This is an entirely new translation of one of the fundamental works in the development of the study of language. Published in 1836, it formed the general introduction to Wilhelm von Humboldt's three-volume treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of the nature of language, and presents a survey of a great many languages, exploring ways in which their various grammatical structures make them more or less suitable as vehicles of (...) thought and cultural development. Empirically wide-ranging - von Humboldt goes far beyond the Indo-European family of languages - it remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions from comparative linguistics. (shrink)

Wilhelm von Humboldt's classic study of human language was first published in 1836, as a general introduction to his three-volume treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of the nature of language, exploring its universal structures and its relation to mind and culture. Empirically wide-ranging - Humboldt goes far beyond the Indo-European family of languages - it remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions (...) from comparative linguistics. This volume presents a translation by Peter Heath, together with an introduction by Michael Losonsky that places Humboldt's work in its historical context and discusses its relevance to contemporary work in philosophy, linguistics, cognitive science, and psychology. (shrink)

Seit über hundert Jahren wartet eine interessierte Öffentlichkeit auf eine umfassende, kritische, kommentierte Edition der Briefe Wilhelm von Humboldts. Die lange Reihe prominenter Akteure der Goethe-Zeit (bzw. der Napoleonischen Ära), die zu den Briefpartnern dieses Staatsmannes, Bildungsreformers und Sprachforschers zählen, sowie die Vielfalt der Themen – neben den bereits genannten sind dies vor allem Philosophie, Literatur, Philologie, bildende Kunst, Politik, diplomatische Korrespondenz, Geschichte – und nicht zuletzt die literarischen Qualitäten der Brieftexte selbst machen dieses umfangreiche Briefcorpus zu einem der bedeutendsten (...) der Epoche: ein Zeitgemälde auf höchstem Niveau. Die Ausgabe wird in drei Abteilungen erscheinen: I. Jugendbriefe, Brautzeit, erste Ehejahre (1781–1802) II. Amtszeit (1802–1819) III. Altersmuße (1820–1835). Die I. Abteilung wird fünf Bände umfassen. Band 1 beginnt mit Briefen des 13-jährigen Knaben; erster Schwerpunkt ist die Reihe schwärmerischer Briefe an Henriette Herz und weitere Mitglieder der „Verbindung“, einer Vereinigung zur gegenseitigen moralischen Vervollkommnung, die Humboldt bis zur Verlobung mit Karoline von Dacheröden intensiv beschäftigte; danach stehen die Briefe an die Braut im Vordergrund. Außerdem spielen die Briefe an Georg Forster und Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi eine wichtige Rolle; auch die später umfangreiche Korrespondenz mit Carl Gustaf von Brinkman beginnt bereits in dieser Periode. Mit der Eheschließung im Juni 1791 wird der Band abgeschlossen. Der Band enthält 198 Briefe, davon 21 bisher ungedruckte. (shrink)

E. M. Cioran (1911-1995) hatte als junger rumänischer Stipendiat der Humboldt-Stiftung die Gelegenheit, Ende 1933 eine Gastvorlesung Ludwig Klages’ (1872-1956) an der Berliner Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu hören. Klages’ Lebensphilosophie, namentlich seine biozentrische Metaphysik, wie sie vor allem in seinem gerade erschienenen Hauptwerk Der Geist als Widersacher der Seele (1929/1932) zur Sprache kommt, sollte tiefe Spuren bei Cioran hinterlassen. Zentrale Klages’sche Philosopheme ziehen sich fortan wie ein roter Faden durch Ciorans Œuvre: von dem in archaischen Zeiten stattgefundenen dämonischen Einbruch des (...) Geistes ins Leben und der damit verbundenen Entstehung des schmerzlichen, weil isolierenden Bewusstseins über die Herausbildung des rational-logisch-kausalen Denkens und des Aufkommens des Willens bis hin zum Machbarkeits- und Fortschrittswahn des Menschen, der mithilfe von Wissenschaft und Technik unausweichlich zu apokalyptischer Zerstörung führt. Die Exegeten des Cioran’schen Schaffens haben zwar den generellen Einfluss der Klages’schen Philosophie registriert, doch Ausmaß und Tragweite dieser speziellen Rezeptionsgeschichte blieben bislang unentdeckt. (shrink)

