The Radical Sensibility of Romantic Humanism

The ideas associated with the concept of sensibility in the eighteenth century were a powerful force in the development of [European and North American] art, philosophy, and social thinking. Their origin in the latitudinarian divines of the seventeenth century, the Cambridge Platonists, and the work of Shaftesbury has been well researched by many scholars, and the image of the benevolent man which they inspired in the literature of the period has also received much attention. The shift from a trust in reason to provide principles of action and judgment to an emphasis on the role of the feelings had repercussions in all fields of speculation...While some aspects of sensibility seem nostalgic, the predominant impulse was progressive. The cult of original genius and the search for national primitives awakened interest in the Middle Ages and [in Britain] the misty Celtic past. Even in these antiquarian leanings the spirit of the movement was progressive, as it looked back to primitive societies within a perspective of development. It sought for a similar emotional and imaginative response to nature as Ossian, a similar enthusiasm for splendid deeds and ideals of love and honour as the Age of Chivalry, yet moralized and refined by the advances of modern civilization...In social thinking, the trend was to see society less as a mechanism and more as a system of relationships based on social sympathy. Sensibility also gave an impetus to humanitarian and philanthropic crusades which sought reform in the treatment of orphans, prisoners, and slaves on an international scale.

Chris Jones, Radical Sensibility: Literature and Ideas in the 1790's, London: Routledge (1993), 1-2.

Although Jones did not treat this aspect of British social and cultural history in his book, the "long eighteenth century" in England (roughly 1670-1840) also witnessed an enthusiasm for Islam emerge among a variety of influential figures in the arts and politics of the time (see, e.g., Humberto Garcia, Islam and the English Enlightenment: 1670-1840, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2012). It should be acknowledged that Orientalism (long recognized as a key facet in the development of English Romanticism) played a significant role in 19th century English Romanticism's precursor: 18th century "Sensibility."

The late 18th century desire to reintroduce "feeling" or "felt experience" to European theories of knowledge echoed established Muslim epistemologies of mystical experience. Europeans, often disappointed by their religious traditions, embraced Islamic emotivism while bleaching it of religious content--thereby rendering it palatable to modern tastes.