GERDER(Herder) Johann Gottfried (1744-1803) - German philosopher and educator. Main works: “A Study on the Origin of Language” (1772), “Another Experience in the Philosophy of History for the Education of Mankind” (1774), “Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind” (1784-1791), “Letters for the Encouragement of Humanity” (1793-1797 ) etc. The formation of G.’s philosophical views was greatly influenced by Kant, with whom G. studied as a student at the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg, as well as the German irrationalist philosopher I. G. Hamann.

The influence of two such opposing mentors was forever imprinted in the contradictory nature of Herder, who combined the qualities of a freethinking scientist, one of the spiritual leaders of the Sturm und Drang movement, on the one hand, and an orthodox Protestant pastor, on the other. Activities f. marks a new stage of enlightenment in Germany, characterized by the awakening of the first shoots of distrust in the rationalistic principles of the early Enlightenment, increased interest in personality problems

and the inner world of her feelings. The main ideas of this new philosophical and educational program were outlined by G. in the “Diary of My Travel” in 1769. After a number of years of wandering - Riga, Paris, Hamburg, Strasbourg - G. settled permanently in Weimar, where in 1776, not without the participation of Goethe, he receives the high position of General Superintendent. Here his interest in natural sciences awakens; Together with Goethe, he studies biology a lot and is interested in the philosophy of Spinoza. In the works of these years, G. managed to synthesize and generalize a number of advanced ideas of contemporary natural science, which manifested itself especially clearly in the idea he formulated of the organic development of the world, traceable at different levels of a single world organism, starting from inanimate and living nature and ending with human history.

The thinker's main research interests were concentrated in the field of social philosophy: problems of social history, morality, aesthetics, etc. G. creates the main work of his life - “Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History”, in which the main emphasis is on overcoming the theological picture of history that reigned supreme in the social thought of Germany until the end of the 18th century. G. made a significant contribution to the development of the ideas of social historicism; He clearly, like no one before him, formulated the idea of ​​social progress, showing, using concrete material from world history, the natural nature of social development. Guided by the principle that the vastness of the period under consideration most clearly demonstrates signs of increasing improvement of matter, G. begins the presentation of his history with the emergence of the solar system and the gradual formation of the Earth.

In this sense, the history of society appeared as if directly adjacent to the development of nature, and its laws as having the same natural character as the laws of the latter. Despite his belonging to the highest ranks of the then church hierarchy, G. boldly opposed teleologism and providentialism on the issue of the driving forces of social development, identifying as such a whole set of natural factors. Particularly fruitful were his ideas about the natural progressive development of human society, which for a long time remained an unsurpassed example of general sociological and historical-cultural thought, influencing a number of subsequent philosophers, including Hegel, who, although he made a major step forward in understanding the course of world history , however, omitted a number of Herder’s productive ideas (meaning Hegel’s removal beyond the history of the era of primitive society, as well as his emphasized

ropocentrism). A kind of continuation and logical development of “Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History” was “Letters for the Encouragement of Humanity,” in which G. outlined essentially the entire history of humanism from Confucius and Marcus Aurelius to Lessing. Here, in one of the chapters of the work, G., independently of Kant, develops his doctrine of eternal peace, in which, unlike his great older contemporary, he emphasizes not the political and legal, but the moral aspect associated with the idea of ​​educating people in the spirit of ideas humanism. G. remained forever in the history of philosophy thanks to the sharp polemics that he conducted in the last years of his life with Kant and his philosophy, devoting to it such works as “Metacritique of the Critique of Pure Reason” (1799) and “Calligon” (1800).

Despite a number of truly fair reproaches and comments (especially against Kant’s apriorism), for the separation of the phenomenon from the “thing in itself” and the lack of historicism in the approach to knowledge and thinking, G. was unable to stay within the boundaries of academic dispute, which compromised him for the rest of his life himself among professional philosophers, most of whom chose the side of Kant. G.'s ideas about the formation and development of the world as an organic whole, as well as his socio-historical views, had a great influence on the subsequent development of German philosophy, but they found a particularly warm welcome among Russian educators and writers - Derzhavin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Gogol, etc. .