SUMMARYThis essay combines the study of Humboldt's sources with a critique of the treatment of this subject in most studies of Humboldt and his linguistic thought. One crucial issue is the date of his early ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’, which is our first evidence of his mature thinking about language. This text is conventionally dated 1795, thus ruling out that Humboldt might be indebted to the anthropo-linguistic philosophy that he explored in Paris a few years later. But (...) a host of facts make the date untenable and the debt unquestionable, including incontrovertible evidence that ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’ relies on Condillac's argument for the anti-idealist principle that the distinction between subject and object is the absolute precondition for self-awareness and reflection, and thus, by the same token, for the concept of Weltansicht. ‘Über Denken und Sprechen’ also shows that Humboldt was inspired to choose Condillac's and Destutt de Tracy's argument over that of Fichte for what Berkeley disapprovingly called ‘outness’. This analysis exemplifies the critique that is advanced in this essay. (shrink)

Hans Vaihinger and the Stiftung Nietzsche-Archiv. The Letters to Richard Oehler. Hans Vaihinger’s letters to Richard Oehler document the ideological constellation in the context of the First World War. Unconcealed enthusiasm for the war, associated national-chauvinist resentment, and pronounced anti-communism immediately after the war clearly emerge. At first sight, this may be surprising, since Vaihinger is generally regarded as a progressive liberal pacifist. As this article attempts to make clear, however, it is also evident in Vaihinger’s case that the (...) First World War and its immediate aftermath led – at least temporarily – to quite questionable intellectual attitudes even among declared pacifists. In this respect, Vaihinger’s letters to Nietzsche’s cousin, librarian at the Nietzsche Archive in Weimar and later convinced National Socialist Richard Oehler are evaluated as revealing documents of contemporary history. (shrink)

There have been constant and multiple endeavours to argue for Darwin's both epistemic and practical debt to Romanticism. Almost all of these arguments emphasise Darwin's theoretical and aesthetic associations with Alexander von Humboldt, who, from a prevailing Darwin-centred perspective, is in turn usually oversimplified as an undisputed incarnation of Romanticism. The antagonistic view, however, develops nothing other than another stereotype of Humboldt as an anti-idealistic, pro-French, and even highly Anglophone empiricist naturalist, and accordingly rejects the claim of a (...) romantic Darwin in terms of his Humboldtian inheritance. In this paper, I will first portray a balanced figure of Humboldt in terms of both his critical incorporation of romantic philosophy and the idiosyncratic history of his science. Then, I will thematically compare Darwin with Humboldt and other romantics so as to elucidate Darwin's peculiar appropriation of romantic tenets. Three interrelated romantic themes are examined, along with a discrimination of different senses in which the term romanticism is used: a) the literature-science relation, b) the pursuit of the unity in and through multiplicity, and c) the epistemic role of imagination. On the basis of this triadic dissection, both Humboldt's and Darwin's adherence to and departure from romanticism are reevaluated. (shrink)

On February 5, 1850, the Austrian emperor Franz Josef appointed C.G. Jacob Jacobi to the position of full professor at the University of Vienna. Thanks to the efforts of Alexander von Humboldt, however, the world-famous Prussian mathematician remained in Berlin and continued in his position as a salaried member of the Academy of Sciences.This paper describes the history of Jacobi’s appointment in Vienna and his ultimate rejection of it.

Humboldt Revisited offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary discourse surrounding reform of European universities. Arguing that contemporary reform derives its basis from pre-constructed truths about the so-called 'Humboldt-university,' this monograph traces the historical descent of these truths to the American reception of Humboldt's ideas from the mid-19th century up until the 1960s. Drawing from a rich selection of historical sources, this volume offers an alternative to conventional explanations of the forces behind the ongoing reform of European (...) universities. It also challenges the conventional historical narrative on the Humboldt University, providing new insight into the American reception of the German ideas. (shrink)

