Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism. He was a Romantic philosopher and poet who argued that true German culture was to be discovered among the common people. He also stated that it was through folk songs, folk poetry, and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation was popularized. He is credited with establishing or advancing a number of important disciplines: hermeneutics, linguistics, anthropology, and "a secular philosophy of history."

25 August 1744

Born on the same birth day (25 August): Allyre Sirois • August 25 • Bryce Mackasey • Darrell Johnson • Erich Honecker • Innocenzo Cybo • Jaap Rijks • Javed Qadeer • John Neal (writer) • Keith Tippett • Maxim Kontsevich • Nikolay Zinin • Regis Philbin • Robert Mohr (rugby union) • Sanjeev Sharma • Stacey Farber • Takeshi Okada

Born in the same month (August 1744): Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles • Jean-Baptiste Lamarck • Pierre Méchain