Herder Johann Gottfried (1744-1803), German writer and thinker. Born on August 25, 1744 in Morungen (East Prussia). Son of a school teacher. In 1762 he was enrolled in the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg.

From 1764 he taught at a church school in Riga; in 1767 he became assistant rector of two of Riga's most important parishes. In May 1769 he set out on a journey and reached Paris by November. In June 1770, as a companion and mentor to the Crown Prince of Holstein-Eiten, he went with his ward to Hamburg, where he met Lessing.

He who sees only shortcomings without seeing their causes sees only half; if he sees their reasons, then his anger can sometimes turn into the most tender compassion.

Herder Johann Gottfried

In Darmstadt he met Caroline Flaxland, who became his wife. In Strasbourg he underwent unsuccessful eye surgery. He became close friends with J. V. Goethe, then still a student, on whose development as a poet Herder had a decisive influence. In 1771-1776 he was chief pastor and member of the consistory in Bückeburg; Thanks to the mediation of Goethe, in 1776 he was invited to Weimar, where he became a court preacher and a member of the consistory.

Here, apart from a trip to Italy in 1788-1789, he spent the rest of his life. In 1801 he headed the consistory and received a patent for nobility from the Elector of Bavaria. Herder died on December 18, 1803.

Herder built his first of the most important works, Sketches on Modern German Literature (Fragmente uber die neuere deutsche Literatur, 1767-1768) and Critical Forests (Kritische Walder, 1769), on the foundations laid by his great predecessor Lessing. The Sketches arose in addition to Lessing's Literary Letters, and the Scaffoldings begin with a critique of his Laocoon.

In the articles Extracts from correspondence about Ossian and the songs of ancient peoples and Shakespeare in the collection On German Character and Art (Von deutscher Art und Kunst, 1773; published jointly with Goethe), the program document of the Sturm und Drang movement, Herder tries to prove that that all literature ultimately goes back to folk songs.

His collection of folk poetry, Folk Songs (Volkslieder, 1778-1779), later renamed Voices of Peoples in Songs (Stimmen der Volker in Lidern), made up of beautifully translated songs of different peoples and original poems by Herder himself, Goethe and M, gained wide popularity. .Claudius.

Herder's greatest work, Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History (Ideen zur Geshichte der Menschheit, vols. 1-4, 1784-1791), remained unfinished. His idea in a broad sense was to discover the close relationship between nature and the cultural development of the human race. For Herder, history is the scene of God's acts, the fulfillment of God's plan and the revelation of God in nature.

Johann Gottfried von Herder (25 August 1744 – 18 December 1803) was one of the most prominent and influential writers and thinkers in Germany. Herder was born in Morungen, East Prussia. In his early youth, his situation was gloomy and difficult, and he owed his deliverance from it only to the intervention of one Russian regimental surgeon, who suggested that Herder’s father take the young man with him to study surgery in Konigsberg, and from there to St. Petersburg. Johann Herder arrived in the capital of East Prussia at the end of the summer of 1762, and since he immediately realized that he was completely unsuited to the specialty chosen for him by his patron, he enrolled as a student at the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg. Among the university teachers, only Kant had a significant influence on the spiritual development of the young man, and outside the university circles - the “northern magician”. I. G. Hamann (philosopher and ideologist of the literary movement “Storm and Drang”). Of the influences exerted on him by his extensive and varied reading, the most profound, the one that determined his entire spiritual makeup, was the influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Johann Gottfried Herder's first literary experiments were poems and reviews in the Königsberg Gazette; At the same time, he also had various literary plans. In the fall of 1764, Herder was invited to Riga as a teacher at the cathedral school. Later he was appointed there as a pastoral adjunct at two churches, so he found an important field of activity in this old capital of Livonia, which at that time still enjoyed almost complete independence. In these favorable circumstances, Herder began his extensive literary activity with the articles: “Fragments on New German Literature” (Riga, 1766 – 1767) and “Critical Forests” (“Critical Groves”) (1769). Pointing out that the literary works of all nationalities are determined by the special genius of the nationality and language, complementing the critical method of research Lessing with his own, genetic, Herder took an independent position in the great ideological struggle of that era. A strong desire to travel and the need to prepare for future major activities prompted Herder to resign in the spring of 1769. In June he went on a long journey and visited Paris, and at the end of April 1771 he took up the position of court preacher and adviser to the consistory in Bückeburg.

Johann Gottfried Herder. Portrait by A. Graf, 1785

The time spent in this city was a real period of “storm and stress” for Johann Gottfried Herder. The talented discussion “On the Origin of Language” (1772), begun by Herder in Strasbourg and awarded by the Berlin Academy, opens a long series of diverse works in which he paves and points out new paths for young literature. Two articles in the flying sheets “From German Art” (Hamburg, 1773) - “About Ossians and the songs of ancient peoples" and "On Shakespeare" - as well as the essay "Causes of the decline of taste among various peoples where it previously flourished", Herder became at the very center of the movement, striving to regain poetry, breathing true nature, emanating from life and affecting life. In the essay “Another Philosophy of History for the Education of Mankind” (1774), he declares war on the boastful and sterile education of the “Enlightenment” era. Even this work aroused strong objections and vicious attacks on Herder. They became even stronger regarding his theological and semi-theological works: “The Most Ancient Evidence of the Human Race” (1774 - 76); “Explanations of the New Testament from a Newly Discovered Eastern Source” (1775) and “Fifteen Provincial Letters to Preachers” (1774).

Herder negotiated to invite him to the University of Göttingen, but thanks to the friendly efforts of Goethe, in the spring of 1776 he was called to Weimar, where his literary activity became even wider and stronger. The process of internal enlightenment, which turned the most prominent representatives of “Sturm und Drang” into the main leaders of German classical literature, also began with Herder towards the end of the 1770s. A very important philosophical discussion: “Knowledge and sensation of the human soul. Comments and Dreams" (1778), the work "Plastic" (1778) and the "Folk Songs" long ready for publication (to which Johannes von Müller later gave the title "Voices of Peoples in Songs", 1778 - 79) - were the first works published in light during Herder's stay in Weimar. The argument “On the influence of poetry on the morals of peoples in old and new times” (1778), awarded by the Munich Academy, provides new evidence that true poetry is the language of feelings, first powerful impressions, fantasy and passion, and that therefore the effect of the language of feelings is universal and to the highest degree. naturally - the truth, which at the same time was propagated in wide circles by his “Folk Songs”, chosen with great skill and knowledge of literature, vividly felt and partly beautifully translated.

The renewal of close relations with Goethe from the early 1780s had an extremely happy influence on the further spiritual development of Johann Gottfried Herder. During the same period of the 1780s. Herder created almost everything that, with its internal maturity and external perfection, gave lasting significance to his always brilliant work. If “Letters Concerning the Study of Theology” (1780 – 1781) and a number of excellent sermons relate to Herder’s position and immediate duties, then the large, unfinished essay “On the Spirit of Jewish Poetry” (1782 – 1783) already represents the transition from theology to poetry and literature. Out of deep sympathy for the natural strength, piety and peculiar beauty of Jewish poetry, a work was created about which Herder’s biographer, R. Haym, says that it “did for the knowledge and understanding of the East what Winckelmann’s writings did for the study of art and archeology.”

In 1785, Herder began publishing his major work, “Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind” (1784 – 1791, 4 volumes). It became the fulfillment of his long-standing plan, a broader development of thoughts that he had long expressed in small works, and at the same time - an energetic collection together of all his thoughts and dreams about nature and human life, about the cosmic significance of the earth, about the task of those living on it people “whose sole purpose of existence is aimed at the formation of humanity, which should be served by all base earthly needs”; about languages ​​and morals, about religion and poetry, about the essence and development of arts and sciences, about the formation of nationalities and about historical events. At the same time, Herder published the collection “Scattered Leaves” (1785 – 1797), a number of beautiful articles and poetic translations. He expressed his respect for Spinoza in conversations that he published in 1787 under the title “God.”