I have attempted to clarify some of the pathways in the development of Darwin's thinking. The foregoing examples of influence by no means include all that can be found by comparing Darwin's writings with Humboldt's. However, the above examples seem adequate to show the nature and extent of this influence. It now seems clear that Humboldt not only, as had been previously known, inspired Darwin to make a voyage of exploration, but also provided him with his basic orientation (...) concerning how and what to observe and how to write about it. An important part of what Darwin assimilated from Humboldt was an appreciation of population analysis as a tool for assessing the state of societies and of the benefits and hardships which these societies can expect to receive from the living world around them.Darwin exhibited in his Journal of Researches a casual interest in the economic and political conditions of the countries he visited, but these considerations were much less important to him than to Humboldt. Instead, Darwin, with the assistance of Lyell's Principles of Geology, shifted from Humboldt's largely economic framework to a biological one built around the species question. This shift led Darwin away from a consideration of how the population biology of animals was related to man's economy to focus instead upon how population biology fitted into the economy of nature.Humboldt's Personal Narrative served very well as a model for Darwin's Journal of Researches, thereby helping Darwin gain scientific eminence. The Journal of Researches, like virtually all of Humboldt's writings, was a contribution to scientific orthodoxy. But Darwin had, along the way, acquired an urge to do more than just add his building blocks to the orthodox scientific edifice. He decided to rearrange those blocks of knowledge into a different structure, and for that task neither Humboldt's Personal Narrative nor any other of his works could serve as a model. Humboldt had lacked the confidence which Darwin needed that biogeography and the origin of species could be understood. Humboldt had not explored very far the possible connections between biology and geology. Nor had he provided a general synthetic account of population biology. Had he done so, he might have been more explicit about the extent of his endorsement of Malthus. But even if he had, Humboldt's strong orientation toward cooperation would probably have inhibited his recognition of the importance of competition in nature.Lyell, who had also benefited from reading Humboldt, gave Darwin insights that were lacking in Humboldt's Personal Narrative. Lyell admirably demonstrated how stratigraphy, paleontology, biogeography, and population biology could be interrelated, and his reasons for doing so were essentially the same as Darwin's. Lyell's understanding of biogeography and ecology came from the writings of Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle as much as from Humboldt's, and from the former Lyell derived an appreciation for the importance of competition and also a confidence that the mysteries of biogeography could be explained.117 Furthermore, Lyell's discussion of all these subjects and also of evolution in his Principles of Geology is a good synthetic argument that was the ideal model for Darwin's greatest book.Darwin, having become convinced that species change through time, was able to synthesize in his mind the contributions which he had derived from the writings of Humboldt and Lyell as they applied to the species question. When Darwin wrote his Journal of Researches there were two large gaps in his thinking about evolution that bothered him—the mechanism of evolution and the causes of extinction. It was only after reading Malthus in 1838 that he realized, as Lyell had more or less pointed out, how important was competition in nature. He now had the general outlines for his theory, and in the 1845 abridged edition of his Journal, now retitled The Voyage of the Beagle, he inserted a fuller discussion of competition in nature which showed his awareness of its importance as an ecological factor.118. (shrink)

This paper sketches an analysis of the resemblances and differences between Fichte's notion of "idea" and Humboldt's and Ranke's notions of the "historical ideas". In an appendix it extends the analysis to the relationship between Droysen's hegelian notion of "ideas" and Humboldt's one.

Introduction. Higher education plays a particularly important role in the development of a country. The goal of the article is to describe the development of concepts about education in general and higher education in particular to explain the role of education in social life. Humboldt sees higher education as a process toward freedom and the search for true truth. Humboldt's philosophy of higher education is an indispensable requirement in the context of people struggling to escape the influence of (...) the state and church forces. The purpose is to find out the content and principles of higher education, especially meaningful suggestions for building an autonomous education in Vietnam today. Materials and Methods. The article uses materialist dialectic to analyze Humboldt's philosophy of higher education. In addition, the article also uses methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison and contrast to clarify views on education in the history of human thought from ancient, medieval, modern and modern times, from which to draw the basic contents and principles in the philosophy of higher education of Humboldt. Results and Discussion. Humboldt is the founder of the University of Berlin - known as the mother of modern universities. It is a new university model based on the philosophy of upholding freedom in learning and teaching, upholding the scientific spirit to seek and discover the truth, and at the same time, combining teaching with scientific research. His liberal education philosophy has contributed to affirming the strength and position of universities. He criticized state intervention in university institutions. Based on the anthropological foundation of emphasizing human diversity, Humboldt's higher education philosophy is truly liberating when it comes to bold views. Humboldt believes that a university is a pure place of science and research, so it is not influenced by any outside force, even from the state. A university is where academic freedom, scientific freedom and other autonomy are guaranteed so that the institution can run smoothly. Universities must have unity between research and teaching. However, Humboldt's philosophy of higher education still contains many issues that need to be considered thoroughly. Specifically, the promotion of internal self-determination requires financial autonomy while the state's investment capital in universities is still quite large; Calling for education to be privatized is still inadequate. The elitist spirit in the Humboldt model is no longer fully relevant in the context of a market economy that tends to lead to the pursuit of targets, which are often related to quality. Practical significance. Humboldt's liberal philosophy of higher education has a strong influence, dominates and becomes a reality in many countries with advanced education. For Vietnam, Humboldt's higher education philosophy is a meaningful suggestion to build an autonomous education under the country's socio-historical conditions. (shrink)

Humboldtian science Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11016-010-9480-6 Authors David Oldroyd, School of History and Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052 Australia Journal Metascience Online ISSN 1467-9981 Print ISSN 0815-0796.

