Wilhelm von Humboldt
1767–1835 · Prussian scholar and diplomat, co-founder of the University of Berlin
Humboldt
Key ideas
- Education as the development of the person: schooling should cultivate each individual's mind and character, not merely train them for a trade or social role.
- Liberty against the state: public power should intervene only to prevent harm to others, an idea that anticipates Mill's harm principle.
- Language as a view of the world: each language reflects the way a community conceives reality, what Humboldt called the inner form of language.
Books to read
- Briefe an eine Freundin GermanEPUB 385 KBRead online
Curiosities
Early learning
By the age of thirteen he spoke Greek, Latin and French fluently, and his later studies focused on philosophy and the ancient languages.
A family tomb
He fulfilled the wish of Kunth, his former tutor, to be buried in the family mausoleum at Tegel after Kunth died in 1829.
Teachers and influences
Influenced
- Jürgen Habermas 1929–2026
- Benjamin Lee Whorf 1897–1941
- Alexander Potebnja 1835–1891
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.