An important period in the life of Johann Gottfried Herder was his trip to Italy (1788 – 1789). But his health improved only temporarily; physical suffering deprived him of his cheerfulness and manpower. The fifth part of “Ideas” remained unfinished, and already “Letters in Support of Humanity” (Riga, 1793 - 1797, 10 collections) bear the color of his darkened spirit. But even during this period he still produces excellent works. Herder’s old spirit is preserved in his “Terpsichore” (1795), in “Christian Writings” (1796 - 1799, 5 collections). But in the work “Reason and Experience: Metacritique of the Critique of Pure Reason” (1799) and in “Calligon” (1800), Herder fiercely and without evidence attacks Kant’s philosophy and aesthetics. "Adrastea" (1801 - 1803) is full of hidden attacks against the beauty and cheerfulness of Goethe's poetry and Schiller, which he does not recognize, while unworthily praising the outdated and limited. Only a painful physical condition can justify this last ill-fated turn in his literary activity. Herder's physical strength weakened more and more. The last joy was brought to him by the poetic adaptation of the “Legends”, the translation of the cycle of Spanish romances “Cid” and the dramatic works: “Prometheus Unbound” and “The House of Admetus”. In the summer of 1802 and 1803, Herder went to the waters of Aachen and Egerbrunnen for treatment. In the autumn of 1803, a new severe attack of incurable liver disease followed, and in the winter Johann Gottfried Herder died. On his tombstone in the Weimar city church is the inscription: “Licht, Liebe, Leben” (“light, love, life”). A bronze statue of Herder was erected in front of the church in 1850.

In German literature, Herder is often an author full of enigmas and contradictions, less even in his work than his great contemporaries, but rich, multifaceted, gifted with the highest inspiration and the deepest power of criticism, abounding in spiritual life and awakening it around him. In the transformation of German life at the end of the 18th century, he took a more powerful and decisive part than anyone else, and traces of his activity can be found in literature in the narrow sense, and in the special sciences, and in those branches of them that arose from his initiative. Almost all the works of Johann Gottfried Herder reveal an enormous wealth of thoughts, genius of views and amazing sensitivity to everything truly poetic. His merits are very high as a translator who has assimilated and interpreted the spirit of the poetry of foreign peoples. Along with “Folk Songs”, “Sid”, epigrams from the Greek anthology, teachings from the “Garden of Roses” Saadi and a large number of other poems and poetic images that Herder’s receptive spirit transferred into German literature are those oriental stories, paramyths and fables that he uses to retell his own moral views and teachings about humanity. But even higher than Herder’s poetic gift is his prosaic talent: he is at one time a great cultural historian, a philosopher of religion, an esthetician with a subtle sense, a productive critic, a brilliant essayist, and finally, a preacher and speaker with rich content in an attractive form.

Herder Johann Gottfried (1744-1803)

German philosopher and educator. The main work is “Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History” (1784-1791). The formation of G.'s worldview was carried out under the influence of the “critical” Kant, Aman, and the English sensualists; later - Bruno, Rousseau, Spinoza; especially Lessing, which had a decisive influence on all of G.'s work. G.'s philosophy marks a new stage of enlightenment in Germany, based on the rejection of the one-sided rationalism still inherent in Lessing, and the overemphasized role of feelings, the diversity of human creative manifestations in various fields of activity and in the context excellent crops. G. became one of the most influential German thinkers and the main inspirer of the first all-German literary movement “Storm and Drang”, influencing Goethe, in the early 70s of the 18th century. In the late 60s and early 70s, G. wrote works , in which, in contrast to the attempts of representatives of classicist aesthetics to define the historical principles of artistic creativity that are significant for all times and peoples, he develops the foundations of a specific historical approach to art, defends the theses about the unity of thinking and speech, the natural nature of their emergence and development. In the mid-70s, together with Goethe, he published the collection “On German Art,” in which he also published his works on art history, in which he explained the nationality of art, expressed the “spirit of the people” and laid the foundations of modern folkloristics. During this period, G. showed increased interest, While then in the post of court preacher in Bükkeburzi, he began to study the Bible in depth, first interpreting it as an ancient monument of folk poetry, and later as a manifestation of divine revelation. Theological flavor is felt in the formulation and interpretation of questions about the origin and driving forces of society, about the natural, progressive and at the same time contradictory nature of history in the work he wrote “Another philosophy of the history of the formation of mankind” (1744-). And in his most important work, “Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History,” he pursues the thesis that man was created by God, that religion is the most ancient, the original component of human culture, and the like. And yet, these statements diverge from the leitmotif, conceptual idea of ​​G. - about the impossibility of the existence of spirit outside of matter, the main stages of development of which, as a kind of single universal organism, are inanimate nature, living nature and society. According to G., the organic development of the world occurs according to natural laws, without any interference from otherworldly forces; life arises through spontaneous generation, and as a result of the evolution of living organisms - society, which also changes according to natural laws. G. views the history of mankind as a single and at the same time branched chain of development of peoples, each link of which is aimed at achieving a higher, humane state and is at the same time connected with previous and subsequent links. Although external factors, including geographical ones, influence the historical process, Geography, however, unlike Montesquieu, has a decisive role in internal factors.