La problématique de l’institution qui fait jour dans la pensée de Merleau-Ponty tout au long du cours au Collège de France (« L’institution dans l’histoire personnelle et publique », 1954-1955) reprend celle de la Stiftung ouverte par Husserl à fin de rendre compte des actes qui donnent lieu à la genèse et à la réactivation de sens idéaux tant dans la sphère personnelle qu’interpersonnelle. Néanmoins, la notion de Stiftung, propre d’une phénoménologie constitutive, ne suffit pas pour comprendre le (...) choix merleau-pontien de traduction: précisément pour faire partie d’une phénoménologie constitutive, la Stiftung semble plutôt s’opposer à une phénoménologie de l’institution. Et pourtant, celle-ci est posée par Merleau-Ponty à la fois comme une version de la Stiftung et comme une phénoménologie de l’institution. Comment est-il possible? Pour répondre cette question, nous proposons ici de chercher dans une autre tradition qui, moins visible mais non moins fondamentale que la phénoménologique, opère dans l’élaboration merleau-pontienne du phénomène de l’institution : la tradition sociologique et juridique française. Pour le dire avec plus de précision, nous croyons que la notion d›institution sur laquelle travaille Merleau-Ponty dans le séminaire de 1954-1955 ne peut pas être comprise sans la référence à la pensée sociale française du XIXe siècle et débuts du XXe, que nous tenterons de caractériser dans ces pages, une tradition de pensée qui s’inscrit également dans un débat inter-générationnel auquel Merleau-Ponty participe et à travers lequel il s’approprie le concept d’institution pour le reprendre dans une nouvelle version, enrichie par la perspective phénoménologique qui lui est propre. The problem of institution that emerges in Merleau-Ponty’s thought throughout his 1954-55 course at the Collège de France, “Institution in Personal and Public History,” takes up the problem of Stiftung, formulated by Husserl to account for acts that give rise to the genesis and reactivation of ideal senses both in the personal and the interpersonal spheres. However, the notion of Stiftung, characteristic of constitutive phenomenology, is not sufficient to understand Merleau-Ponty’s choice of translation: Stiftung, precisely insofar as it belongs to constitutive phenomenology, seems instead to oppose a phenomenology of institution. Nevertheless, it is presented by Merleau-Ponty both as a form of Stiftung and as a phenomenology of institution. How is this possible? To answer this question, we propose here to look to another tradition that, less visibly but no less fundamentally than phenomenology, is operating in Merleau-Ponty’s elaboration of the phenomenon of institution, namely, the French sociological and juridical tradition. More precisely, we believe that the notion of “institution” that Merleau-Ponty was working on in the course of 1954-1955 cannot be understood without reference to the French social thought of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that we try to portray in the following pages. This tradition of thought is also set within the context of an intergenerational debate in which Merleau-Ponty participates and through which he encounters the notion of institution that he takes up in a renewed way, enriched by his own phenomenological perspective. La problematica dell’istituzione, che fa la sua comparsa nel pensiero di Merleau-Ponty durante il corso al Collège de France L’istituzione nella storia personale e pubblica (1954-1955), riprende la problematica della Stiftung, inaugurata da Husserl al fine di rendere ragione di quegli atti che danno luogo alla genesi e alla riattivazione di sensi ideali, tanto nella sfera personale, quanto in quella interpersonale. Tuttavia, la nozione di Stiftung, propria di una fenomenologia costitutiva, non basta per comprendere la scelta di traduzione operata da Merleau-Ponty: proprio poiché parte di una fenomenologia costitutiva, la Stiftung sembra piuttosto opporsi ad una fenomenologia dell’istituzione. E tuttavia, Merleau-Ponty pone quest’ultima, al contempo, come una versione della Stiftung e come una fenomenologia dell’istituzione. Com’è dunque possibile? Per rispondere a quest’interrogativo, ci proponiamo quindi di esplorare un’altra tradizione che, meno visibile ma non meno fondamentale della fenomenologia, è all’opera nell’elaborazione merleau-pontiana del fenomeno dell’istituzione: la tradizione sociologica e giuridica francese. Più precisamente, crediamo che la nozione di istituzione su cui Merleau-Ponty lavora nel seminario del 1954-55, non possa essere compresa senza il riferimento al pensiero sociale francese del XIX ed inizio del XX secolo, che cercheremo di caratterizzare in queste pagine; una tradizione di pensiero che parimenti si iscrive in un dibattito inter-generazionale, a cui Merleau-Ponty partecipa e attraverso cui si appropria del concetto di istituzione per recuperarlo in una nuova versione, arricchita dalla prospettiva fenomenologica che gli è propria. (shrink)

