastating to people than others. Some of the ones she had pointed out, are proving to be so very true and ugly.