Abstract: “On the German Republic” (1922) marks Thomas Mann’s transformation from an adherent of the conservatives to a devotee of the democrats, implying a decisive moment in his career as an intellectual Thomas Mann has overcome the earlier ideological framework of “culture” against “civilization”, i e of the “Germanness” against “West” Instead he built the concepts of “eros” and “human nature” as an intermediary, in order to try to contribute to the reconciliation of tradition and Enlightenment in Germany, and thus to obtain a modern political program based on the traditions of Germany The most important opportunity for this ideological transformation was that in the 1920s he fully embraced the spirit of humanism represented by Goethe On this foundation, he reinterpreted “Germanness” by departing from the “sympathy with the death” of the Romantic tradition and realizing the spirit of humanism of “devotion to life” In the direction of humanistic spirit, he also began to reinterpret three conservative intellectual idols — Wagner, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

Key words: death, life, Germanness, Humanism, Goethe