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Herderrsquos Theory of the VolksgeistPosted By Andrew Hamilton On May 20 2011 154 pm In North American New Right | CommentsDisabled

[1]3502 words

German philosopher and critic Johann Gottfried vonHerder (1744ndash1803) developed the concept of romanticor organic nationalism a form of ethnic nationalism inwhich the state derives its political legitimacy fromhistoric cultural or hereditary groups The underlyingassumption is that every ethnicity should be politicallydistinct Herderrsquos ideas on the subject were expressed inhis theory of the Volksgeist

A medical student at the University of Koumlnigsberg inEast Prussia in the 1760s Herder quickly abandonedmedicine for theology and philosophy which broughthim into contact with philosopher Immanuel Kant oneof his professors To encourage Herder his favoritepupil Kant waived the fees customarily paid forattendance at his lectures allowed the student to readsome of his unpublished manuscripts and introducedhim to the writings of Montesquieu Hume andRousseau

Ordained in 1765 Herder became assistant master (teacher) at the Lutheran cathedral school inRiga His religious works include Christian Writings (Christliche Schriften) 5 vols (1794ndash98)Lutherrsquos Catechism with a catechetical instruction for the use of schools (1798) and On theSpirit of Hebrew Poetry (Vom Geist der hebraumlischen Poesie) (1782ndash3) According to StevenMartinson the Lutheran pietism in which he was raised exhibited ldquoa sense of equality among thelsquobrothersrsquo and lsquosistersrsquo that carried over into Herderrsquos later understanding of community liferdquoHerder regretted that Martin Luther had not established a German national church Christianityhe believed had been (and should be) Germanized just as other nations should adoptmodifications of Christianity suitable to their own circumstances ethnic consciousness andexperience

Romantic Son of the Enlightenment

In Strasbourg he met Goethe five years his junior upon whom Herderrsquos ideas about poetry andits social role produced a powerful effect Herder was a key figure with Goethe and others in theSturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement in German literature c 1770ndash84

Though a leader of the Romantics Herder was nevertheless according to Royal J Schmidt ldquoatrue son of the Aufklaumlrung and seventeenth-century rationalism who was strongly influenced bythe ideas of Leibniz Kant Spinoza Montesquieu and Shaftesburyrdquo (ldquoCultural Nationalism inHerderrdquo Journal of the History of Ideas [June 1956] 407) Because all human structures aretransitory Herder believed tradition

though in itself an excellent institution of Nature indispensable to the human race butwhen it fetters the thinking faculty both in politics and education and prevents all progressof the intellect and all the improvement that new times and circumstances demand it isthe true narcotic of the mind as well to nations and sects as to individuals

In 1776 through Goethersquos influence Herder was named Generalsuperintendent of the Lutheranclergy at Weimar a post he held for the rest of his life

A prolific author in many different fields (poetry art comparative philology and linguisticsreligion mythology philosophy of history metaphysics psychology or philosophy of mindaesthetics and political philosophy) his books most relevant to this discussion are This Too a

Philosophy of History for the Formation of Humanity (1774) Ideas for the Philosophy of Historyof Humanity (Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit) 4 vols (1784ndash91) hismasterwork in which he discussed all known peoples and Letters for the Advancement ofHumanity (Briefe zur Befoumlrderung der Humanitaumlt) 10 vols (1793ndash7) a work largely of politicalphilosophy written in response to the French Revolution

Stylistically according to Michael Forster [2] of the University of Chicago Herder is ldquohostiletowards systematicity in philosophy He is in particular hostile to the ambitious sort ofsystematicity aspired to in the tradition of Spinoza Wolff Kant Fichte Schelling and Hegel theideal of a comprehensive theory whose parts display some sort of strict overall pattern ofderivationrdquo He was skeptical that such systematic designs could work as opposed to creating theillusion that they do and believed system-building closes off inquiry and disregards or distortsvital empirical evidence Herderrsquos views ldquoestablished an important countertradition in Germanphilosophy (which subsequently included eg F Schlegel Nietzsche and Wittgenstein)rdquo He alsoharbored ldquoa general commitment to empiricism and against apriorism in philosophy which leadshim to avoid familiar sorts of apriorist arguments in philosophyrdquo

Herder and Biological Race

Herder was a key figure in the development of two well-known philosophical-anthropologicalconcepts

