Through Kant’s philosophical works, the concept of criticism took on an almost magical meaning for the younger generation [of Germans in the Romantic movement]. To be critical meant to raise thought so far above all constraint that, through the perception of the falseness of constraints, knowledge of the truth takes flight as if by magic.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Through Kant’s philosophical works, the concept of criticism took on an almost magical meaning for the younger generation [of Germans in the Romantic movement]. To be critical meant to raise thought so far above all constraint that, through the perception of the falseness of constraints, knowledge of the truth takes flight as if by magic." in the context of "Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik," Gesammelte Schriften, Volume I.1, p. 51, as quoted in Mark Lilla, “The Riddle of Walter Benjamin” New York Review of Books (25 May 1995)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.