sources of origin and development of society as an organic system of individuals. A man, G. emphasized, was born for society: behind him is nothing; Culture brings people together, is an asset and at the same time the engine of society. Noting the quality of production and science in the development of human culture and the emergence of language, G., however, records as a characteristic moment the presence of a discrepancy between individual goals and the final results of people’s historical activity. He also considered religion to be the main components of culture, recognizing its particularly important role in the first stages of the cultural genesis of peoples, as well as art, family relationships and the state, which with the development of society acquire paramount importance, but subsequently die out. G.'s political convictions were also democratic in that he shared the interests of the burghers and defended the need for national unity of Germany, and sympathized with the colonially oppressed peoples. In the last years of his life, G. sharply criticized the philosophy of the late Kant, proving, contrary to him, the objective nature of the beautiful, the conditionality of the emergence of art by the practical activity of people, and the mind by language. G.'s ideas, having made a noticeable impact on German romanticism and German classical philosophical thought, later (until the end of the 19th century) found themselves on the periphery of the development of world philosophy. Only since the 20th century. a new wave of interest in the creative, in particular philosophical, heritage of G. is growing.

Introduction

Johann Gottfried Herder (German: Johann Gottfried Herder, August 25, 1744, Morungen, East Prussia - December 18, 1803, Weimar) - an outstanding German cultural historian, the creator of a historical understanding of art, who considered it his task to “consider everything from the point of view of the spirit of his time,” critic, poet of the second half of the 18th century.

1. Biography

Born into the family of a poor schoolteacher, he graduated from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Königsberg. In his native Prussia, he was threatened by conscription, so in 1764 Herder left for Riga, where he took a position as a teacher at a cathedral school, and later as a pastoral adjunct. In Riga he began his literary activity. In 1776, thanks to the efforts of Goethe, he moved to Weimar, where he received the position of court preacher. In 1788 he traveled through Italy.

2. Philosophy and criticism

Herder's works "Fragments on German Literature" ( Fragmente zur deutschen Literatur, Riga, 1766-1768), “Critical Groves” ( Kritische Walder, 1769) played a major role in the development of German literature during the period of Sturm und Drang (see Sturm und Drang). Here we encounter a new, enthusiastic assessment of Shakespeare, with the idea (which became the central tenet of Herder’s entire bourgeois theory of culture) that every people, every progressive period of world history has and should have literature imbued with the national spirit. Herder substantiates the position that literature depends on the natural and social environment: climate, language, morals, the way of thinking of the people, the spokesman of whose moods and views is the writer, and the very specific specific conditions of a given historical period. “Could Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles have written their works in our language and with our morals? - Herder asks the question and answers: “Never!”

Anton Graf. Portrait of J. G. Herder, 1785

The following works are devoted to the development of these thoughts: “On the Emergence of Language” (Berlin, 1772), articles: “On Ossian and the songs of ancient peoples” ( Briefwechsel über Ossian und die Lieder alter Völker, 1773) and “On Shakespeare,” published in “Von deutscher Art und Kunst” (Hamb., 1770). The essay “Also a Philosophy of History” (Riga, 1774) is devoted to criticism of the rationalist philosophy of history of the Enlightenment. The era of Weimar includes his “Plastic”, “On the influence of poetry on the morals of peoples in old and new times”, “On the spirit of Hebrew poetry” (Dessau, 1782-1783). In 1785, the monumental work “Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History” began to be published ( Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, Riga, 1784-1791). This is the first experience of the general history of culture, where Herder’s thoughts about the cultural development of mankind, about religion, poetry, art, and science receive their most complete expression. The East, antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, modern times - are depicted by Herder with an erudition that amazed his contemporaries. At the same time, he published a collection of articles and translations “Scattered Leaves” (1785-1797) and a philosophical study “God” (1787).

