Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TH
CHRIST OPH LU
T his paper outlines the essential aspects of the educational theory (Bildungstheorie) of
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 1835). Humboldt s theory is a central reference point
for German theories of curriculum and educational policy and Humboldt s role in
German educational theory can be compared to that of Dewey in the US. After a
biographical sketch the paper o ers an interpretation of Humboldt s famous fragment
`T heory of human Bildung (1793/1794). In the concluding sections of the paper the
fragment is placed in a wider theoretical and political context. Humboldt s writings
before and after `T heory of human Bildung are examined as well as the Prussian
educational reforms of the early nineteenth century. As a leader of this reform
Humboldt attempted to realize his educational theories and this political endeavour
of Humboldt also plays an important part in understanding the continuing in uence
of his theories for German curriculum theory and educational policy.
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(c. 1793/94) . In the third and nal section I refer to Humboldt s earlier
writings, highlight a few strands of thought which were later developed in
his theory of education, and touch on his contribution to the Prussian
reform of education (1809 1810) .
Biograph y
Humboldt s life was a blend of the contemplative and the active. He was
born in Potsdam and educated by tutors; he then studied law, as well as
philosophy, history, classical philology and physics and made the usual
journeys for young men of his station: to the Rhine, to Paris (shortly after
the French Revolution) , and to Switzerland. After qualifying in law in
Berlin in 1790 he entered the Prussian legal and diplomatic service but left
in 1791, unable to continue within such a narrow-minded and dry environment. T here followed a period as a private scholar of political theory,
humanist philology, aesthetics and philosophy. In the nal phase of his life
(1820 35) he was again a private scholar, mainly at his estate at T egel near
Berlin, now concentrating on language studies, an area which had interested him earlier and found expression in such works as Die V asken (1801)
on the Basques.
Between these two phases, Humboldt was again in public service, rst
as Prussian ambassador at the Vatican (1802 08) , later as director of the
education section within the Ministry of the Interior (1809 10) . It was
during this period that he made his contribution to school and university
reform within the framework of the sweeping Prussian educational reforms
of those years. T here followed a series of diplomatic missions to Vienna
(1810 13) and later, in the period of readjustment after the Napoleonic
Wars, to Prague, Chatillon, Vienna again, Paris and Frankfurt am Main
(1813 16). Later he was ambassador to London (1817 18) , and in 1819 was
appointed a minister in the Prussian government. T his last post was
Humboldt s for only a short time: a di erence of opinion with Chancellor
Hardenberg led to his dismissal from public service in late 1819.
Humboldt s wide-ranging interests and his role in the political and
intellectual history of his time are amply re ected both in his published
works and in his letters. His collected correspondence comprises more than
12,000 letters and replies, involving more than 1000 people and 111
institutions. Inadequate as it is to summarize this complex person in just
a few words, he can be characterized as a key gure in the transition from
the Enlightenment to Romanticism and German Classicism. In what was to
remain a fragment of an autobiography (1816) , Humboldt wrote of his
blend of the contemplative and the active, `I was always loath to mix with
the world and longed to stand free as a spectator, an examiner, and
naturally I have felt that only the most unconditional self control could
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attain such a point outside the worlds as I desired (V, 6) . All the same,
Humboldt judged himself to have been active in the world: `As far as the
world is concerned, instead of separating myself from it, I have endeavoured to know and to see as much of it as possible, wanting alienation from
the world only from a position in its very midst (V, 7) .
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Th e ory of h u m an Bild u n g
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history, other people, cultural products, etc. T his would explain why he not
only speaks of `laws of nature , but also of `decisions of fate meaning, for
example, history (I, 237) which are in opposition to the obstinacy of our
will (I, 237) . It is apparent that Humboldt is using the scienti c treatment
of nature as an example to elucidate what the development of the faculties
through scienti c knowledge means and how this is comprehended through
re ection. But that the activity of the naturalist is meant only as an example
can also be concluded from the fact that Humboldt cites the mathematician,
the artist and the philosopher as well as the naturalist in his plan for a study
of the faculties required for scienti c work (I, 234) .
T he enhancement of the faculties through the comprehension of nature
shows what Humboldt means when he postulates that humankind should
not become alienated from itself but should let `the clarifying light and
the comforting warmth re ect back into our inner being. T hrough the
application of their various faculties men and women develop them. T he
metaphor of `clarifying light intimates that the rational operations become
clearer if they are applied in the analysis of an object. T hey are provoked by
having, for example, to use terms to describe the diversity of the objects,
then to categorize and explain them. T his diversity is only present in nature
(I, 237) and therefore it is nature which we must address. Although the risk
of alienation is present, this is humankind s only opportunity to develop its
faculties further (cf. Wagner 1995: 30 36) .