[3]One is Zeitgeist (zeit time + geist spirit) ldquospirit ofthe timerdquo or ldquospirit of the agerdquo signifying the generalcultural intellectual ethical spiritual and politicalclimate of an era Herder reportedly coined the term inhis 1769 critique of a work by German philologistChristian Adolph Klotz

The second concept the one relevant here isVolksgeist usually translated as ldquonational spiritrdquo orldquonational characterrdquo In German however Nationalgeistis the term for national spirit and Nationalcharakter fornational character Volksgeist means ldquospirit of the Volkrdquo

In a holistic sense race consists of dimensions beyondphysical anthropology or population genetics Just asevery distinct population shares common morphologicaland physiological traits despite within-group variation they likewise express unique grouppsychology intelligence behavior character morals and ultimately culture and civilization(Jared Taylor ldquoWhite Americans believed race was a fundamental aspect of individual and groupidentity They believed people of different races differed in temperament ability and the kind ofsocieties they builtrdquo) In fact such second-order phenomena are the aspects of race thatpreoccupy most ldquoracistsrdquo most of the time

Herderrsquos Volksgeist is highly compatible with this modern understanding of race This is why he isfrequently viewed as a ldquoracistrdquo by modern academics (eg Cedric Dover ldquoThe Racial Philosophyof Johann Herderrdquo British Journal of Sociology [1952] 124ndash33) or as a forerunner of Nazism Itis easy to see why this is the case

German physical anthropologist Egon von Eickstedt maintained that Herder and ChristophMeiners (1747ndash1810) were the founders of the anthropological theory of history AnthropologistIlse Schwidetzky wrote that Herder ldquoentertained the general conviction that the character of apeople and subsequently their history is determined by their nature and heredityrdquo

However Herderrsquos implicitly racial or ethnic understanding of Volk was not predicated upon abiological worldview at least not an explicit one Moreover it reflected the biological confusionand limited scientific understanding of the time As Oxford biologist John R Baker noted inHerderrsquos Ideas

his arguments appear rather feeble and in places actually foolish For instance he says thatall men are the same in internal anatomy and evenmdashalmost unbelievablymdashthat a fewhundred years ago the inhabitants of Germany were Patagonians [natives of a region locatedat the southern tip of South America] He mentions [Johann F] Blumenbach [the Germanfather of modern anthropology who developed a 5-race model of mankind] but will notagree to the division of mankind into races lsquoRace [he uses this actual word] implies a

difference of origin [ie not the Biblical creation]rsquo he claims and this difference he denieslsquoDenn jedes Volk ist Volkrsquo he insists for him the reality is not the race but the nation withits national speech

Herder shows better sense than some of the philosophers of his time [Baker mentionsRousseau and several other eminent figures] in rejecting the idea that the anthropoid apescould be regarded as human He tells us that nature has divided the apes and monkeys intomany genera and species but man is unitary lsquoNeither the Pongo [chimpanzee] nor theLongimanus [gibbon] is your brother but truly the American [Amerindian] and the Negroare

Herderrsquos religious convictions prevented him from classifying mankind with animals He believednational groups belonged not to ldquosystematic natural historyrdquo but to ldquothe physico-geographicalhistory of manrdquo With Montesquieu he viewed human populations as products of the lands theyinhabited the climates in which they developed and the circumstances that shaped theirrespective histories

The structure of the earth in its natural variety and diversity Seas mountain rangesand rivers are the most natural boundaries not only of lands but also of peoples customslanguages and empires and they have been even in the greatest revolutions in humanaffairs the directing lines or limits of world history

Yet despite these caveats Herderrsquos worldview was unmistakably racialist as can be seen in hisobservations concerning the Chinese

show what kind of nation it is and evince itrsquos genetic character a character whichequally meets the eye on contemplation of the whole and inspection of its parts even todress food customs domestic economy arts and amusements This northeastern mungal[Mongol] nation could no more change its natural form by artificial regulations even thoughenduring for thousands of years than a man can change his nature that is the innatecharacter of his race and complexion It was planted on this spot of the Globe and thisrace of men in this region could never become Greeks or Romans Chinese they were andwill remain a people endowed by nature with small eyes a short nose a flat forehead littlebeard large ears and a protuberant belly what their organization could produce it hasproduced Nature seems to have refused them as well as many other nations in thiscorner of the World great invention in Science while on the other hand he has beautifullyconferred on their little eyes a spirit of application adroit diligence and nicety a talent ofimitating with art whatever their cupidity deems useful Eternally moving eternallyoccupied they are forever going and coming in quest of gain or in fulfillment of theiroffices