His last major works (not counting theological works) are “Letters for the Advancement of Humanity” ( Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität, Riga, 1793-1797) and “Adrastea” (1801-1803), directed mainly against the classicism of Goethe and Schiller.

3. Fiction and translations

Among the original works, “Legends” and “Paramithia” can be considered the best. His dramas “House of Admetus”, “Prometheus Unbound”, “Ariadne-Libera”, “Eon and Aeonia”, “Philoctetes”, “Brutus” were less successful.

Herder's poetic and especially translation activities were very significant. He introduces reading Germany to a number of the most interesting, previously unknown or little-known, monuments of world literature. His famous anthology “Folk Songs” ( Volkslieder, 1778-1779), known under the title “Voices of Nations in Songs” ( Stimmen der Volker in Liedern), which opened the way for the newest collectors and researchers of folk poetry, since only since the time of Herder the concept of folk song received a clear definition and became a genuine historical concept; He introduces him to the world of Eastern and Greek poetry with his anthology “From Eastern Poems” ( Blumenlese aus morgenländischer Dichtung), translation of "Sakuntala" and "Greek Anthology" ( Griechische Anthologie). Herder completed his translation work with the adaptation of the romances about Cid (1801), making the most striking monument of Old Spanish poetry a property of German culture.

4. Meaning

4.1. The fight against the ideas of the Enlightenment

Herder is one of the most significant figures of the era of Sturm and Drang. He struggles with literary theory and Enlightenment philosophy. The Enlightenment people believed in a man of culture. They argued that only such a person should be the subject and object of poetry, considered only periods of high culture worthy of attention and sympathy in world history, were convinced of the existence of absolute examples of art created by artists who had developed their abilities to the maximum extent (such perfect creators were for enlighteners, ancient artists). The Enlightenmentists considered it the task of the contemporary artist to approach these perfect models through imitation. In contrast to all these statements, Herder believed that the bearer of true art is precisely not a cultivated, but a “natural” person, close to nature, a person of great passions not restrained by reason, a fiery and innate, not a cultivated genius, and it is precisely such a person who should to be the object of artistic depiction. Together with other irrationalists of the 70s. Herder was unusually enthusiastic about folk poetry, Homer, the Bible, Ossian and, finally, Shakespeare. Based on them, he recommended studying genuine poetry, because here, like nowhere else, a “natural” person is depicted and interpreted.

4.2. The idea of ​​human development

Heine said about Herder: “Herder did not sit, like the literary Grand Inquisitor, as a judge over various peoples, condemning or justifying them, depending on the degree of their religiosity. No, Herder considered all of humanity as a great harp in the hands of a great master, each nation seemed to him to be a tuned string of this gigantic harp in its own way, and he comprehended the universal harmony of its various sounds.

According to Herder, humanity in its development is like an individual: it experiences periods of youth and decrepitude - with the death of the ancient world it recognized its first old age, with the Age of Enlightenment the arrow of history again made its circle. What educators accept as genuine works of art are nothing more than imitations of artistic forms devoid of poetic life, which arose at one time on the basis of national self-awareness and became unique with the death of the environment that gave birth to them. By imitating models, poets lose the opportunity to demonstrate the only thing important: their individual identity, and since Herder always considers a person as a part of a social whole (nation), then also his national identity.

Therefore, Herder calls on the German writers of his time to begin a new, rejuvenated circle of cultural development in Europe, to create, obeying free inspiration, under the sign of national identity. For this purpose, Herder recommends that they turn to earlier (young) periods of Russian history, because there they can join the spirit of their nation in its most powerful and pure expression and draw the strength necessary to renew art and life.

However, Herder combines the theory of progressive development with the theory of the cyclical development of world culture, converging in this with the enlighteners who believed that the “golden age” should be sought not in the past, but in the future. And this is not the only case of Herder coming into contact with the views of representatives of the Enlightenment. Relying on Hamann, Herder at the same time agrees with Lessing on a number of issues.

