Starting from the observation that no-one wonders any longer whether Romanticism thinks, but rather what it thinks about and how, this paper purposes to show how a particular “common idea” of Romanticism is constructed in order to question the legitimising discourses attached to it. It thus aims to show how 20th century literary criticism has changed the relationship to philosophy into a discriminating element in the study of romantic works, with the consequence of establishing a specific value of romanticism.