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In this dissertation I challenge the 'standard' reading of early German romanticism, according to which the movement is most fundamentally characterized by unfulfilled longing, infinite approximation and nostalgic despair. Against this 'defeatist reading' I put forward a ‘conciliatory reading’ according to which the romantics advocate a harmonious relationship between ourselves and the world. The reading I offer is centred on the idea of 'good infinity', an idea long associated with Hegel but one which I argue the romantics (especially Schlegel) anticipated. A good infinity is united with, rather than opposed to, finitude. This dissertation sets out to show how this romantic conception of infinity underlies major aspects of romanticism such as 'incomprehensibility', 'irony', and the method of 'Wechselerweis'. In chapter 1, I argue that the romantics are neither pre-critical idealists continuing the Spinozistic heritage (the view of Frederick Beiser), nor Kantian skeptics replacing the 'thing-in-itself' with the Absolute (the view of Manfred Frank). On the reading I advance, the romantics are forbears to the phenomenological tradition. In chapter 2, I argue that Schlegel's recurring references to 'incomprehensibility', or Novalis' appraisal of 'the night' in his Hymns, are intended as 'positive' contributions in that they ask us to acknowledge and accept, rather than commiserate and reject, an incomprehensible dimension to the world. In chapter 3, I argue that ‘good infinity’ is implied in the method of ‘Wechselerweis' because of its emphasis on a reciprocal relationship. I survey various philosophical attempts to classify romanticism and show how I take my reading to preserve the various truths contained in each. In chapter 4, I distinguish the romantics' version of 'good infinity' from that of Hegel. I use various examples to motivate and describe a first personal sense of commitment that romantic irony, understood as feeling at the same time 'finite and infinite', makes available. Together these chapters support my claim that interpreting infinity to entail unreachability amounts to a limited and ultimately unfaithful reading of the early German romanticist project. With 'good infinity' I offer a way out of those limitations.

The NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemical technique is commonly used to localize the nitric oxide (NO) produced by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in neural tissue. The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is induced in the late stage of cerebral ischemia, and NO produced by iNOS contributes to the delay in recovery from brain neuronal damage. The present study was performed to investigate whether the increase in nitric oxide production via inducible nitric oxide synthase was suppressed by the administration of aminoguanidine, a selective iNOS inhibitor, as it follows a decrease of NADPH-diaphorase activity (a marker for NOS) after four-vessel occlusion used as an ischemic model. The administration of aminoguanidine (100 mg/kg i.p., twice per day up to 3 days immediately after the ischemic insult) reduced the number of NADPH-diaphorase positive cells to control levels. Our results indicated that aminoguanidine suppressed NADPH-diaphorase activity, and also decreased the number of NADPH-diaphorase positive cells in the CA1 region of the hippocampus following ischemic brain injury.

Induction of ischemic tolerance (IT), the ability of an organism to survive an otherwise lethal ischemia, is the most effective known approach to preventing postischemic damage. IT can be induced by exposing animals to a broad range of stimuli. In this study we tried to induce IT of brain neurons using ionizing radiation (IR). A preconditioning (pre-C) dose of 10, 20, 30 or 50 Gy of gamma rays was used 2 days before an 8 min ischemia in adult male rats. Ischemia alone caused the degeneration of almost one half of neurons in CA1 region of hippocampus. However, a significant decrease of the number of degenerating neurons was observed after higher doses of radiation (30 and 50 Gy). Moreover, ischemia significantly impaired the spatial memory of rats as tested in Morris's water maze. In rats with a 50 Gy pre-C dose, the latency times were reduced to values close to the control level. Our study is the first to reveal that IR applied in sufficient doses can induce IT and thus allow pyramidal CA1 neurons to survive ischemia. In addition, we show that the beneficial effect of IR pre-C is proportional to the radiation dose.