Herder an His Impact

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Maurer
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2013 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232095191

This compendium contains contributions by international scholars (male and female) from a wide range of academic disciplines. It aims at one of the outstanding desiderata of research in this field: the history of the impact of Herder's thought. The following dimensions are within the reach of compass: The mearung of Herder for different periods (starting from the time of his life, highly problematical in romantic times, especially under-researched concerning the nineteenth century, politically alarming in view of several stations of German history since 1870/71); the meaning of Herder for different nations (except for Germany the Slavic peoples, of course; a special topic has to be seen in the relation of modern Japan to Herder); the meaning of "HeMer"to^iffefent"azsapZmes (especiälly~linguistics and"literary criticism, generals cultural studies, including anthropology, philosophy, theology, pedagogics, and history). The volume offers an extremely large spectrum. Some of the outstanding topics in the multi-faceted range of 37 contributions are: (1) For the first time, music has been included adequately. Several young scholars of musical history and theory contribute examples of their n\ore specialized research on Herder's impact on music and aesthetics and the dealing of different periods with Herder's contributions to this field. (2) A significant accent marks the contribution of theology, not always remembered as an integral part of Herder's thought in former times. (3) Some of the more outlying contributions are of special interest, for instance Herder's interpretation of Judaism, his dealings with Africa, and his interpretation of history in contact with basic problems of culture (Eurocentric philosophy of history and criticism of colonial practices). Finally, in framing studies containing perspectives of research in all the respective fields there has been demonstrated that Herder cannot be confined to a specific 'image' (as has been tried by some of the periods passed); that every attempt on ideological appropriation as envisaged by the most distant quarters (e. g. national socialism, communism) is doomed to failure in view of the complexity and universality of his oeuvre, and that the potential of his works shows its fecundity exactly in his reception as a 'great stimulator' in different phases of history: His innovating potential has been felt repeatedly in times of crisis.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants