Herder, Johann Gottfried von (1744-1803), was one of the most original and versatile German writers, critics, and philosophers of the 1700’s. His new ideas in art, poetry, language, and history had a lasting influence on German intellectual history.
Herder became the philosophical leader of the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) movement of the 1770’s, inspiring Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and other writers. Herder tried to free German literature from imitating French Neoclassicism. He argued that the works of William Shakespeare and folk poetry were closer to German taste. Herder’s interpretations of Shakespeare and his collection of popular songs and ballads, Folk Songs (1778-1779), later published as Voices of Nations in Songs (1807), influenced German romantic writers. His Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (1784-1791) contributed to our understanding of civilization. Herder explained cultural history as an evolution of nature rather than an expression of the rational free will of humans.
Herder was born on Aug. 25, 1744, in Mohrungen, East Prussia. From 1762 to 1764, he studied theology at the University of Königsberg. Herder served from 1764 to 1769 as a successful teacher and preacher in Riga, Latvia. He then traveled through Europe. He met Goethe in Strasbourg and they became friends. In 1771, Herder became court preacher at Bückeburg. Through Goethe’s influence, Herder was appointed general superintendent of churches and schools at Weimar in 1776, and he settled there permanently. He died on Dec. 18, 1803.
