Herder works. Biography of Herder Johann Gottfried

Herder(Johann Gottfried Herder) - a remarkable German scholar publicist, poet and moral philosopher, b. in 1744 at Morungen in East Prussia. His father was a bell ringer and at the same time a school teacher. In his youth, G. experienced all the hardships of poverty. As an adult boy, he performed various, sometimes very painful, petty services from his mentors. One Russian surgeon convinced him to take up medicine and brought him to Koenigsberg to the university for this purpose, but the very first visit to the anatomical theater caused a faint, and G. decided to become a theologian. The knowledge of the 18-year-old G. was already so significant that he was mockingly called a walking bookshop. G.'s love of reading was so developed that even in the windows of houses of completely unfamiliar faces he could not see books without going in there and begging for them to read. Kant noticed a talented student and did a lot to expand his mental outlook. Another well-known Koenigsberg philosopher, Hamann (see VIII, p. 54) had a significant influence on the development of Herder. Herder's fascination with his writings and Rousseau's ideas also dates back to the time of Herder's stay in Konigsberg. Already in Koenigsberg, G. attracted the attention of the gift of words and the art of teaching. This gave his friends the opportunity to appoint G. to the place of a preacher and head of a church school in Riga (1764). In 1767, G. received a lucrative offer in St. Petersburg, but refused to accept it, although he was fond of Catherine's "Order" and dreamed of getting close to her. In Riga, G. was a huge success as a preacher and as an educator. Here Herder dreams of the role of a reformer in the spirit of the ideas of "Emil" Rousseau and wants to become the savior and reformer of Livonia with the help of a new school system. In 1769 he left Riga for a two-year journey through France, Holland and Germany. Upon his return, he enters the position of educator with one German prince and makes another trip with him, during which he becomes close to Goethe, exerting a huge influence on his development. From 1771 to 1776, Mr.. G. lives in Bückeburg as chief preacher, superintendent and member of the consistory. In 1776, with the assistance of Goethe, he received a position as a court preacher at the Weimar court and remained in Weimar until his death. Here G. and died in 1803.

Literary fame G. begins with the time of his stay in Riga. Here he wrote "Fragmente über die neuere deutsche Literatur" (1767), which were to complement Lessing's literary writings, and "Kritische Wälder" adjoining Lessing's Laocoon. In Strasbourg, G. wrote for the Berlin Academy Prize book «Ueber d. Ursprung d. Sprache" (1772). In Bückeburg he collected material for his philosophy of history and folk songs, and published Ursache d. gesunkenen Geschmacks bei d. verschiedenen Volkern" (1773); Aelteste Urkunde d. Menschengeschlechts"; "Auch eine Philosophie d. Gesch. zur Bildung d. Meoscheit" (1774). In Weimar he printed: "Volkslieder od. Stimmen der Völker in Liedern" (1778-1779), "Vom Geiste d. Ebräischen Poesie" (1782-83), "Briefe das Studium d. Theologie betreffend" (1793-97), "Ideen zur Philosophie d. Geschichte d. Menschheit" (1784-91), "Briefe zur Beförderung d. Humanität" (1793-97), "Metacriticism" (against Kant), "Adrasteia", translation of romances about Side (1805). A distinctive feature on the outside of all the works of G. - fragmentary, lack of a rigorous method of scientific criticism. Each of his articles is a kind of improvisation, revealing in the author a tendency to poetic generalizations; in everything one can see the desire to find common laws, a brilliant penetration into the most remote corners of the spiritual life of peoples, supported by the self-confidence of a pastor-preacher and at the same time a poet, as if overshadowed by inspiration from above. In vain did the rationalists try to overthrow G. from the pedestal; even when they were right (Schlozer), G.'s influence was irresistible, and every German preferred "to lie with G. in the clouds and look with contempt at those who walked the earth" (Schlosser). Herder's activity coincides with the era of "Sturm und Drang", a period of stormy and passionate protest against the intellectual dryness of the "enlightenment age". The highest ideal for Herder was the belief in the triumph of universal, cosmopolitan humanity (Humanität). He was an apostle of the idea of ​​the unity of civilization, but at the same time, recognizing that there is no internal contradiction between the universal and the people, G. was the protector of nationality. Combining both of these ideas, he was equally free from both superficial cosmopolitanism and narrow national swagger. Progress consists, according to G., in the gradual development in humanity of the idea of ​​humanity, that is, those principles that fundamentally elevate people above the animal world, humanize human nature. G. sought to prove that this idea of ​​humanity, this concept of universal love and reciprocity is growing and developing in society; he tried to light the way to her full triumph. He believed, then, that wise goodness reigns over the fate of people, that a harmonious order can be found in the seeming labyrinth of history. His philosophical and historical writings can be referred to the so-called theolicy (Kareev). “If there is a God in nature, then there is also in history, and man is subject to laws no less excellent than those by which all celestial bodies move. Our whole history is a school for achieving a beautiful crown of humanity and human dignity.” G.'s nationalism is the desire to understand and recognize people's rights and peculiarities; he is fascinated by folk poetry, the original and peculiar inner life of every nation. From this pure source arose that idealization of everything folk, which was then passed on to all Slavic patriots of the Slavic Renaissance, and at a later time gave rise to Russian populism.

