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“Daß er ein Freund, ein Vorbote, ein Diener der Humanität werde, wollen auch wir an unserm unmerklich kleinen Teile befördern.”

Herders Briefe zu Beförderung der Humanität und die Möglichkeiten der Utopie am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts

“Daß er ein Freund, ein Vorbote, ein Diener der Humanität werde, wollen auch wir an unserm unmerklich kleinen Teile befördern.”

Herder’s Briefe zu Beförderung der Humanität and the Possibilities of Utopia at the End of the 18th Century
In: Daphnis
Author:
Christian Schienke Universität Bremen Bremen Deutschland

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0646-1126
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Abstract

Johann Gottfried Herder’s Briefe zu Beförderung der Humanität are probably the clearest articulation of the utopian intention inherent in his philosophy of history. As a result of the changes in utopian thinking with the beginning of the Enlightenment, this intention aims at humane principles of behavior and life practices instead of an ideal state. At the same time, it urges historical efficacy under the condition of an increasingly skeptical naturalized anthropology. The utopian conditions intended by Herder are therefore no longer presentable in the textual pattern of literary utopia handed down from Thomas More. This possibility, however, is offered by a common convention of philosophical epistolary sequences: the staging of a fictional correspondence allows Herder to present a humane discursive practice that exemplifies the utopian conditions themselves.

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