Helge Jordheim


Functions of Secrecy – Herder and the Masonic Elements of Enlightenment Thought1 The point of departure for this talk is a larger project, with the working title the


“Functions of Secrecy”, in which I try to map how, in what contexts and to what ends, functions of secrecy and concealment are in operation in the Age of Enlightenment – in obvious opposition to the ambition of exposing every aspect of human life and of society to the bright light of reason. In one sense the beginnings of anthropology in the late 18th century – a frequent topic at this workshop – can in itself be regarded as a function of secrecy, or, more precisely, as a reaction to the experience that there are aspects of human life that remain hidden, that are not immediately accessible to the human eye or to human reason – such as dreams, fantasies, desires, or rather, reincarnation, ghosts and voices from beyond the grave. Parallel to these phenomena, secrecy – in its different and more or less spiritual forms – is among the topics that bring about the so- called “anthropological turn” in German literature and science in the second half of the 18th century, for instance – from my field of research – in novels such as Wielands Geschichte des Agathon and Jean Pauls Die Unsichtbare Loge, in which the functions of secrecy are at once a force of Bildung and a way of deceiving the hero. If we, for a moment, return to the


presentation of this workshop on the website, this paper will obviously mostly have to do with – as it says – situating Herder within the context of 18th century German history and culture, and may be even point at some of the limitations of the traditional reception of Herder’s thinking. But can a study of Herder and the Masonic tradition – in the context of the functions of secrecy – say anything about Herder’s


relevance today? I have already mentioned that there might be a element of secrecy at work in the birth of anthropology, and there obviously is one at work in the rise of hermeneutics and the philosophy of history. If this element – this function of secrecy – is still relevant today, is a question I leave for the discussion afterwards. However, if we look at how a popular phenomenon such as the Da Vinci Code – the book and now the film – has been able to reintroduce notions of secrets and secrecy at the heart of global popular culture, more or less overnight, I have the feeling that the perspective I present


1 Helge Jordheim - Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo (paper for the workshop ‘Herder and Anthropology’, University of Oslo 29-30 May 2006)


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