G.'s works on the study of language and folk poetry are especially remarkable for the profound influence they had on the development of interest in folk and folk poetry among different peoples. From a young age G. was fond of Homer, the songs of Ossian, the Bible. He already vaguely anticipated the conclusions that Wolf made a little later, arguing that the Iliad and the Odyssey are monuments of folk, and not personal creativity. Reading these poems, as well as Ossian's songs, G. came to the conclusion about the extraordinary importance of songs for the understanding of the people. With passionate enthusiasm, he proves the need to collect them, explains their incomparable poetic merits. In his collection Stimmen der Völker, with equal care and love, he places translations of the songs of the Lapps, Tatars, Greenlanders, Spaniards, and others. Here, in a wonderful translation by Goethe, the Slavic song “The Lamenting Song of Asan-Ashnitsa”, which amazed the world of its artistic charm, which awakened in the Slavs a sense of national dignity and pride. “For G., all of humanity was like one harp in the hand of a great artist; each people seemed to him a separate string, but he understood the general harmony flowing from these various chords ”(Heine). In the articles “On the most ancient monument of the human race”, “Letters on the study of theology”, “On the spirit of Jewish poetry”, G. for the first time considers the Bible as the same monument of folk poetry, like the Iliad and the Odyssey; and any folk poetry for G. is an "archive of folk life." Moses for Herder is the same national Jewish hero as Odysseus is the hero of Greece. A subtle sense of poetry and a deep understanding of popular moods are nowhere so beautifully manifested as in G.'s essay “On the Song of Songs”, the most tender of all that he has ever written. G.'s translations of Spanish folk epics about Side also gained general fame. Later romanticism and the very history of literature in its further development owe much to the activity of G. He removed the vow of condemnation from the Middle Ages, laid the foundation for the science of comparative linguistics, earlier than Schlegel pointed out the need to study the Sanskrit language; in his philosophical views lie the germs of Schelling's natural philosophy. The last years of G.'s activities are overshadowed by a fervent polemic with Kant, indicating a significant decline in strength. Following the outbursts of feeling, which constitute the predominant feature in G.'s activity, a reaction should have set in, during which the main flaw in G.'s character was manifested: an internal split, explained, among other things, by a complete discrepancy between the official duties of G. as a pastor and his deeper convictions. This explains the attempts in the last years of Herder's life to obscure and change the meaning of previously expressed views. G. was of great importance not only for the Germanic tribe. Of the Slavic figures under the strong influence of G. were: Kollar, who called him in his poem "Dcera slavy" a friend of the Slavs; Chelyakovsky, whose collection of songs from different peoples is partly a translation of "Stimmen der Völker", partly an imitation of him; Šafarik, who directly translated several chapters from the Idea in his book Slav. Staroz". Of the Poles, Surovetsky and especially Brodzinsky should be noted. In Russia, the name G. became known as early as the 18th century. Karamzin was fond of him, Nadezhdin was partly brought up on his writings; Shevyrev's lectures on the history of the theory of poetry were written largely on the basis of the works of G. Maksimovich, Metlinsky knew him and were partly excited about him. Of the European writers, G. had a particularly strong influence on Edgar Quinet, who translated into French some of Herder's works (for example, "Ideen"). Among the many comments on the value of G., one should note the opinion of Schlosser, Gervinus, Bluntschli (“Geschichte der neueren Staatswissenschaft”, 1881), who believes that as a political mind G. can only be compared with Montesquieu and Vico. The most complete and accurate assessment belongs to Gettner in his famous book on the literature of the 18th century. and Scherer in Geschichte der deutsch. Lit." (6th ed. Berlin, 1891).