Elsewhere he makes the reverse case ldquoHad Greece been peopled with Chinese our Greece wouldnever have existedrdquo

Jacques Godechot a French Jewish historian wrote that for Herder ldquothe destiny of nationalgroups is fixed by imperatives beyond popular [ie political] modification These imperatives arerace (Herder did not formulate a theory of race but to a certain extent he can be considered as aforerunner of modern racism) language tradition and natural frontiersrdquo

It can be said that Herder inserted a full-blown de facto racial-ethnic view of history andmankind at a level one step above that of biology (race) In Herderrsquos treatment at least theconsequences are much the same as they would be for a more biologically-oriented approach

Still rejection of or lack of clarity about basic raciology is best avoided It leads whites badlyastray as witness the consequences of the petty but internecine nationalisms of the 19th and20th centuries

The Volksgeist

The Volksgeist the spirit of the folk is a manifestation of the people it animates the nationldquoThere is only one class in the state the Volk (not the rabble) and the king belongs to this classas well as the peasantrdquo The Volksgeist is as old as the Volk and evolves with the national groupThere is a life of national groups and withering and death marks the end of a Volk

Every human group is as an empirical matter different from every other group each nationality(or Volk) is characterized by its own unique spirit Each people possesses its own cultural traitsshaped by ancestral history and the experience of a particular physical environment and

mentally constructs its social life through language literature religion the arts customs andfolklore inherited from earlier generations The Volk is the family writ large

Law too must be adapted to the spirit of each nation for rules applied to one nation are notvalid for another The only effective and legitimate governments are those that develop naturallyfrom within particular nations and reflect in their differences from other polities the cultures ofthe people they govern

It follows that two nations cannot have the same Volksgeist Therefore Herder rejected theFrench revolutionary (and contemporary) dogma that man is everywhere the same whether helives in Africa or England or that every nation is fundamentally identical with every other nationand thereby should be made homogeneous with them Herder Godechot writes is staunchlyopposed to all that is cosmopolite and universalist in character ldquoIn contrast he believes inparticularismrdquo

Herder constantly likened the Volksgeist ldquosingular marvelous inexplicable ineffablerdquo to a plantthat grows blooms and withers Just as the ldquobotanist cannot obtain a complete knowledge of aplant unless he follow it from the seed through its germination blossoming and decayrdquo so toomust the historian seek to understand the uniqueness of the present by reference to its roots inthe past

In other words the Volksgeist can best be understood through the phenomena of historyTherefore the study of history must play a central role in education The objective of historicalinstruction which should be nationalistic in character is to teach how the Fatherland evolvedover time

Rather than giving priority to the study of ancient and modern history as was common in the18th century Herder redeemed the history of the Middle Ages feeling that it had been givenshort shrift He also refused to restrict history to the study of politics wars and dynasties ForHerder history was primarily the history of the Volk its language culture customs religionliterature law and folklore (A writer and collector of poetry folk songs and legends and anearly student of comparative literature Herder published a collection of folk songs in 1773entitled Voices of the People in Their Songs [Stimmen der Voumllker in ihren Liedern])

Herderrsquos views of both the German and the Slavic Volksgeist did not match existing territorialborders but were pan-national in character

Despite being Prussian Herder rejected Prussian nationalism as too narrow An intense Germannationalist he was imbued with the spirit of the entire German Volk ldquoHe is deserving of gloryand gratitude who seeks to promote the unity of the territories of Germany through writingsmanufacture and institutionsrdquo Herder believed that Austria too should be part of Germany

Likewise he conceived of Slavs as a Volk rather than extolling specific polities Thus he wrote ofthe Slavic as opposed to the Russian Polish or some other politically-defined Volksgeist Herderpredicted the Slavic nations would one day be the real power in Europe as western Europeanswould reject Christianity and rot away while the eastern European nations would adhere to theirreligion and to their idealism Through his concept of Volksgeist which directly influenced Slavicintellectuals and his high praise for the Slavic people and culture Herder became an intellectualgodfather of Pan-Slavism [4]

Herder rejected the mixture of Voumllker each of which he believed was adapted to a particularecological niche Ideally ldquoif every one of these nations had remained in its place the Earth mighthave been considered as a garden where in one spot one human national plant in anotheranother bloomed in its proper figure and naturerdquo But just ldquoas men are not firmly rooted plantsthe calamities of famine earthquakes war and the like must in time remove them from theirplace to some other more or less differentrdquo Almost every people on Earth ldquohas migrated at leastonce sooner or later to a greater distance or lessrdquo

