Herder's Philosophical Thought

fakultatywne

In this course, we will read some of the most important philosophical writings by Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803). Our aim will be to understand Herder's views on value, history, culture, knowledge and politics - and their relevance today.

In this course, we will read some of the most important philosophical writings by Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803). The centre of our attention will be Herder's pluralist understanding of value: "Is not the good on the earth strewn about? Because one form of humanity and one region of the earth could not grasp it, it got distributed into a thousand forms, it roams forth - an eternal Proteus! - through all parts of the world and all centuries" (Herder, 1774). Our attempt to understand Herder's pluralism will lead us to study his views on history, culture, language, knowledge, religion and politics. Seminars will be dedicated to close readings of Herder's texts and to the discussion of Herder's relevance today.

Pluralist world-views similar to the one we find in Herder are quite prominent in contemporary political and moral thought. The course will be relevant for students from all disciplines interested in understanding this sort of world-view and its implications for current public debates, including debates about nationalism, cosmopolitanism and inter-cultural relations.

Barnard, F.M. 1969. J.G. Herder on Social and Political Culture. Cambridge University Press. SPC

Beiser, Frederick C. 1992. Enlightenment, Revolution, and Romanticism: The Genesis of Modern German Political Thought, 1790-1800. Harvard University Press.

Berlin, Isaiah. 2000. Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder. Princeton University Press.

Herder, Johann Gottfried. 1988. Selected Early Works, 1764-1767: Addresses, Essays, and Drafts; Fragments on Recent German Literature. Edited by Earnest A. Menze & Karl Menges. Translated by Earnest A. Menze with Michael Palma. Pennsylvania State University Press.

Herder, Johann Gottfried. 2002. Philosophical Writings. Edited by Michael N. Forster. Cambridge University Press. PW

Lovejoy, A.O. 1948. Essays on the History of Ideas. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Spencer, Vicky A. 2012. Herder's Political Thought: A Study on Language, Culture and Community. University of Toronto Press.

Taylor, Charles. 1991. The Importance of Herder. In Margalit, Edna and Avishai. (Eds.) Isaiah Berlin: A Celebration. London: Hogarth Press: 40-63.

- knowing and understanding the main methods of analysing and interpreting products of culture in conjunction with tradition

- knowing the output of the greatest early and contemporary writers, philosophers and theologians

- knowing various methods of interpreting literary and philosophical texts and textual historical sources

- analysing artistic, philosophical and sociological texts using the appropriate research tools, and presenting the results of such work

- analysing written and oral academic texts in Polish and in one of the “congress” languages

- command of a foreign language at the C1 level

Assessment will be based on:

1) seminar participation

2) written work

In order to obtain credit for the course is attendance (student is entitled to two absences in a semester)