A degree of alienation remains by virtue of the fact that in forming a
conception of nature man distances himself a little from his previous state.
T his modi cation and advancement of mental activity through scienti c
knowledge is later expressly emphasized (I, 240). Men and women do not
lose themselves if they retain an awareness that their faculties are developed
through a conception of nature. Humboldt describes a process of mutual
adaptation, with nature adapting to the conceptual forms of men and
women (sensory perception, reason, imagination), and humankind s conceptual forms having to adapt to nature in its diversity, whereby a greater
resemblance between the two is created (I, 237). 4
According to Humboldt, reference back to one s own faculties safeguards against the loss of self `in in nity (I, 238) , in a never-ending
progression of confrontation with the world (= nature) . In this way,
`scattered knowledge and action can be `uni ed . T he circle is completed
by the return to the individuals own faculties. T he decisive point for the
theory of Bildung is the understanding that only in this way can `mere
scholarship be transformed into `scholarly Bildung and the `ultimate goal
(i.e. Bildung through extension of the `concept of humanity in our person ,
I, 235) be ful lled (I, 238, cf. I, 234 235) . Scienti c activity does not,
therefore, automatically induce Bildung, only under this speci c condition.
In the second part of the 1793 fragment the work Humboldt envisaged
at the beginning is presented as a method of avoiding humankind s
alienation from itself. T he method is summarized, elucidated further and
thus highlighted. In the analysis of the various intellectual activities,
attention would once more be directed away from the objects of science
to the inner being of men and women, i.e. to their faculties. T he in nite
mass of objects would be exchanged for the narrower circle of humankind s
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T he title of the fragment promises more than the text actually provides. A
`theory of human Bildung is only developed in its most rudimentary
principles. 6 We can identify three questions:
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All these questions arti cially separate what belongs together in the
theory of Bildung and the process recorded and determined by this theory.
T his is most obviously the case in the second and third questions. But even
the question about the nature of man is closely related, as we shall see, to
theory of Bildung.
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We have not so far discussed the role which social relations play in
Bildung. In his letter to Korner of 1793 Humboldt emphasizes that a theory
of Bildung in which life and social contacts play a major role is the most
important part of a comprehensive theory of human development (1793, V,
173). Even earlier Humboldt had said that education alone does not su ce.
More important are the `circumstances which accompany a person
throughout his life (1792, I, 108). `Circumstances are situations and
other people.
Relations with other people serve to overcome possible bias in the
character, with one acquiring `the richness of the other (1792, I, 64 65) .
One condition is named: these connections must `spring from the innermost being , i.e. they must correspond to a person s inclinations and
development potential. On the other hand, these relations must retain
such a degree of independence that independent individual development is
possible and mere emulation of others precluded. A third condition for
such formative (bildend ) contacts, already presupposed here, is an optimum
degree of di erence between the individuals: `a di erence which is not so
large as to preclude comprehension of one another, but not so small as to
preclude admiration for what the other possesses and a wish to transfer it to
oneself (1792, I, 65) .
T his process of acquisition corresponds structurally to the process of
alienation in the treatment of science and humanities we have already
examined. Involvement with the particularity of others means alienation
from the self, but this is ultimately a fruitful process, because the individual
is strong enough to transform what he is assimilating `into his own being
(1792, I, 65). T his assimilation, with the counter-assertion of independence
through modi cation requires e ort (power) (1792, I, 65) . T he individual
must absorb yet still remain independent. T his interlocking of beings is not
to transform one into another `but to open up routes of access from one to
the other. What an individual already possesses must be compared with
what is received from the other and modi ed accordingly, but not
oppressed by it (1792, I, 82; cf. 1797, I, 513) . Wagner (1995: 35) has
highlighted the nature of this process as crisis. T he foreign individual
actively impinges upon the assimilating individual. T his impingement is
another factor in the latter s Bildung, as it activates his power (1792, I, 66
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67) .
T his enrichment of individuality through relationships with others is
one aspect. Humboldt discerns another: social relations can also lead to a
more sharply de ned contrast and thus to further development and a more
precise de nition of individuality. A character exposed to `pure and
determined characters is itself formed `in purity and determination .