On Language

For Herder language became a key cultural differentiator and identifier

Has a people anything dearer than the speech of its fathers In its speech resides its wholethought-domain its tradition history religion and basis of life all its heart and soul Todeprive a people of its speech is to deprive it of its one eternal good As God toleratesall the different languages in the world so also should a ruler not only tolerate but honor thevarious languages of his peoples The best culture of a people cannot be expressed

mentally constructs its social life through language literature religion the arts customs andfolklore inherited from earlier generations The Volk is the family writ large

Law too must be adapted to the spirit of each nation for rules applied to one nation are notvalid for another The only effective and legitimate governments are those that develop naturallyfrom within particular nations and reflect in their differences from other polities the cultures ofthe people they govern

It follows that two nations cannot have the same Volksgeist Therefore Herder rejected theFrench revolutionary (and contemporary) dogma that man is everywhere the same whether helives in Africa or England or that every nation is fundamentally identical with every other nationand thereby should be made homogeneous with them Herder Godechot writes is staunchlyopposed to all that is cosmopolite and universalist in character ldquoIn contrast he believes inparticularismrdquo

Herder constantly likened the Volksgeist ldquosingular marvelous inexplicable ineffablerdquo to a plantthat grows blooms and withers Just as the ldquobotanist cannot obtain a complete knowledge of aplant unless he follow it from the seed through its germination blossoming and decayrdquo so toomust the historian seek to understand the uniqueness of the present by reference to its roots inthe past

In other words the Volksgeist can best be understood through the phenomena of historyTherefore the study of history must play a central role in education The objective of historicalinstruction which should be nationalistic in character is to teach how the Fatherland evolvedover time

Rather than giving priority to the study of ancient and modern history as was common in the18th century Herder redeemed the history of the Middle Ages feeling that it had been givenshort shrift He also refused to restrict history to the study of politics wars and dynasties ForHerder history was primarily the history of the Volk its language culture customs religionliterature law and folklore (A writer and collector of poetry folk songs and legends and anearly student of comparative literature Herder published a collection of folk songs in 1773entitled Voices of the People in Their Songs [Stimmen der Voumllker in ihren Liedern])

Herderrsquos views of both the German and the Slavic Volksgeist did not match existing territorialborders but were pan-national in character

Despite being Prussian Herder rejected Prussian nationalism as too narrow An intense Germannationalist he was imbued with the spirit of the entire German Volk ldquoHe is deserving of gloryand gratitude who seeks to promote the unity of the territories of Germany through writingsmanufacture and institutionsrdquo Herder believed that Austria too should be part of Germany

Likewise he conceived of Slavs as a Volk rather than extolling specific polities Thus he wrote ofthe Slavic as opposed to the Russian Polish or some other politically-defined Volksgeist Herderpredicted the Slavic nations would one day be the real power in Europe as western Europeanswould reject Christianity and rot away while the eastern European nations would adhere to theirreligion and to their idealism Through his concept of Volksgeist which directly influenced Slavicintellectuals and his high praise for the Slavic people and culture Herder became an intellectualgodfather of Pan-Slavism [4]

Herder rejected the mixture of Voumllker each of which he believed was adapted to a particularecological niche Ideally ldquoif every one of these nations had remained in its place the Earth mighthave been considered as a garden where in one spot one human national plant in anotheranother bloomed in its proper figure and naturerdquo But just ldquoas men are not firmly rooted plantsthe calamities of famine earthquakes war and the like must in time remove them from theirplace to some other more or less differentrdquo Almost every people on Earth ldquohas migrated at leastonce sooner or later to a greater distance or lessrdquo

On Language

For Herder language became a key cultural differentiator and identifier

Has a people anything dearer than the speech of its fathers In its speech resides its wholethought-domain its tradition history religion and basis of life all its heart and soul Todeprive a people of its speech is to deprive it of its one eternal good As God toleratesall the different languages in the world so also should a ruler not only tolerate but honor thevarious languages of his peoples The best culture of a people cannot be expressed

through a foreign language it thrives on the soil of a nation most beautifully and I maysay it thrives only by means of the nationrsquos inherited and inheritable dialect With languageis created the heart of a people and is it not a high concern amongst so many peoplesmdashHungarians Slavs Rumanians etcmdashto plant seeds of well-being for the far future and inthe way that is dearest and most appropriate to them

