Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt (
June 22,
1767 –
April 8,
1835), government functionary,
diplomat,
philosopher, founder of
Humboldt Universität in
Berlin, friend of
Goethe and especially of
Schiller, is especially remembered as a
linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice of education. In particular, he is widely recognized as having been the architect of the
Prussian education system which was used as a model for education systems in countries such as the
United States and
Japan.
Humboldt was born in Potsdam, Margraviate of Brandenburg, and died in Tegel, Province of Brandenburg. His younger brother, Alexander von Humboldt, was an equally famous naturalist and scientist.
Humboldt was a philosopher of note and published On the Limits of State Action in 1810, the boldest defence of the liberties of the Enlightenment. It anticipated John Stuart Mill's essay On Liberty by which von Humboldt's ideas became known in the English-speaking world. He describes the development of liberalism and the role of liberty in individual development and in pursuit of excellence. He also describes the necessary conditions without which the state must not be allowed to limit the action of individuals.
Humboldt wrote a publication entitled ‘Ideas for an endeavour to define the limits of stateaction’ which was completed in 1792, but was not published in full until long after his death. The section dealing with education was published in the December 1792 issue of the Berlinische Monatsschrift under the title ‘On public state education’. With this publication, Humboldt took part in the philosophical debate on the direction of national education which was in progress in Germany, as elsewhere after the French Revolution.