T hus contrast contributes as well as resemblance (1797, I, 349) , and `that
greater and more bene cial friction comes into play which Humboldt notes
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We have already seen the central role of subject matter in every process of
Bildung:
as
as
as
as
in
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T he assumption that a goal has been set and that humanity cannot but
move closer to it is later relinquished. It depends on the reason of
individuals, he says, whether they tread the path of `uninterrupted progress
towards perfection (1797/1798, I, 381) . Human reason has given humanity
the task of overcoming arbitrariness in its subsequent actions (1797/1798, I,
380). T hus the question of goal orientation is transferred to reason.
Humboldt advocates this orientation to humanity, to human reason, in
order to locate a standpoint within man himself following the break-up of
political order in the French Revolution. If everything outside is precarious, then `the only safe refuge is within us (1797, I, 506) . T his is
reminiscent of the statement in the 1793 fragment that humanity is in the
centre of all activity (I, 235). Such an orientation to human reason is also
the message of Humboldt s famous tenet on the goal of Bildung: `T he true
aim of humankind dictated not by changing whim, but by eternally
unchanging Reason is the highest and most proportional Bildung of its
powers to form a whole (1792, I, 64) . T his is a typical statement of the
Enlightenment. T he `true aim of man is set down by reason, not by other
agencies (such as God, the government, etc. ) .
In this well-known formula for proportional, i.e. harmonious, Bildung
of the powers, only one statement can be immediately understood. All
powers of humankind are to be formed or educated (gebildet) . Later, when
drawing up his school plans (1809) , Humboldt also refers to general
Bildung (1809, IV, 188) , distinguishing general from `special Bildung as
required, for example, for a particular job. Specialized Bildung has a onesided orientation to the requirements of the work, while general Bildung is
to be oriented to all human powers and their development. T his distinction
between one-sided Bildung steered from the outside and Bildung guided
from within by the powers of men and women themselves already occurs in
the earlier works (1790, I, 16; 1797/1798, 390), but is only developed later
in the political discourse on the requirements of vocational education.
We must bear in mind the nature of vocational education at that time
unscienti c skills training if we are to understand why Humboldt de nes
general Bildung further as having to lead towards understanding of the
acquired knowledge. T hrough general Bildung, `the powers, i.e. men and
women themselves, are to be strengthened, puri ed and regulated . Special
Bildung is simply a medium for the acquisition of the skills which are to be
applied.
For humankind, every piece of knowledge, every skill which is not sublimated by complete insight, is dead and unfruitful. Such knowledge must
often be restricted to the results, leaving their reasons uncomprehended,
because the skill must be there and time or talent for insight is lacking. (1809,
IV, 188 )
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emotion will infallibly prevail, in the slow character reason and re ection
(1797/1798, I, 445).
T his is, of course, a step away from the postulate of equilibrium of the
powers. T his correction is important, because it is in the very deviation
from the state of equilibrium that `the interesting characters, the most
particular and diverse manifestations (1797/1798, I, 441) originate.
Humboldt cites three historical gures to illustrate his point. In Alexander
the Great will and imagination dominate; in Caesar will and passion; in
Friedrich II will and reason.
T he diversity of individuals in the course of history serves to extend the
`concept of humanity , as it is termed in the 1793 fragment (1793, I, 235) ,
through the continued appearance of new manifestations of individuals.
T his does not only include the great gures of history, but refers to the
albeit small contributions of the majority of humankind (1807, II, 113
114). Only in the course of history can the greatest possible di erentiation
of the concept of humanity to an `ideal of humanity be achieved. It is a
communal e ort of humankind. T his goal can only be achieved by
enhancing the powers of individuals and of humankind. T hus it is `highest
or `most exalted Bildung which is postulated. But as long as Bildung
proceeds through the active acquisition of the products of other individuals, it cannot be complete in this sense. No individual can acquire the
products of such `totality of individuals , not even if the products are only
intended to serve in the training of the powers and not in the acquisition of
matter. T his was recognized by Simmel (1986: 216) , who refers to `a store
of objectivizing mind growing into the unforeseeable distance . He sees
Humboldt s conception of Bildung (the acquisition of such products) as
overburdened and doomed to failure. It could be countered, however, that
in the face of such incalculability of products Bildung is only possible as a
communal e ort, through `division of labour .
With the aim of `totality of individuals the future is open, as it cannot
be ascertained in advance which individualities will emerge. T o this extent,
any form of teleology is relinquished (cf. Benner 1990) . T his argument that
the diversity of individuals is enhanced by the `well-nigh boundless
interconnection of all nations and continents (1792, I, 88) anticipates the
thoughts of the French anthropologist Le vi-Strauss (1973, 27, 43) in his
essay written for UNESCO defending his anti-racist position that cultures
can only bring forth a `cumulative history by combinations of their
achievements and that the resulting highly di erentiated `world culture
must take the cultures of the so-called third world into account.
