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A Study on the Sensualist Anthropology and Aesthetics of J. G. Herder — Focusing on the Relationship with the Aesthetics of Baumgarten and Lessing

Sun Kyu Ha 1

1홍익대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) is undoubtedly one of the most impressive and influential European philosophers of language and history of the 18th century. It is, however, of great importance to recognize that his basic philosophical intention lies in an elementary reform of the traditional philosophy of men as human beings. His lifelong persisting project was to establish a new anthropological philosophy in which men are comprehended not as a species of rational animal but as concrete living individuals in a particular historic and cultural situation. This study aims to consistently elucidate the relevant points of his anthropological philosophy and aesthetic thoughts. First, it analyzes the main substances of his sensualist and historic anthropology and reconstructs his aesthetic theory in the context of the formation process of modern aesthetics. For this purpose, the philosophical relationship between precritical Kant and Herder, and between Hamann and Herder, is also considered. Furthermore, the question of how Herder inherited the theoretical achievements of the aesthetics of Baumgarten and Lessing is considered, and the points at which he attempted to surpass them theoretically are examined. Such a discussion of the anthropology and aesthetics of Herder is very meaningful, not merely from the viewpoint of philological or historical interest. They cannot and should not be regarded as past relics that have totally lost their vital power. On the contrary, they have significant theoretical potential even in the present, especially regarding contemporary philosophical anthropology, in addition to the sensualist theoretical turn of post-modern aesthetics.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.