Constantly emphasizing the unity of human culture, Herder explains it as the common goal of all humanity, which is the desire to achieve “true humanity.” According to Herder's concept, the comprehensive spread of humanity in human society will allow:

the rational ability of people to make reason;

to realize the feelings given to man by nature in art;

to make the individual’s desires free and beautiful.

4.3. The idea of ​​the nation state

Herder was one of those who first put forward the idea of ​​a modern nation state, but in his teaching it arose from vitalized natural law and was completely pacifist in nature. Each state that arose as a result of the seizures caused him horror. After all, such a state, as Herder believed, and this was the manifestation of his popular idea, would destroy established national cultures. In fact, only the family and the corresponding form of state seemed to him to be a purely natural creation. It can be called the Herderian form of the nation state.

“Nature raises families and, therefore, the most natural state is one where one people lives with a single national character.” “A state of one people is a family, a comfortable home. It rests on its own foundation; founded by nature, it stands and perishes only with the passage of time.”

Herder called such a state structure the first degree of natural government, which will remain the highest and last. This means that the ideal picture he painted of the political state of an early and pure nation remained his ideal of the state in general.

4.4. The doctrine of the people's spirit

“In general, what is called the genetic spirit and character of the people is amazing. It is inexplicable and unquenchable; he is as old as the people, as old as the country that these people inhabited.”

These words contain the quintessence of Herder’s teaching about the spirit of the people. This teaching was primarily directed, as already in the preliminary stages of its development among the Enlighteners, at the persisting essence of peoples, resistant to change. It rested on a more universal sympathy for the diversity of individualities of peoples than the somewhat later teaching of the historical school of law, which flowed from a passionate immersion in the originality and creative power of the German folk spirit. But it anticipated, although with less mysticism, the romantic sense of the irrational and mysterious in the popular spirit. It, like romance, saw in the national spirit an invisible stamp expressed in the specific features of the people and their creations, except that this vision was freer, less doctrinaire. Less harshly than later romanticism, it also considered the question of the indelibility of the national spirit.

Love for a nationality preserved in purity and untouchedness did not prevent him from recognizing the beneficialness of “vaccinations given to peoples in a timely manner” (as the Normans did with the English people). The idea of ​​national spirit received a special meaning from Herder thanks to the addition of his favorite word “genetic” to its formulation. This means not only a living formation instead of a frozen being, and at the same time one feels not only what is peculiar, unique in historical growth, but also the creative soil from which all living things flow.

Herder was much more critical of the then emerging concept of race, which had been examined shortly before by Kant (1775). His ideal of humanity opposed this concept, which, according to Herder, threatened to bring humanity back to the animal level; even talking about human races seemed ignoble to Herder. Their colors, he believed, are lost in each other, and in the end all these are just shades of the same great picture. The true bearer of great collective genetic processes was and remained, according to Herder, the people, and even higher - humanity.

4.5. Sturm und Drang

Thus, Herder can be seen as a thinker standing on the periphery of “sturm und drang.” Nevertheless, Herder enjoyed great popularity among the Sturmers; the latter complemented Herder's theory with their artistic practice. Not without his assistance, works with national themes arose in German bourgeois literature (“Götz von Berlichingen” - Goethe, “Otto” - Klinger and others), works imbued with the spirit of individualism, and a cult of innate genius developed.

A square in the Old Town and a school in Riga are named after Herder.

Literature

Gerbel N. German poets in biographies and examples. - St. Petersburg, 1877.

Thoughts relating to the philosophical history of mankind, according to the understanding and outline of Herder (books 1-5). - St. Petersburg, 1829.

Sid. Prev. and note. V. Sorgenfrey, ed. N. Gumileva. - P.: “World Literature”, 1922.

Gaim R. Herder, his life and writings. In 2 vols. - M., 1888.

Pypin A. Herder // “Bulletin of Europe”. - 1890. - III-IV.

Mering F. Herder. On philosophical and literary topics. - Mn., 1923.

Gulyga A.V. Herder. Ed. 2nd, revised. (1st ed. - 1963). - M.: Mysl, 1975. - 184 p. - 40,000 copies. (Series: Thinkers of the Past).

The article is based on materials from the Literary Encyclopedia 1929-1939.