Wilhelm von Humboldt had a huge impact on the development of culture and literature. His writings continue to influence scientists and thinkers of our time. Every educated person considers it his duty to carefully study the works that Humboldt Wilhelm wrote in his time. His thoughts and conclusions still remain relevant for contemporaries of the 20th and 21st centuries. To understand his ideas, you need to delve into his biography, find out in which city Wilhelm Humboldt was born, where he worked, whose friendship had a special influence on him.
Origin
Wilhelm von Humboldt, as well as his no less gifted younger brother Alexander, came from a noble and we althy family that had significant opportunities and finances. They owned, among other things, the famous Tegel Castle in Berlin.
Humboldt Wilhelm was born on June 22, 1767 in the city of Potsdam. His father, Alexander Georg, came from a family of the Prussian bourgeoisie. His grandfather became a nobleman due to his military merit. Mother, Baroness Elisabeth von Holwede has French roots. The oppression of the Huguenots in France forced her family to leave their native lands and move toGermany, to Berlin. When Alexander Georg arrived in Berlin after his retirement, he met his future wife. They had two sons - Alexander and Wilhelm.
Education
The Humboldt family spared no expense in the education of their children. At the age of 20, Wilhelm Humboldt entered the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, and from 1788 began to listen to lectures on philology and history at the University of Göttingen. From 27 to 30 years old he lived in Jena, where he made many acquaintances with famous philosophers and thinkers. Among them, the names of Schiller and Goethe are especially worth noting. Subsequently, he leaves for Paris to study the culture of France - after all, partly French blood flows in him. However, he spent a lot of time traveling in Spain and the Basque region.
Professional activities
Humboldt Wilhelm became a significant figure in the political arena of Prussia. At various times from 1801 to 1819, he held important government posts, was a plenipotentiary envoy in Vienna, the Vatican, Paris, and Prague. While serving as Minister for Religious Affairs and Education, he managed to implement a large-scale reform of secondary and higher education in Prussia. It was Humboldt who came up with the idea to remove the elementary school from religious influence and make it an independent educational institution.
In 1809 he founded a university in Berlin. Now this educational institution bears the name of Humboldt. It was in Berlin that Wilhelm Humboldt lived and worked, whose biography is inextricably linked withone of the most influential cities in Germany.
Humboldt did not stop there. His merits are also evident at the famous Congress of Vienna, which determined the new structure of Europe after the fall of Napoleon's power. Until 1819, Wilhelm Humboldt was an influential diplomat and participated in the most important decisions for the country. He represented the interests of the country in the international arena and achieved great success in this field.
Hobbies
Brilliant education and financial security of his family allowed Wilhelm to enter the circle of prominent scientists and philosophers of his time. In addition to his professional interest in politics, von Humboldt was always interested in humanism and its ideas. For example, back in the 1790s, he wrote a work called "Thoughts on an attempt to determine the boundaries of the actions of the state", in which he develops the idea of \u200b\u200bthe complete freedom of the individual from the state. Humboldt expounds the idea that the main task of the state is to ensure the territorial integrity of the country, but it does not have the right to interfere in the affairs of individual citizens. The ideas presented in this work were so innovative that the work was censored and banned from publication. It was published only in the middle of the 19th century.
This is not the only work in which Wilhelm Humboldt expressed his ideas and reflections. Linguistics received in his person one of the reformers and founders of modern concepts.
Thanks to the breadth of outlook and high education, Wilhelm Humboldt was included in allliterary salons. He was often invited to listen to his opinion on this or that occasion, to find out reviews of the literary works read.
In 1791, Caroline von Dahereden, one of the most educated and intelligent women of her time, became his wife. She helped and supported everything Wilhelm von Humboldt did. After the wedding, the Humboldt house became a regular meeting place for the best minds from all over Europe. Here you could meet writers, scientists, philosophers, and politicians.
One of Wilhelm's main hobbies was traveling. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, often staying for long periods in Switzerland and Rome. It was during his trips that he was imbued with love and great interest in foreign languages and other cultures.
Proceedings
Wilhelm Humboldt's linguistic concept got its maximum shape after his retirement and the end of his political and public career. He had a lot of free time, and managed to bring his thoughts and ideas into a single written form.
The first work was the work "On the comparative study of languages in relation to different eras of their development." He read it within the walls of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Then the work "On the emergence of grammatical forms and their influence on the development of ideas" was published. It outlined the foundations of theoretical linguistics, which was described by Wilhelm Humboldt. Linguistics still draws a lot from his writings, and theorists discuss his ideas and postulates.
Eat andunfinished works that Humboldt Wilhelm did not have time to finalize and publish. "On the Kawi language in Java" is one such work. What to emphasize the versatility and breadth of the talent and thought of this philosopher and thinker.
His main work, "On the difference in the structure of human languages and its influence on the spiritual development of mankind", was published, unfortunately, posthumously. In it, Humboldt Wilhelm tried to present the essence of his research in as much detail as possible.
He emphasized the unity of the spirit of the people and their language. After all, the language reflects the creative beginning of each language, reflects the soul of the whole people.
Achievements
Wilhelm von Humboldt became not only a prominent political statesman, but also left a significant mark as an outstanding scientist. He defended the interests of his country during the territorial redistribution of Europe, the creation of a new world order. And he certainly did it successfully. His work was highly valued by the emperor. He was a skilled diplomat.
After the end of his professional career and with the advent of free time, he took up the study of languages, their classification, highlighting common features and differences. He expressed his ideas in his writings, which were published. The depth of research was so serious that his concept formed the basis of a new science - linguistics. Some of his ideas anticipated their time by a hundred years and were confirmed decades later. Based on his findings, a separate science of sounds in linguistics has developed - phonology.
PerformedFor them, education reform helped to move forward efforts to eradicate illiteracy among the population. It was under him that the school began to acquire familiar features. Prior to this, there was practically no school system.
Cultural Heritage
The works of Wilhelm von Humboldt marked the beginning of a new science - linguistics, linguistics. He argued theses, which gave food for thought to many philosophers and scientists. Until now, linguists discuss and debate many of his conclusions, agree with something, argue about something. But one thing is certain - it is impossible to study this science and not know the name of Wilhelm Humboldt.
In addition to the scientific works that Wilhelm von Humboldt left to his descendants on language, another significant testament was the university he founded, where thousands of young and gifted people graduated.
Meaning for contemporaries
Wilhelm von Humboldt's concept was a revolution in linguistics. Yes, according to the majority of theorists, scientific thought has gone ahead, and some provisions and ideas of the founder of this science have already become outdated and irrelevant. But nevertheless, it will be very useful for every scientist to learn and understand the course of von Humboldt's logical reasoning in the process of creating his works.
He spent a lot of time organizing and classifying the various languages into language groups and common features or differences. Humboldt talked about the constancy and at the same time the variability of language - how it changes over timetime, what influences these changes, which ones will remain forever, and which ones will also gradually disappear.
Monuments and monuments
Dozens of monuments and monuments have been erected in the world in honor of Wilhelm von Humboldt, but one of the most outstanding was the crater on the visible side of the Moon, which was named after the great scientist.
In Berlin, a monument was erected in honor of Humboldt on one of the main streets of the city - Unter den Linden.