Wed Caroline G., "Erinnerungen aus dem Leben J. G. H." (Stuttgart, 1820); J. G.v. H. Lebensbild" (correspondence and writings of adolescence, Erlangen, 1846); Ch. Joret, "Herder et la renaissance littéraire en Allemagne au XVIII siècle" (P., 1875); Nevison, "A sketch of H. and his times" (London, 1884); Bächtold, "Aus dem Herderschen Hause" (Berlin, 1881); A. Werner, "Herder als Theologe"; Kroneberg, "Herders Philosophie" (Heid., 1889); Fester, Rousseau u. die deutsche Geschichtsphilosophie" (Stuttgart, 1890); Raumer in his Gesch. der Germ. Philology". Heim's detailed monograph "Herder and his time" (B., 1885, 2nd ed.; translated into Russian M., 1887-1889); an article about her by A. N. Pypin "Herder" ("Vest. Evr" 1890, 3-4 books). Shevyrev's article about G. in Mosk. observation." (1837). In Russian lang. some poems have been translated. G., romances about Sid and "Thoughts relating to the history of mankind" (St. Petersburg, 1829). Complete collections of Op. Herder came out in 1805-1820 and in 1827-30; a new edition worthy of Herder, edited by B. Zupan, is not yet finished. There is also ed. elected. works of G. Herder's Correspondence: "Briefsammlungen aus Herders Nachlass" (Frankfurt, 1856-1857); "Von und an Herder" (Leipzig, 1861-62). Letters to Haman ed. Hoffmann (Berlin, 1880).

Biography

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

Philosophy and criticism

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

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 the Philosophy of History" (Riga, 1774) is devoted to criticism of the rationalist philosophy of the history of the Enlightenment. The era of Weimar includes his "Plastics", "On the influence of poetry on the customs of peoples in old and new times", "On the spirit of Hebrew poetry" (Dessau, 1782-1783). The monumental work "Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Humanity" ( 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 erudition that amazed his contemporaries. At the same time he published a collection of articles and translations "Scattered sheets" (1785-1797) and a philosophical study "God" (1787).

His last great works (except for theological works) are "Letters for the Promotion of Humanity" ( Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanitat, Riga, 1793-1797) and "Adrastea" (1801-1803), pointed mainly against the romanticism of Goethe and Schiller.

Fiction and translations

Of the original works, Legends and Paramythia can be considered the best. Less successful are his dramas House of Admetus, Prometheus Liberated, Ariadne-Libera, Aeon and Aeonia, Philoctetes, Brutus.

Herder's poetic and especially translational activity is very significant. He acquaints reading Germany with a number of the most interesting, hitherto unknown or little-known monuments of world literature. His famous anthology "Folk Songs" was made with great artistic taste ( Volkslieder, 1778-1779), known under the title "Voices of the Nations in Songs" ( Stimmen der Volker in Liedern), which opened the way for the latest collectors and researchers of folk poetry, since only since the time of Herder did the concept of folk song receive a clear definition and become a genuine historical concept; he introduces into 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 activities with the processing of romances about Side (1801), making the brightest monument of old Spanish poetry a property of German culture.

Meaning

Fight against the ideas of the Enlightenment

Herder is one of the most significant figures of the Sturm und Drang era. He struggles with the theory of literature and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Enlighteners 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 developed their abilities to the maximum extent (such perfect creators were for enlighteners, ancient artists). Enlighteners considered the task of the contemporary artist to approach these perfect models through imitation. In contrast to all these assertions, Herder believed that the bearer of true art is precisely not a cultivated, but a “natural”, close to nature person, a person of great passions unrestrained by reason, a fiery and innate, and not a cultivated genius, and it is precisely such a person who should be the subject of art. Together with other irrationalists of the 70s. Herder was unusually enthusiastic about vernacular poetry, Homer, the Bible, Ossian, and finally Shakespeare. According to them, he recommended studying genuine poetry, because here, as nowhere else, a “natural” person is depicted and interpreted.

The idea of ​​human development

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

According to Herder, humanity in its development is like a separate individual: it goes through 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 enlighteners take as genuine works of art are nothing more than counterfeits of artistic forms devoid of poetic life, which arose in due time on the basis of national self-consciousness and became unique with the death of the environment that gave birth to them. By imitating models, poets lose the opportunity to show the only important thing: their individual identity, and since Herder always considers a person as a particle of the social whole (nation), then his national identity.

Therefore, Herder calls on contemporary German writers to start a new rejuvenated circle of European cultural development, to create, obeying free inspiration, under the sign of national identity. For this purpose, Herder recommends that they turn to earlier (younger) periods of national 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, with the theory of the cyclical development of world culture, Herder combines the theory of progressive development, 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 an isolated case of Herder's contact with the views of representatives of the Enlightenment. Relying on Hamann, Herder at the same time shares his solidarity with Lessing on a number of issues.