Herderrsquos stress on the centrality of language including dangerously divisive multilingual diversitywithin the white race or even a single white state impacted the development of Europeannationalism during the succeeding two centuries (Linguistic diversity within multiracial states likethe US is desirable because genetically speaking language barriers tend to hinder hybridizationYou do not want anything like ldquoEnglish Onlyrdquo in a multiracial milieu) After Herder Europeannational languages assumed a heavily romanticized mystical aura in nationalist thought Worselanguage was used as a poor stand-in for race in whitesrsquo construction of their concepts ofldquopeoplerdquo and ldquonationrdquo in the 19th and 20th centuries

Madison Grant Lothrop Stoddard and others realized that race and language are notinterchangeable that language is not an adequate surrogate for race Nor should languagebalkanize and divide whites as it has to date It is imperative that we transcend the currentlyimpermeable linguistic barriers that seal whites into airtight national compartments rendering usldquoforeignrdquo and mutually unintelligible to one another Rather we must talk and move ceaselesslyacross the old territorial linguistic and intellectual borders as a prelude to full-fledgedtransnational white cooperation

The Jews

In terms of religion for Herder there was no continuity between (for him legitimate) OldTestament Judaism and the Pharisaic Judaism of Jesusrsquo time which he regarded as degenerate inform

As far as ethnicity goes Herder did not think of Jews primarily as individuals but as a Volk TheJews he wrote ldquoin the land of their fathers and in the midst of other nations remain as theywere and even when mixed with other people they may be distinguished for some generationsdownwardrdquo His view of Voumllker compelled him to regard Jews as alien to Germany and Europe

For thousands of years since their emergence on the stage of history the Jews were aparasitic growth on the stem of other nations a race of cunning brokers all over the earthThey have caused great evil to many ill-organized states by retarding the free and naturaleconomic development of their indigenous population

In another passage reflective of Herderrsquos racial-ethnic worldview he says

The Jewish people is and remains in Europe an Asiatic people alien to our part of the worldbound to that old law which it received in a distant climate and which according to itsconfession it cannot do away with [Emphasis added]

How many of this alien people can be tolerated without injury to the true citizens

A ministry in which a Jew is supreme a household in which a Jew has the key of thewardrobe and the management of the finances a department or commissariat in which Jewsdo the principal business are Pontine marshes which cannot be drained

However in the opinion of some Jews Herderrsquos greatest sin was his formulation of the theory ofthe Volksgeist itself David Isadore Lieberman an anti-white publicist writes

Herderrsquos most important contribution to the intellectual history of antisemitism was entirelyunintended his novel argument for the organic development of national cultures whichincorporated elements of geography language kinship and historical continuity AlthoughHerder maintained (with occasional lapses) that no culture enjoyed a privileged position withrespect to any other his model of the organic natural culture left Jews living in the Diasporaexposed susceptible to charges that their culture was ldquoinorganicrdquo and therefore inauthentic

This last sentence is dishonest or possibly ignorant To Herder Jews definitely constituted anorganic ldquoauthenticrdquo Volk (See Frederick M Barnard ldquoThe Hebrews and Herderrsquos Political CreedrdquoModern Language Review [Oct 1959] 533) It would be correct to say that Herderrsquos modelleaves Jews exposed to the charge of subverting and destroyingmdashand today committinggenocide againstmdashother authentic cultures and peoples

Finally Herderrsquos contention that ldquoNo nationality has been solely designated by God as the chosen

people of the earthrdquo must also be classified as anti-Semitic flatly contradicting as it does thecentral dogma of Judaism Jews organized Jewry and all governments today

Editorrsquos Bibliographical Note

A number of Herderrsquos works are available in English translation

Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings [5] ed and trans Ioannis DEvrigenis and Daniel Pellerin (Indianapolis Hackett 2004)

God Some Conversations [6] trans Frederick T Burckhardt (Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill 1940)

On the Origin of Language Two Essays [7] (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried vonHerder) trans John H Moran and Alexander Gode (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1986)

On World History An Anthology [8] ed Hans Adler and Ernest A Menze trans Ernest A Menzeand Michael Palmer (M E Sharpe 1996)

Philosophical Writings [9] ed Michael N Forster (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2002)

Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind [10] (Chicago University of ChicagoPress 1968)