English summary: The focus of the contributions in this volume is on the relationships of the young Kierkegaard with the philosophy in Berlin and also with Pietism whose influence expresses itself mainly in his later edifying writings. Berlin and Halle are important reference points for Kierkegaard's roots of thinking which can be characterized as passion and inwardness. Texts about love from all periods of his work together with musical and visual reflections on Kierkegaard combine both aspects and provide an aesthetic (...) comment to the scholarly contributions in this volume. These contributions are the results of two German-Danish conferences in the Kierkegaard Year 2013 in Berlin and Halle, which were funded by the Danish Carlsberg Fond and the Centre for Theology and Theological Education of the Church of Denmark and were organized by the theological faculties in Berlin and Halle. German description: Zentral fur diesen spannenden Aufsatzband sind Beziehungen des jungen Kierkegaard zur Berliner Philosophie sowie sein Verhaltnis zum Pietismus in den erbaulichen Schriften vor allem des spaten Kierkegaard. Berlin und Halle sind wichtige Bezugspunkte fur die Wurzeln des Kierkegaardschen Denkens, die man gut mit den begriffen 'Leidenschaft' und 'Innerlichkeit' charakterisieren kann. Texte uber die Liebe aus allen Phasen des Kierkegaardschen Werkes mit musikalischen und visuellen Reflexionen zu Kierkegaard verbinden die beiden Aspekte miteinander und fungieren als ein asthetischer Kommentar zu den wissenschaftlichen Beitragen. Die Beitrage des Bandes gehen auf zwei deutsch-danische Tagungen im Kierkegaardjahr 2013 in Berlin und Halle zuruck, die vom danischen Carlsbergfond und dem Theologisch-Padagogischen Zentrum der danischen Volkskirche finanziert wurden und in Zusammenarbeit mit den theologischen Fakultaten in Berlin und Halle stattfanden. Mit Beitrager von Svend Andersen, Philipp David, Tim Hagemann, Albrecht Haizmann, Eberhard Harbsmeier, Anders Kingo, Per Ohrgaard, Markus Pohlmeyer, Joachim Ringleben, Christian Senkel und Traugott Vogel. (shrink)

Numerous authors have examined the influence of other thinkers on Darwin’s formulation of some of the key concepts of the theory of evolution. Amongst those, Alexander von Humboldt often stands out – a scholar who, following his intention to explain the interconnection of various parts of the natural system, seems to tackle the question of evolution but does not offer an explicit answer. In this article, I examine Humboldt’s thoughts on evolution and the origin of species and evaluate (...) his contribution to Darwin’s theory of evolution. First, I analyse and explicate the fundamental assumptions and goals of Humboldt theory, and compare them to Darwin. Moving forward, I highlight the similarity of their methods, and argue that Humboldt and Darwin conduct similar investigation of fossil record and geographical distribution of species. Finally, I show that Humboldt acknowledges essential elements of Darwin’s theory of evolution: evidence given by fossil records, struggle for survival and relation between natural environment and living organisms. Humboldt, however, concludes we cannot know the evolution of species. I explain this stance, and contend that theories of Humboldt and Darwin turn out to be more similar than they seem, yet their different conclusions regarding the evolution of species stem from different initial assumptions underlying their respective frameworks. (shrink)

This paper offers a close reading of Merleau-Ponty’s Institution Course Notes to reflect on the history of colonisation as both an event and a structure. On the one hand, colonial invasion is a singular cataclysmic event; on the other hand, it establishes legal, social, economic and psychic structures that seem increasingly inevitable the more they are repeated. Likewise, decolonisation may require a singular liberatory event, but it also calls for the (re)establishment of alternative traditions that issue a different “call to (...) follow.” A critical interpretation of Merleau-Ponty in conversation with abolitionist and decolonial thinkers helps to clarify the temporal and political relation between event and structure, building bridges between phenomenology and radical politics. (shrink)