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

• reasonable abilities of people to make reason;
• feelings given to man by nature to realize in art;
• to make the attraction of the individual free and beautiful.

The idea of ​​a nation state

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

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

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

Doctrine of the Folk Spirit

These words contain the quintessence of Herder's doctrine of the spirit of the people. This teaching was first of all directed, as already at the preliminary stages of its development among the Enlighteners, to the preserved essence of peoples, stable in change. It rested on a more universal sympathy for the diversity of the individualities of peoples than the somewhat later teaching of the historical school of law, which arose from a passionate immersion in the originality and creative power of the German folk spirit. But it anticipated, albeit with less mysticism, the romantic feeling of the irrational and mysterious in the popular spirit. It, like romance, saw in the national spirit an invisible seal, expressed in the specific features of the people and their creations, unless this vision was freer, not so doctrinaire. Less rigidly than subsequently romanticism, it also considered the question of the indelibility of the national spirit.

Love for the nationality, preserved in purity and untouched, did not prevent him from recognizing the beneficialness of "graftings, timely given to the peoples" (as the Normans did with the English people). The idea of ​​a national spirit received a special meaning from Herder due 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 the original, unique in historical growth, but also the creative soil from which all living things flow.

Herder was much more critical of the then-appearing concept of race, considered shortly before by Kant (). His ideal of humanity counteracted 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 all this in the end is only shades of the same great picture. The true bearer of the great collective genetic processes was and remained, according to Herder, the people, and even higher - humanity.

Sturm und Drang

Thus Herder can be seen as a thinker standing on the periphery of "storm and stress". Nevertheless, among the sturmers, Herder was very popular; the latter supplemented Herder's theory with their artistic practice. It was not without his assistance that works with national subjects arose in German bourgeois literature (“Götz von Berlichingen” - Goethe, “Otto” - Klinger and others), works imbued with the spirit of individualism, and a cult of inborn genius developed.

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

Literature

• Gerbel N. German Poets in Biographies and Samples. - St. Petersburg., 1877.
• Thoughts related to the philosophical history of mankind, according to the understanding and outline of Herder (books 1-5). - St. Petersburg., 1829.
• Sid. Previous and note. W. Sorgenfrey, ed. N. Gumilyova. - P .: "World literature", 1922.
• Guym R. Herder, his life and writings. In 2 vols. - M., 1888. (Republished by the publishing house "Nauka" in the series "The Word about Being" in 2011).
• Pippin A. Herder // Vestnik Evropy. - 1890. - III-IV.
• Mering F. Herder. On philosophical and literary themes. - Mn., 1923.
• Gulyga A.V. Herder. Ed. 2nd, finalized. (ed. 1st - 1963). - M.: Thought, 1975. - 184 p. - 40,000 copies. (Series: Thinkers of the Past).

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- (Herder) (1744 1803), German philosopher, critic, esthetician. In 1764 1769 he was a pastor in Riga, from 1776 in Weimar, the theorist of Sturm und Drang, a friend of J. W. Goethe. He preached the national identity of art, asserted historical originality and ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Herder Johann Gottfried (August 25, 1744, Mohrungen, East Prussia, ≈ December 18, 1803, Weimar), German philosopher, educator writer. After graduating from the theological faculty of Königsberg University in 1764–1769, he was a pastor in Riga. AT… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Johann Gottfried Herder - a German writer, poet, thinker, philosopher, translator, cultural historian - was born in East Prussia, the city of Morungen on August 25, 1744. His father was a primary school teacher and part-time ringer; the family lived in poverty, and young Herder had a chance to experience a lot of hardships. He wanted to become a doctor, but a fainting spell that happened in the anatomical theater, where he was brought by a familiar surgeon, forced him to abandon this intention. As a result, in 1760 Herder became a student of the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg. He was jokingly called a walking bookshop - so impressive was the store of knowledge of an 18-year-old boy. In his student years, I. Kant drew attention to him and contributed a lot to his intellectual development. In turn, the philosophical views of J.-J. Rousseau.

After graduating from the university in 1764, Herder could be recruited, so through the efforts of his friends he moved to Riga, where he was expected to have a teaching position in a church school, and then he became a pastor's assistant. As both a teacher and a preacher, the eloquent Herder, who skillfully mastered the word, became a fairly well-known personality. In addition, it was in Riga that his work in the field of literature began.

