Coleridge's ‘logosophic system’ is centred on his search for an essential humanity and its source; his exploration is both theoretical and existential. Any claim to a system of knowledge or to the authority of doctrine must, Coleridge believed, be supported by its sufficiency to the needs and nature of humankind. He maintained this premise consistently from his early writings to the later notebooks. His whole system is rooted in the reality of a divine Humanity which he identifies with Logos. Every area of his later thought is grounded in a theanthropology. His political and social criticism,...

Coleridge's ‘logosophic system’ is centred on his search for an essential humanity and its source; his exploration is both theoretical and existential. Any claim to a system of knowledge or to the authority of doctrine must, Coleridge believed, be supported by its sufficiency to the needs and nature of humankind. He maintained this premise consistently from his early writings to the later notebooks. His whole system is rooted in the reality of a divine Humanity which he identifies with Logos. Every area of his later thought is grounded in a theanthropology. His political and social criticism, his exploration of the natural sciences, his epistemology — all were developed in accordance with his view of the nature and destiny of mankind as revealed in the God-Man, the incarnate Christ.