This paper takes Wilhelm von Humboldt seriously—as a philosopher. It does so by exploring Humboldt’s central notion of “Individuum/Individualität,” which does not coincide with the philosophical usage of “individual/individuality” in English. It is closer related to Leibniz’s notion of the “monad,” being characterized by infinity, totality and ineffability. Humboldt’s focus on the philosophical role of language does not primarily aim at an analysis of the system(s) of language(s), but rather at an hermeneutical investigation of actual thinking and (...) speaking among thinking and speaking individuals, every one of them being characterized by infinity, totality and ineffability. This analysis eventually leads to a new approach to ethics. It circumscribes an ethics without universal truths, guided by the respect of the words of the others even if we cannot ever fully understand them. But it is necessarily their words which co-constitute our mentally framed perception of the world. (shrink)

Im politischen Denken des Wilhelm von Humboldt findet eine konservative Wende statt: Von den radikalen Freiheitsansprüchen der Frühschriften bleibt in den Denkschriften des späten Staatsmannes kaum noch etwas erhalten. In diesem Band wird Humboldts konservative Wende textimmanent freigelegt, historisch situiert und systematisch ergründet. Insbesondere wird Humboldts Konservatismus auf seine zunehmende Angst vor der Demokratie zurückgeführt, was nach seinem Verständnis das schädliche Ergebnis der neuzeitlichen Vernunftrechts- und Vertragslehre darstellt. Aus diesem Grund wird Humboldts konservative Wende letzthin durch seine bereits in (...) der Frühproduktion anzutreffende zweifache Kritik an Rationalismus und Kontraktualismus beleuchtet. (shrink)

The long-term scientific interests of Alexander von Humboldt ranged from anthropology and ancient American studies to geology and geography, climatology and cultural theory, physics and plant geography to language history, volcanology and zoology. As a scientist, he crossed different disciplines and explored new paths of knowledge. Humboldt developed a transdisciplinary and, in the widest sense, nomadic knowledge as a traveller through the sciences. Like a nomad, he did not seek to possess or destroy a territory (of knowledge): no (...) wonder that he became the co-founder of an ecological and geo-ecological thinking. Humboldt wrote and published his works in German as well as in French. In his American Travel Diaries, which returned to Berlin in November 2013, and which are still awaiting their scientific analysis, Humboldt constantly changes between German and French, but also between Latin and Spanish. The author of the Kosmos couldn’t be used for nationalist purposes. Thus, Alexander von Humboldt can be understood as a nomad of science in constant movement, and in this sense as a world citizen. This first theorist of globalization shifted between the words, between the sciences, between the worlds. For him, the greatest possible mobility was not only a scientific program, but also the program of a life – his life. Humboldt wasn’t concerned with any specialization that would lead to a fragmented dialogue with other specialists. He was concerned with a nomadic knowledge, which, thanks to his extensive network of correspondents, always delivered the opportunity to argue from different disciplinary standpoints at the same time. His thinking doesn’t know the limits of interdisciplinary or “disciplined” research oppressing us today, but it rather took aim at the creation of a new world, in which mankind would be able to live together on a planetary scale in freedom and peace. (shrink)

Landscape took on a new meaning through the new science of plant geography of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1857). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, “landscape” was foremost a painterly genre. Slowly, painted landscapes came to bear on natural surroundings, but by 1800 it was still not common to designate sites as “landscapes.” Humboldt looked at plant vegetation with a painterly gaze. Artists, according to him, could suggest in their work that an abstract unity lay hidden underneath observable phenomena. (...) Humboldt projected painted landscapes on nature and found its ecological unity. By doing so, he ultimately stripped the concept of landscape from its primary visual meaning. (shrink)

The Italian translation of writings by W. von Humboldt recently edited by G. Moretto and F. Tessitore makes it possible to obtain a picture of Humboldt’s philosophy more complete than those which have been for a long time dominating. The results of Tessitore’s researches, which are summarized in his Introduction, underline the most fundamental aspects of Humboldt’s thought, i.e. the pivotal role played in it, as in Schiller’s, by an anthropology based on the ideas of force, energy (...) and individuality; and a vision of history, hostile to the apriorism and the teleological bent of the philosophy of history originating in Kant and carried on by Schelling, Fichte, Hegel, and centering on the notion of an individuality irreducible to any abstract and deterministic scheme, which inaugurates that historicistic conception of philosophy and life which has to be regarded as the other great current of thought born in the Goethezeit, alternative to the idealist one. (shrink)