In 1769 he leaves to travel, visits Germany, Holland, France. Herder was the tutor of the Prince of Holstein-Eiten and, as his companion, ended up in Hamburg in 1770, where he met with Lessing. In the winter of the same year, fate brought him together with another bright personality - the young Goethe, who was then still a student. Herder is said to have been a huge influence in his formation as a poet.

In the period from 1771 to 1776, Johann Gottfried Herder lives in Bückeburg, is a member of the consistory, the main pastor. Goethe helped him get a position as a preacher at the Weimar court in 1776, and Herder's entire further biography is connected with this city. He left Weimar only in 1788-1789, when he traveled through Italy.

The works “Fragments on German Literature” (1766-1768) and “Critical Groves” (1769) written back in the Riga period had a significant impact on German literature of the period when the movement called “Storm and Onslaught” loudly declared itself. In these writings, Herder spoke of the influence that the spiritual and historical development of the people has on the national literary process. In 1773, the work on which he worked together with Goethe, “On German Character and Art”, saw the light of day, a collection that became the program document of “Sturm und Drang”.

The most famous works of Johann Gottfried Herder were already written in Weimar. Thus, the collection "Folk Songs", created during 1778-1779, absorbed both poems written by Herder, Goethe, Claudis, and songs from various peoples of the world. In Weimar, Herder began the most ambitious work of his life - "Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Humanity", in which he covered the issue of the relationship between the cultural development of mankind, traditions and natural conditions, universal principles and the peculiarities of the path of an individual people.

This work remained unfinished, however, and without it, the legacy left by Herder was enough to place him among the major figures of the Sturm und Drang period, which opposed the philosophical and literary views of the Enlightenment, putting forward relatives as bearers of true art. to nature, "natural" people. Thanks to Herder's translations, German readers learned about the famous works of other national cultures, and he also made a huge contribution to the history of literature.

In 1801, Herder became head of the consistory, the Elector of Bavaria granted him a patent for nobility, but two years later, on December 18, 1803, he died.

Johann Gottfried Herder

Herder, Johann Gottfried (1744 - 1803) - famous German historian and philosopher. His largest and most important works are " Ideas on the philosophy of human history ".

Herder Johann Gottfried (1744-1803), German philosopher, theologian, poet, critic and esthetician, Sturm und Drang theorist, great friend and teacher I. Goethe. Born in Morungen (now Morong) in the family of a poor Lutheran priest. A student of early Kant. In 1764 he graduated from the University of Königsberg. In 1764-1769 he served as a pastor in the Dome Cathedral in Riga, from 1776 in Weimar, he traveled extensively in Europe. In Riga, he became close to the circle of K. Behrens, whose members vigorously discussed reform projects in the spirit of the Enlightenment. Then he became a member and secretary of one of Masonic lodges. Wrote a treatise on the origin of language. The founder of the concept of nationality. Collected and translated folk songs, taught. Being away from Koenigsberg did not break contact with Gaman and Kant, published in Koenigsberg editions. Significantly influenced the views A. N. Radishcheva .

Materials are reprinted from the project "East Prussian Dictionary", compiled by Alexei Petrushin using the book: "Essays on the History of East Prussia", edited by G.V. Kretinina.

Other biographical material:

Frolov I.T. Philosopher, writer, literary critic Philosophical Dictionary. Ed. I.T. Frolova. M., 1991 ).

Rumyantseva T.G. Herder's activity marks a new stage of enlightenment in Germany ( The latest philosophical dictionary. Comp. Gritsanov A.A. Minsk, 1998 ).

Kirilenko G.G., Shevtsov E.V. He was known as a "hot Russian patriot" ( Kirilenko G.G., Shevtsov E.V. Brief philosophical dictionary. M. 2010 ).

Schastlivtsev R.A. Experienced the influence of G. Lessing and especially I. Gaman ( New Philosophical Encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Huseynov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Thought, 2010 , v. I, A - D).

Gulyga A.V. He predicted a great historical future for the Slavic peoples ( Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 4. THE HAGUE - DVIN. 1963 ).

Baker D. R. "Neither the chimpanzee nor the gibbon are your brothers...". ( Baker John R. Race. The white man's view of evolution. / John R. Baker, translated from English by M.Yu. Diunov. - M., 2015)

He pursued the idea of ​​the formation and development of the world as an organic whole ( Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editors: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 ).

Rehabilitated folk medieval poetry ( The World History. Volume V. M., 1958 ).

Read further:

Herder Johann Gottfried. Ideas in the Philosophy of Human History. ( Herder I.G. Ideas for the philosophy of human history. M., 1977).

