Johann Georg Hamann (; ; 27 August 1730 – 21 June 1788) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

philosopher from

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

known as "the Wizard of the North" who was one of the leader figures of

post-Kantian philosophy German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

. His work was used by his student J. G. Herder as the main support of the ''

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

'' movement, and is associated with the

Counter-Enlightenment The Counter-Enlightenment refers to a loose collection of intellectual stances that arose during the European Enlightenment in opposition to its mainstream attitudes and ideals. The Counter-Enlightenment is generally seen to have continued from t ...

and

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. He introduced

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...

, also from Königsberg, to the works of both Hume – waking him from his "dogmatic slumber" – and

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

. Hamann was influenced by Hume, but he used his views to argue for rather than against Christianity.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

and Kierkegaard were among those who considered him to be the finest mind of his time. He was also a key influence on

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

and

Jacobi Jacobi may refer to: * People with the surname Jacobi (surname), Jacobi Mathematics: * Jacobi sum, a type of character sum * Jacobi method, a method for determining the solutions of a diagonally dominant system of linear equations * Jacobi eigenva ...

. Long before the

linguistic turn The linguistic turn was a major development in Western philosophy during the early 20th century, the most important characteristic of which is the focusing of philosophy and the other humanities primarily on the relations between language, langua ...

, Hamann believed

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

should be replaced by the

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...

Early life

Hamann was born on 27 August 1730 in Königsberg (now

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

, Russia). Initially he studied theology at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

, but became a clerk in a mercantile house and afterward held many small public offices, devoting his leisure to reading philosophy. His first publication was a study in political economy about a dispute on nobility and trade. He wrote under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of "the Magus of the North" (german: Magus im Norden). Hamann was a believer in the Enlightenment until a mystical experience in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1758. His translation of

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

into German is considered by most scholars to be the one that Hamann's friend Immanuel Kant, also from

, credited with awakening him from his "dogmatic slumber". Hamann and Kant held each other in mutual respect, although Hamann once declined an invitation by Kant to co-write a

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

textbook for children. Hamann also introduced Kant to the work of

Music

Hamann was a

lutenist A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can refe ...

, having studied this instrument with

Timofey Belogradsky Timofiy Bilohradsky (also Belogradsky, Pelogradsky; uk, Тимофій Білоградський; ca. 1710 — ca. 1782) was a lutenist, composer and kobzar-bandurist of Ukrainian ethnicity, active in St. Petersburg and Königsberg. Little is ...

(a student of

Sylvius Leopold Weiss Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until ...

), a Ukrainian virtuoso then living in Königsberg.

Philosophical views

His distrust of autonomous, disembodied

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

and

the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

("I look upon logical proofs the way a well-bred girl looks upon a love letter" was one of his many witticisms) led him to conclude that faith in

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

was the only solution to the vexing problems of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. One of Kant's biographers compared him with Hamann: In Hamann's own terms Kant was a "

Platonist Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and school of thought, philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western though ...

" about reason, believing it disembodied, and Hamann an " Aristotelian" who believed it was embodied. Hamann was greatly influenced by Hume. This is most evident in Hamann's conviction that faith and belief, rather than knowledge, determine human actions. Also, Hamann asserted that the efficacy of a concept arises from the habits it reflects rather than any inherent quality it possesses.

Works

Hamann's writings consist of small essays. They display two striking tendencies. The first is their brevity, in comparison with works by his contemporaries. The second is their breadth of allusion and delight in extended analogies. His work was also significantly reactive; rather than advance a "position" of his own, his principal mode of thinking was to respond to others' work. For example, his work ''Golgotha and Scheblimini! By a Preacher in the Wilderness'' (1784) was directed against

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'Je ...

's ''Jerusalem, or on Religious Might and Judaism'' (1782). Hamann famously used the image of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, who often proclaimed to know nothing, in his ''Socratic Memorabilia'', an essay in which Hamann critiques the Enlightenment's dependence on reason. In ''Aesthetica in nuce'', Hamann counters the Enlightenment by emphasizing the importance of aesthetic experience and the role of genius in intuiting nature.

Editions

Fragments of his writings were published by Cramer, under the title of ''Sibyllinische Blätter des Magus aus Norden'' (1819), and a complete edition by Roth (7 vols., 1821–25, with a volume of additions and explanations by Wiener, 1843). ''Hamann's des Magus in Norden Leben und Schriften'', edited by Gildemeister, was published in 5 vols., 1857–68, and a new edition of his ''Schriften und Briefen'', edited by Petri, in 4 vols., 1872-74.

God

Hamann argued that the

communicatio idiomatum ''Communicatio idiomatum'' (Latin: ''communication of properties'') is a Christological concept about the interaction of deity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. It maintains that in view of the unity of Christ's person, his human and di ...

