Herder

Herder: His Life and Thought aims to offer a comprehensive biography of Johann Gottfried von Herder, a pivotal figure in the German Enlightenment and early Romanticism. The book serves two purposes: first, to provide English-speaking readers with a detailed picture of Herders life and thought, contextualized within the intellectual climate of his time; and second, to incorporate insights from the last half-century of Herder studies. Given the scarcity of Herders works in English, the author quotes extensively from primary texts, supported by an extensive bibliography and detailed documentation. This approach aims to make Herders ideas accessible and provide a fresh interpretation of his contributions to philosophy, literature, and cultural thought. The book navigates the challenges of Herder biography by critically engaging with earlier works, such as Rudolf Hayms 19th-century authoritative biography and the Suphan edition of Herders writings. While Haym and his successors, like Khnemann, provided invaluable factual detail, their Kantian philosophical leanings often led them to undervalue or misinterpret Herders original contributions. This biography seeks to redress such imbalances by focusing on Herder as an independent thinker who synthesized Enlightenment rationalism with an appreciation for cultural diversity and creative spontaneity. It challenges long-standing assumptions about Herders dependence on figures like Hamann and Rousseau, instead highlighting his nuanced engagement with the broader intellectual currents of his era. By reevaluating Herders complex relationship with Rationalism and Romanticism, the book aims to present a balanced and modern perspective on a thinker whose ideas continue to resonate across disciplines. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Presss mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.