Herder. Ideas for the Philosophy of Human History ( Article by A. A. Kostikov on the unfinished work of I. G. Herder).

Philosophers, lovers of wisdom (biographical index).

Historical Persons of Germany (biographical guide).

Germany in the 19th century (chronological table)

Compositions:

Werke, Bd 1-32. V., 1877-1899; Bd 1-5. V.-Weimar, 1978; in Russian transl.: Fav. op. M.-L., 1959.

Literature:

Gulyga A.V. Herder. M., 1975;

Adler H. Die Pragnanz des Dunklen. Gnoseologie, Asthetik, Geschichtsphilosophie bei J. G. Herder. Hamb., 1990;

Schmitz M. J. G. Herder: Ahndung kiinftiger Bestimmung. Stuttg.-Weimar, 1994.

Johann Gottfried Herder

(Johann Gottfried Herder, 1744-1803)

Herder, the greatest thinker of the 18th century, had a great influence on the formation of the aesthetic views of the sturmers. His significance in the history of philosophical and aesthetic thought is determined primarily by the fact that he began to consider social and literary phenomena from a historical point of view. Herder studied literature and art in close connection with the whole life of mankind, emphasizing their dependence on the language, customs, psychology, way of thinking of this or that people at a certain stage of its historical development. From this, Herder drew a conclusion about the national uniqueness of the work of each writer, introduced a new, historical method of studying literary phenomena into science. Herder was an ardent defender of humanism and the friendship of peoples. In his positive program, he came close to the ideas of utopian socialism.

Herder was born in the small provincial town of Morungen (East Prussia) in the family of a poor school teacher, who simultaneously acts as a bell ringer and chorister in the local church. Due to financial difficulties, Herder did not even have to receive a systematic primary education. For ten years he is given into the service of the despotic deacon Tresho, where he performs all kinds of domestic work, and also rewrites the theological writings of his master.

In 1762, Herder went to Königsberg to study surgery, but became a student of the theological faculty of Königsberg University. I. Kant's lectures on natural spiders made a great impression on him. From them he extracted the idea of ​​the mutability of the world, which would take such a large place in his future writings. But Herder gets a lot from self-study. He studies the works of Leibniz, Voltaire, Baumgarten, Hume, Newton, Keppler and other philosophers and naturalists, gets acquainted with the work of Rousseau, which had a great influence on him. In his student years, as later, Herder strikes with the breadth of his interests.

Herder's active literary activity began in Riga, where he lived in 1764-1769, being the pastor of the Dome Cathedral. At this time, he published a number of articles - “On the latest German literature. Fragments” (Über die neuere deutsche Literatur. Fragmente), “Critical forests” (Die Kritische Wälder), in which his innovative approach to the study of literary phenomena was already quite clearly revealed. In 1770-1771, while in Strasbourg, Herder met and became close to Goethe, playing an important role in establishing the latter in the aesthetic positions of Sturm und Drang. The fruit of this acquaintance was the jointly compiled collection On the German Character in Art (Von Deutscher Art und Kunst, 1773), where Goethe placed an essay on architecture, and Herder made articles on Shakespeare and folk song. The thoughts developed by Herder and Goethe in their joint speech were perceived by German writers as a manifesto of a new Sturmer trend in literature.

In 1771-1775. Herder serves as a preacher in Bückerburg, and then, with the assistance of Goethe, moves to Weimar, where he remains until the end of his days, acting as court adviser to the consistory. In the Weimar period, Herder wrote the most significant works in which his concept of world literature was deployed with the greatest completeness and distinctness: Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (Ideen zur Philosophic der Gescliichtc derMcnschheil, 1784-1791), a collection of Voices of the Peoples in Songs ( Stimmen der Völker in Lieder, 1778-1791), "Letters to Encourage Humanity" (Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität, 1794-1797), "Kalligone" (Kalligone, 1800) and others. Herder also wrote poems, dramas ("Brutus" , "Philoctetes", "Uninhibited Prometheus", etc.), but his artistic work, distinguished by its progressive ideological orientation, is not high in artistic terms. The images in his dramaturgy and poetry are marked by illustrativeness and schematism. Much more interesting is Herder as a translator. His greatest success in this area is the translation into German of Spanish romances about Side.

Herder's world fame is based on his philosophical, historical and literary works, in which he declared himself as a true innovator. Enlighteners of the 18th century (Voltaire, Montesquieu, Lessing, etc.) viewed history as a struggle between enlightenment and ignorance, civilization against barbarism. Their own views were regarded by them as the highest step in the development of world theoretical thought. From the standpoint of enlightenment reason, they rejected the Middle Ages. For them, the Middle Ages is an era of solid prejudice. For the same reasons, they did not pay due attention to folk art.