With respect to the assumption that Humboldt anticipated a form of
postmodernism in the arbitrariness of life-forms, individuals and plurality
it must be ascertained that Humboldt wished to restrict this maximum
diversity by principles of ethics, aesthetics and science (truth) (1797, I, 512;
1797/1798, I, 413, 416, 419) . He describes his `blueprint for a state as
follows:
I have tried to locate the most advantageous situation for humankind within
the state. T his, so it appeared to me, would have to encompass the most
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diverse individuality and the most original independence in parallel with the
most diverse and most intimate union of several persons a problem which
only liberty of the highest kind may resolve. (1792, I, 211)
Note s
1. Quotations from Humboldt s writing and letters are referenced by the volume and page
of Flitner and Giel s edition, i.e. Humboldt 1960 81.
2. From this point, as in the title, I shall use the word Bildung rather than the conventional
translation `education. Previous work in this eld (e.g. Hopmann and Riquarts 1995) has
shown that no single term in English captures the full meaning of Bildung as process and
product of personal development guided by reason. T he formation by external in uences
(parents, teachers, etc. ) is expressed by the noun Erziehung, also generally translated as
education. T he reader who can accept Weltanschauung, Schadenfreude and Zeitgeist as
entries in Webster s Dictionary will, I am sure, accept Bildung in preference to any
translation which is in constant risk of calling up false associations. T he noun Bildung is
derived from bilden, to form or, in some instances, to cultivate. In the few cases where the
adjective bildend would be used in German, I use formative.
3. T his epistemological standpoint can be traced back to Kant: the active faculties of reason
receive matter to be processed through sensory perception, while the matter assimilated
by sensory perception is ordered or structured by reasoning activity.
4. It therefore evidences prejudice on Horkheimer s part as on Litts (1947) before him
when he accuses Humboldt of furthering internalization through concentration on the
individual. Such concentration, maintains Horkheimer, puts an end to the `substantial
Bildung of the individual and thus to the individual himself (Horkheimer 1978: 26). I
suggest, however, that Horkheimer himself characterizes the process of Bildung in a
manner quite in keeping with Humboldt s approach while purporting to refer only to
Bildung as interpreted by the `realistic genius of Goethe and Hegel (Horkheimer 1978:
26). For Horkheimer, Goethe and Hegel had recognized that Bildung is a process of
externalization, or simply of experience, which takes place and achieves fruition solely in
devotion to the matter, in intellectual work and in practice aware of itself. Only in
objective work can the individual progress beyond the randomness of his very existence
(cf. Horkheimer 1978: 26). T his is precisely Humboldt s theory of Bildung through
alienation.
5. T hese other activities are in view when Humboldt speaks of state constitutions created by
humankind. Humboldt s earlier works also re ect his close study of constitutional issues:
his investigation of the `new French Constitution following the French Revolution
(Humboldt 1791, I, 33-42) and his treatise on the limitation of state activity to the
guarantee of internal and external security, which was to become well-known within the
tradition of political liberalism (Humboldt 1792, I, 56-233). In the 1793 fragment,
Humboldt also speaks of the processing of nature by humanity as a process of Bildung (I,
236).
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6. It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that the work was not given its title by
Humboldt, but by Albert Leitzmann, who rst published the fragment in 1903. He
derived the title from the letter to Korner cited above.
7. One wonders whether this represents an appreciation in worth for the statesmen or for
the teachers!
8. In the contacts sketched here it is not a question of imitation, but of self-assertion. It is,
however, quite a di erent matter if the mechanism of self-assertion is interrupted by
moral transgression or the abandonment of truth. Thus `anything which cannot exist in
parallel must be destroyed by social contacts (1792, I, 82).
9. In view of this signi cance of matter Klafki, in his famous essay `Kategoriale Bildung
(Klafki 1963: 33), quite rightly criticizes a particular reception of Humboldt s theory of
Bildung, encapsulated in the ideology of the German Gymnasium, as one-sided.
Summarizing this ideology Klafki points out: `T he essential aspect of Bildung is not
the assimilation and acquisition of contents, but the formation, development, maturation
of physical, spiritual and mental powers .
Re fe re n c e s
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Hopmann, S. and Riquarts, K . (1995) Didaktik und/oder Curriculum. Grundprobleme
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and Basel: Beltz Verlag), 9 34.
Hork heimer, M. (1978 [1953]) Begri der Bildung. Immatrikulationsrede Wintersemester
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im Breisgau: Verlag Herder ), 22 27.
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(Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).
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