[1] From 1947 to 1951 he studied German literature, history, philosophy, theology and psychiatry at the universities of Freiburg, Basel, Göttingen and Münster.

He was President of the Internationale Vereinigung für Germanische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft [de] between 1980 and 1985.

He has written with new insights on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.

[9] In 1983 Schöne won the Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Preis of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.

[10] Schöne was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985.

[12] In 1990 Schöne received the Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste.

[14] On 24 August of the same year he was awarded the Knight Commander's Cross in the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.