Herder considered the history of world culture as a process, all links of which are interconnected, necessary and, therefore, have a unique originality. Each historical epoch, each nation will create artistic values, marked with the stamp of originality, increasing the spiritual and aesthetic wealth of mankind.

Herder speaks of the folk origins of artistic creativity. In one of his early articles, “Do we have a French theater?” he enters into a decisive polemic with those who linked the future of German theatrical art with the goodwill of titled patrons. Herder, on the contrary, notes the pernicious influence of the court-aristocratic environment on theatrical life.

In the essay “On the latest German literature. Fragments" Herder drew attention to the enormous role of language as a "tool" of artistic creation, without which there can be neither great poets nor great prose writers. Of great scientific importance was his position that language is a product of the millennium development of society, that it is not given to people by God, but arose in the process of human communication, improving from one generation to another. Very valuable, materialistic in its essence, was Herder's position that language is the practical existence of thought ("We think with the help of language .., thinking is almost the same as speech"). Herder showed great interest in the development of the German national language, seeing it as a means to help unite the nation and create a national literature.

In the "Critical Forests" Herder, arguing with the aesthetics of the XVIII century. Riedel, as well as indirectly with Winckelmann, disputes their thesis about the absolute ideal of beauty, proving the variability of the concept of beauty. “Are the Greek, Gothic and Moorish tastes the same,” he asks, in sculpture and architecture, in mythology and poetry? And doesn’t each of them draw his explanation from the era, customs and character of his people? Herder is a strong opponent of normative aesthetics. Genuine art, in his opinion, is incompatible with normativity, it is the fruit of free inspiration, unique to every artist.

Great are the merits of Herder as a folklorist. He was the first in Germany to pay attention to oral folk poetry, energetically engaged in collecting and popularizing his works. He, in particular, was struck by the spiritual, cultural riches of Russia (he to some extent joined them while living in Riga). Herder urged the scientists of the Slavic countries to collect folk songs, which reflected the peculiarities of the life of the Slavs, their customs and ideals. Herder predicted a great future for the Slavic peoples, who, in his opinion, would play a leading role in the spiritual life of Europe.

Language, religious beliefs, ethical ideas and other achievements of civilization are considered by Herder as a product of the collective life of the people. They arose as a result of a certain vital spiritual need. Herder, Goethe admits in Book X of his autobiography, "taught us to understand poetry as the common gift of all mankind, and not as the private property of a few refined and educated natures." An individual artist, according to Herder, achieves great poetic expressiveness only when he is connected with the elements of the people's national life.

Herder's most striking work as a folklorist is the anthology Voices of the Nations in Songs. It consists of six books. It presents the works of folk poetry not only of the civilized peoples of the world, but also of those who did not yet have their own written language (Eskimos, Laplanders, residents of Madagascar, etc.). On the other hand, the collection included samples of the poetry of Shakespeare, Goethe, which, according to Herder, were closely connected with folk life.

The greatest place in "Voices ..." is occupied by songs of love, everyday life, but some are distinguished by a socio-political orientation. Such, for example, is the “Song of Freedom” (Lied der Freiheit, from Greek), which glorifies the heroes of ancient history, Hormodius and Aristogeiton, who threw the despot ruler Hipparchus off the cliff. The poem Klage liber die Tyrannen des Leibeigenen (from Estonian) is permeated with a sharp protest against feudal serf oppression. It expresses the despair and anger of a peasant who is forced to flee his native home, fleeing the bullying of a baron-lihodey, who beats his serfs with whips.

Our life is worse than hell.

We're on fire in hell

Bread burns our lips,

We drink poisoned water.

Our bread is kneaded on fire,

Sparks lurk in the crumb,

Batogi under the bread crust.

(Translated by L. Ginzburg)

Herder's most famous and most significant work is his "Ideas on the Philosophy of Human History". Created in a stormy time, on the eve and during the years of the French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century, with which the thinker sympathized, this work is imbued with the thought of the continuous improvement of society, the doom of inhumane social institutions, the invincibility of progress and the victory of humanism. In the "Ideas" Herder's research method was most fully manifested - his desire to consider the phenomena of nature and social life in development, from a historical point of view.

The book consists of four parts. It explores the natural and social conditions for the existence of the human race. Herder pursues quite earthly goals: he seeks to find natural, objective laws that govern the world. The philosopher of a materialistic cast gains the upper hand over the theologian in it, although concessions to traditional theological views still strongly make themselves felt on many pages of his work.