Sculpture Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalionrsquos Creative Dream [11] transJason Gaiger (Chicago University of Chicago Press 2002)

Selected Early Works 1764-1767 Addresses Essays and Drafts Fragments on Recent GermanLiterature [12] ed Ernest A Menze and Karl Menges trans Ernest A Menze and Michael Palma(University Park Penn Penn State Press 1992)

Selected Writings on Aesthetics [13] ed and trans Gregory Moore (Princeton PrincetonUniversity Press 2006)

Shakespeare [14] trans Gregory Moore (Princeton Princeton University Press 2008)

The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry [15] (Toronto University of Toronto Libraries 2011)

Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing httpwwwcounter-currentscom

URL to article httpwwwcounter-currentscom201105herders-theory-of-the-volksgeist

URLs in this post

[1] Image httpwwwcounter-currentscomwp-contentuploads201105herder-1-sizedjpg[2] according to Michael Forster httpplatostanfordeduentriesherder[3] Image httpwwwcounter-currentscomwp-contentuploads201105herderstampjpg[4] Pan-Slavism httpwwwcounter-currentscom201105pan-nationalism[5] Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writingshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0872207153ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0872207153[6] God Some ConversationshttpwwwamazoncomgpproductB000V8PQH8ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=B000V8PQH8[7] On the Origin of Language Two Essayshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0226730123ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0226730123[8] On World History An Anthology

people of the earthrdquo must also be classified as anti-Semitic flatly contradicting as it does thecentral dogma of Judaism Jews organized Jewry and all governments today

Editorrsquos Bibliographical Note

A number of Herderrsquos works are available in English translation

Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings [5] ed and trans Ioannis DEvrigenis and Daniel Pellerin (Indianapolis Hackett 2004)

God Some Conversations [6] trans Frederick T Burckhardt (Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill 1940)

On the Origin of Language Two Essays [7] (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried vonHerder) trans John H Moran and Alexander Gode (Chicago University of Chicago Press 1986)

On World History An Anthology [8] ed Hans Adler and Ernest A Menze trans Ernest A Menzeand Michael Palmer (M E Sharpe 1996)

Philosophical Writings [9] ed Michael N Forster (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2002)

Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind [10] (Chicago University of ChicagoPress 1968)

Sculpture Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalionrsquos Creative Dream [11] transJason Gaiger (Chicago University of Chicago Press 2002)

Selected Early Works 1764-1767 Addresses Essays and Drafts Fragments on Recent GermanLiterature [12] ed Ernest A Menze and Karl Menges trans Ernest A Menze and Michael Palma(University Park Penn Penn State Press 1992)

Selected Writings on Aesthetics [13] ed and trans Gregory Moore (Princeton PrincetonUniversity Press 2006)

Shakespeare [14] trans Gregory Moore (Princeton Princeton University Press 2008)

The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry [15] (Toronto University of Toronto Libraries 2011)

Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing httpwwwcounter-currentscom

URL to article httpwwwcounter-currentscom201105herders-theory-of-the-volksgeist

URLs in this post

[1] Image httpwwwcounter-currentscomwp-contentuploads201105herder-1-sizedjpg[2] according to Michael Forster httpplatostanfordeduentriesherder[3] Image httpwwwcounter-currentscomwp-contentuploads201105herderstampjpg[4] Pan-Slavism httpwwwcounter-currentscom201105pan-nationalism[5] Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writingshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0872207153ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0872207153[6] God Some ConversationshttpwwwamazoncomgpproductB000V8PQH8ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=B000V8PQH8[7] On the Origin of Language Two Essayshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0226730123ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0226730123[8] On World History An Anthology

httpwwwamazoncomgpproduct1563245418ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=1563245418[9] Philosophical Writingshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0521794099ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0521794099[10] Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankindhttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0226327442ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0226327442[11] Sculpture Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalionrsquos Creative Dreamhttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0226327558ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0226327558[12] Selected Early Works 1764-1767 Addresses Essays and Drafts Fragments on RecentGerman Literature httpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0271023236ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0271023236[13] Selected Writings on Aestheticshttpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0691115958ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0691115958[14] Shakespeare httpwwwamazoncomgpproduct0691135355ref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=0691135355[15] The Spirit of Hebrew PoetryhttpwwwamazoncomgpproductB004QGZ5UEref=as_li_ss_tlie=UTF8amptag=countercurren-20amplinkCode=as2ampcamp=217145ampcreative=399349ampcreativeASIN=B004QGZ5UE

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