Herder, Johann Gottfried
(1744-1803) A founder of modern religious humanism, he explained human history as a consequence of the nature of man and of man’s physical environment. Held implicitly to the view that society is basically an organic whole. Accounted for the differences in culture and institutions of different peoples as being due to geographical conditions. Although history is a process of the education of the human species, it has no definite goal of perfection and development. The vehicle of living culture is a distinct Volk or Nation with its distinct language and traditions. As a child of the Enlightenment, Herder had a blind faith in nature, in man and in the ultimate development of reason and justice.
J. O. Herder,
Ideen z. Philos. d. Gesch. d. Menschheit, 1784-91;
Gott. Gesprche ber Spinoza’s System, 1787;
Briefe z. Befrderung d. Humanitt, 1793;
Metakritik, 1799;
Kalligone, 1800;
last two works directed against Kant’s Critiques (q.v.). — H-H.