Herder proceeds from the premise that man has a dual origin. On the one hand, he is a product of nature, and on the other, social circumstances. This is reflected in the structure of the Ideas. They first consider the natural, and then the socio-historical conditions of people's lives. Herder begins his review with a characterization of the earth, with a definition of its place in space. He wants to prove that the uniqueness of our planet, its rotation around the sun and its axis, the peculiarities of its atmospheric cover, etc., have significantly influenced the structure of the human body. Man, according to Herder, is organically woven into the life of nature, he is a part of it, but at the same time he has a number of distinctive features. Its main difference from the animal is the ability to "walk with its head up". This allowed a person to free his hands, which played a huge role in his struggle for existence and in spiritual improvement. People, Herder argues, in the process of communication created a language, developed the mind, which, in his opinion, unlike instinct, is not given from birth, but is a product of historical development. Ultimately, Herder sees the distinguishing quality of a person in the fact that he is a rational, thinking being. Humanity is the essence of human nature and the ultimate goal of humanity. However, along with the provisions based on the study of vast factual material, "Ideas" contain judgments of a mystical nature. Herder, for example, argues at length that humanism can be fully revealed only in conditions of unearthly existence. Hence his dreams of eternal life beyond the limit, etc.

Herder in his work gives a detailed description of the historical life of all the peoples of the world known at that time. His historical digressions testify to the author's enormous erudition, although he naturally admits inaccuracies caused by the state of historical science in the 18th century. Herder sets himself the task of tracing the reasons for the natural (geographical) and social order that this or that people advanced on the historical arena with their spiritual achievements, the degree of development of literature and art. The most brilliant pages of the "Ideas" in this regard are devoted to ancient Greece, which is characterized by Herder as the cradle of human culture. The historical view in Herder's aesthetics is constantly being corrected by enlightenment ideology. Explaining the uniqueness of the cultural life of a certain people, the thinker never forgets to evaluate it from the point of view of modern human interests, which gives his work a relevant significance.

The continuation of the "Ideas" are "Letters for the Encouragement of Humanity", where Herder developed his concept on the material of living modernity. In his new work, he wanted to show the irresistibility of the spirit of historical change, the doom of obsolete feudal-monarchist institutions. "Letters" were created in the midst of revolutionary events in France, which the writer met with enthusiasm. True, embarrassed by the resolute actions of the Jacobins (the execution of the king, queen and other inspirers of the reaction), Herder later, like many German writers, switched to more moderate social and political positions, but still his sympathy for the French revolution never faded, and she had the most direct influence on his assessment of the situation in Germany. In his sermons, Herder spoke sympathetically of the revolutionary French people, which aroused the furious wrath of Duke Karl-August; he directly and sharply condemned the intervention against revolutionary France, which was an act of great civic courage. In the first version of the Letters, Herder openly criticizes the despotism of the German princes, expresses his indignation at their shameful custom of trading in their subjects, advocates the abolition of noble privileges, admires the French "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen", expresses a wish for the introduction of constitutional orders in his fatherland, etc. e. Rejecting the conjectures of the reactionaries, Herder is firmly convinced that the revolution will lead not to the decline, but to the flourishing of artistic creativity.

The musty atmosphere of the Weimar court, Herder's official position (he was the highest clergyman in the duchy) did not allow the writer to publish the "Letters" in their original form. He was forced to significantly soften the radicalness of his judgments. As a result, the work, while remaining a significant phenomenon in German literature, nevertheless lost its intended political sharpness.

In his last works (Kalligon, etc.) Herder devotes much attention to the criticism of Kantianism. He does not share Kant's thoughts on the a priori nature of the concepts of time and space, and points to formalism in his aesthetic views. In the fight against the weaknesses of Kantian aesthetics, Herder proceeds not from abstract theoretical motives: he sees what a negative influence it had on Schiller and some other German writers. Herder is concerned about the fate of German literature. Hence his ardent desire to prove that the beauty of a work of art is determined not only by its form, as Kant believed, but depends on its content. Herder, as a true educator, does not think of the beautiful in isolation from the good and the just. Until the end of his days, he remained a fighter for the art of great humanistic ideas and feelings.

Herder left a deep mark on the history of aesthetic thought. Romantics largely relied on him in their struggle for national-original creativity, he contributed to the awakening of their interest in folklore. At the same time, by studying man concretely historically, Herder gave impetus to the development of realism. Goethe and other writers of the realistic trend in German literature of the last third of the 18th century trace their “pedigree” from him.