Johann Herder German cultural historian Date of Birth: 25.08.1744 Country: Germany

1. Biography of Johann Gottfried Herder
2. Travels and Influences
3. Life in Bükeburg and Weimar
4. Works and Contributions

Biography of Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried Herder was a German cultural historian who was born on August 25, 1744 in Mohrungen, East Prussia. He was the son of a school teacher. Herder enrolled in the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg in 1762. In 1764, he became a teacher in a church school in Riga and in 1767, he became an assistant pastor of two major parishes in Riga.

Travels and Influences

In May 1769, Herder embarked on a journey and by November, he arrived in Paris. In June 1770, he accompanied and mentored the heir to the Holstein-Eutin princely line to Hamburg, where he met Moses Mendelssohn. During his time in Darmstadt, Herder met Caroline Flachsland, whom he later married. In Strasbourg, he underwent an unsuccessful eye operation and formed a close relationship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was still a student at the time and would go on to become a renowned poet.

Life in Bükeburg and Weimar

From 1771 to 1776, Herder served as the chief pastor and a member of the consistory in Bükeburg. Thanks to Goethe's intervention, Herder was invited to Weimar in 1776, where he became a court preacher and a member of the consistory. With the exception of a trip to Italy in 1788-1789, Herder spent the rest of his life in Weimar. In 1801, he became the head of the consistory and received a noble title from the Elector of Bavaria. Herder passed away on December 18, 1803.

Works and Contributions

Herder's early works, "Fragments on the Recent German Literature" (1767-1768) and "Critical Forests" (1769), built upon the foundations laid by his predecessor, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. These works were complemented by Lessing's "Literary Letters", and "Critical Forests" began with a critique of Lessing's "Laocoon". In his articles "Extracts from Correspondence on Ossian and Ancient Songs" and "Shakespeare" in the collection "On German Character and Art" (1773), a programmatic document of the "Storm and Stress" movement, Herder attempted to prove that all literature ultimately derives from folk songs. His collection of folk poetry, "Folk Songs" (1778-1779), later renamed "Voices of the People in Songs", gained widespread recognition. It consisted of beautifully translated songs from various nations, as well as original poems by Herder, Goethe, and Matthias Claudius. Herder's greatest work, "Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Humanity" (1784-1791), remained unfinished. Its concept was to reveal the close connection between nature and the cultural development of humanity. For Herder, history was the stage for God's actions, the fulfillment of God's plan, and the revelation of God in nature. The sole purpose of human existence was the progress of humanity and humaneness.