and reworks important ideas from the Masonic tradition, in a way that strives to liberate them from the functions and mechanisms of secrecy specific to this tradition. Herder himself evokes the tradition of the secret societies in the introduction to the treatise, considering them as symptoms of a certain contemporary intellectual movement, “eine Gährung” – as he puts it, with a concept that, according to a study by Hans-Jürgen Schings, was central to Masonic thought and a favorite metaphor of the Illuminati. Moreover, this concept or metaphor seems to support Koselleck’s claim that the Masonic ideology was characterized by a utopian faith in progress, anticipating the collapse of the Ancien Regime. I quote: Die große Anzahl geheimer Gesellschaften, die meistens nur deswegen geheim


sind, weil sie sich ans Licht hervorzutreten nicht wagen, zeigen auch in ihren Mißbräuchen und Verderbnissen, dass eine Gährung dabei, deren Wirkungen man nur dadurch vorkommt, daß man die Gemüther der Menschen öffentlich auf allgemeine, bessere Endzwecke leitet.16 In this passage Herder seems to come to the same


conclusion as Koselleck – that the secret societies were in fact revolutionary forces, plotting to overthrow the absolutist regimes in Germany. Thus, an important, even urgent task for an enlightened


Tavola di tracciamento tedesca del 1770


ruler would be to canalize this revolutionary energy – this Gährung – into other areas less threatening to the state, such as the reation of a common German spirit and culture. Hence, in this case the reworking of the Masonic model of organization obviously also had a political purpose, of pacifying the secret societies and changing them into instruments of cultural reform, not political revolution. As answer to the request of the prince, to make a plan for the construction of a German Gelehrtenbund Herder subsequently changes the Masonic model for a secret


society into a model for a definitely public one. In the dialogue on Freemasonry in the Humanitätsbriefe the ambition was global,


concerning alle denkenden Menschen in allen Weltteilen; in the treatise zum patriotischen Institut the goal is a national one, concerning den Allgemeingeist Deutschlands. Comparing the two texts, however, we find that most of the thoughts and even the words are the same. In the “Teutsche Academy”, as in the sichtbar-unsichtbare Gesellschaft, there shall neither be room for petty partiality, nor for any sort of contempt for other provinces and religions or for the political interests of different estates. “Because”, Herder adds, “Germany has only one interest, the life and happiness of the whole”. Thus, the global ideal of Humanität has been replaced by the national ideal a German culture. As instruments of this project of Bildung, of forming a national character, Herder mentions – in this order – language, history and practical philosophy. The following description of how one should go about to form such an academy can


16 16, s. 602 58


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130