Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt was a German philosopher, linguist, diplomat, and educational reformer who made significant contributions to the fields of philosophy of language, ethnolinguistics, and liberalism. He was the elder brother of Alexander von Humboldt, a famous naturalist and explorer. Humboldt was born in Potsdam, Margraviate of Brandenburg, in 1767. He received a classical education from private tutors and later studied at the universities of Frankfurt and Göttingen. He developed a keen interest in languages, literature, history, and philosophy. He became acquainted with prominent figures of the German Enlightenment, such as Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich Schiller. In 1791, he married Caroline von Dacheröden, a cultured and intelligent woman who shared his interests and supported his intellectual pursuits. They had eight children, but only five survived to adulthood. Humboldt entered the Prussian civil service in 1790, but soon resigned due to boredom. He then devoted himself to his studies and travels. He visited France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. He learned several languages, including Basque, which he studied extensively and wrote a grammar of. In 1802, he was appointed as the Prussian minister to the Holy See in Rome. He stayed there until 1808, when he was recalled to Berlin by King Frederick William III. He became one of the leading figures of the Prussian reform movement, which aimed to modernize the state and society after the defeat by Napoleon. He was especially influential in the field of education. He advocated for a system of public education that would foster the development of individuality, creativity, and cultural diversity. He also founded the University of Berlin in 1810, which became a model for modern research universities. Humboldt also continued his scholarly work on language and culture. He developed a theory of language as a rule-governed system that reflects the worldview and personality of its speakers. He argued that language is not a static product, but a dynamic process of human activity and communication. He also emphasized the importance of linguistic diversity and cultural relativism. He collected and analyzed data from various languages around the world, especially from the Americas and Asia. He wrote several works on language and culture, such as On the Kawi Language in the Island of Java (1836) and On the Diversity of Human Language Construction and its Influence on the Mental Development of the Human Species (1836). Humboldt died in Tegel, Province of Brandenburg, in 1835. He was buried at the Tegel Castle Cemetery. His legacy is widely recognized and respected in various fields of humanities and social sciences. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern linguistics and anthropology, as well as one of the most influential thinkers of German idealism and liberalism. His ideas have inspired many scholars and thinkers, such as Wilhelm Dilthey, Ernst Cassirer, Martin Heidegger, Noam Chomsky, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jürgen Habermas, and Michael Walzer.