, namely, the communication of divine messages through material embodiments, applies not just to Christ, but should be generalised to cover all human action: "This communicatio of divine and human idiomatum is a fundamental law and the master-key of all our knowledge and of the whole visible economy." Hamann believed all of creation were signs from God for us to interpret.

Reason is language

His most notable contributions to philosophy were his thoughts on language, which have often been considered as a forerunner to the linguistic turn in analytic philosophy such as

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrians, Austrian-British people, British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy o ...

's. He famously said that "Reason is language" ("Vernunft ist Sprache").Johann Georg Hamann, ''Brief an Herder'', v. 8. August 1784, in: Johann Georg Hamann, ''Briefwechsel'', 7 vols., Arthur Henkel (ed.), Wiesbaden: Insel Verlag, 1955–75, vol. 5, p. 177. Hamann thought the bridge between Kant's

noumenal In philosophy, a noumenon (, ; ; noumena) is a posited object or an event that exists independently of human sense and/or perception. The term ''noumenon'' is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to, the term ''phenomenon'', which ...

and

phenomenal A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...

realms was language, with its noumenal meaning and phenomenal

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

Legacy

Hamann was one of the precipitating forces for the

. He was, moreover, a mentor to

Herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. ...

and an admired influence on Goethe,

, Kierkegaard, Lessing, and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

theologian

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was announced as his choice to become a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, b ...

devoted a chapter to Hamann in his volume, ''Studies in Theological Styles: Lay Styles'' (Volume III in the English language translation of ''The Glory of the Lord'' series). Most recently, Hamann's influence can be found in the work of the theologians Oswald Bayer (

), John Milbank (

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

), and

David Bentley Hart David Bentley Hart (born 1965) is a writer, philosopher, religious studies scholar, critic, and theologian with academic works published on a wide range of topics including Christian metaphysics, philosophy of mind, classics, Asian languages, and ...

(

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

). Finally, in Charles Taylor's important summative work, ''The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity'' (Taylor, 2016), Hamann is given credit, along with

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...

and Herder, for inspiring Taylor's "HHH" approach to the philosophy of language, emphasizing the creative power and cultural specificity of language. However, recent scholarship, such as that by Bayer, contradicts the usual interpretation by people such as historian of ideas

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, and describes Hamann as a "radical Enlightener" who vigorously opposed dogmatic rationalism in matters of philosophy and faith. Bayer views him as less the proto-Romantic that Herder presented, and more a premodern-postmodern thinker who brought the consequences of Lutheran theology to bear upon the burgeoning Enlightenment and especially in reaction to

.Bayer, Oswald. A Contemporary in Dissent: Johann Georg Hamann as a Radical Enlightener. Roy A. Harrisville & Mark C. Mattes, trans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

References

Sources

, '' Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder'', London and Princeton, 2000, * Dickson, Gwen Griffith, ''Johann Georg Hamann's Relational Metacriticism'' (contains English translations of ''Socratic Memorabilia'', ''Aesthetica in Nuce'', a selection of essays on language, ''Essay of a Sibyl on Marriage'' and ''Metacritique of the Purism of Reason''),

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, 1995. * Forster, Michael N., ''After Herder: Philosophy of Language in the German Tradition'', Oxford University Press, 2010, ch. 8–9. *

"The Laughter of the Philosophers"
''First Things''. January 2005. * Kenneth Haynes (ed.), ''Hamann: Writings on Philosophy and Language'' (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy), Cambridge University Press, 2007, * James C. O'Flaherty, ''Unity and Language: A Study in the Philosophy of Hamann'', University of North Carolina, 1952; * James C. O'Flaherty, ''Hamann's Socratic Memorabilia: A Translation and Commentary'', Johns Hopkins Press, 1967; Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67-12424; * James C. O'Flaherty, ''Johann Georg Hamann'', Twayne Publishers, 1979, ; * James C. O'Flaherty, ''The Quarrel of Reason with Itself: Essays on Hamann, Michaelis, Lessing, Nietzsche'', Camden House, 1988,

External links

* * * *
''Memoirs of Eminent Teachers and Educators: With Contributions to the History of Education in Germany''
(1878) Brown & Goss p. 533ff Retrieved May 23, 2012
Notes on international conference on Hamann in March 2009
Retrieved May 18, 2012
Hamann Briefe
Letters
Hamann, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein on the Language of Philosophers
- open access post-print version of chapter from ''Hamann and the Tradition'' (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2012), p. 104-121.
Read online, french transaltion by Henry Corbin (1939) of ''Aesthetica In Nuce''

International Bibliography
of works by and on Hamann, on Éditions Ionas website. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamann, Johann Georg 1730 births 1788 deaths 18th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers Continental philosophers Counter-Enlightenment German lutenists German Lutheran theologians 18th-century German philosophers Hermeneutists Writers from Königsberg Philosophers of language Sturm und Drang