Language, reason, and sociability: Herder's critique of Rousseau

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore what Herder is actually doing in his Treatise on the Origin of Language and how this fits into his philosophy as a whole. Through the lens of Herder’s critique of Rousseau, the paper demonstrates how he construes the human being, in virtue of the organization of its soul-forces (Seelenkräfte) and the condition of need into which it is born, as compelled to develop itself in two related ways. First, the human being develops its capacity for reason and language from the outset, proceeding through various stages of their development: reflective awareness, inner language, and spoken language. Second, the human being also develops natural affections from the very beginning, which, in turn, ground its natural sociability. Language, reason, and sociability together form the basis of human culture and civilization and their development is governed by a set of natural laws that emerge from Herder’s metaphysics.