Hamann: Writings on Philosophy and Language

Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788) is a major figure not only in German philosophy but also in literature and religious history. In his own time he wrote penetrating criticisms of Herder, Kant, Mendelssohn, and other Enlightenment thinkers; after his death he was an important figure for Goethe, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and others. It was only in the twentieth century, however, that the full and radical extent of his ‘linguistic’ critique of philosophy was recognized. This volume presents a new translation of a wide selection of his essays, including both famous and lesser-known works. Hamann’s enigmatic prose-style was deliberately at odds with Enlightenment assumptions about language, and a full apparatus of annotation explains the numerous allusions in his essays. The volume is completed by a historical and philosophical introduction and suggestions for further reading.

• New translation into English • Full annotation explains all of Hamann’s allusions and references • Hamann is important not only to German philosophy but also to literature and religion

1. Two dedications, from Socratic Memorabilia (1759); 2. Essay on an Academic Question (1760); 3. Miscellaneous Notes on Word Order in the French Language (1760); 4. Cloverleaf of Hellenistic Letters (1762); 5. Aesthetica in Nuce (1762); 6. The Last Will and Testament of the Knight of the Rose-Cross (1772); 7. Philological Ideas and Doubts (written in 1772); 8. Solomon of Prussia (written in 1772); 9. New Apology of the Letter h (1773); 10. Golgotha and Sheblimini! (1784); 11. Metacritique on the Purism of Reason (written in 1784); 12. From Disrobing and Transfiguration: A Flying Letter to Nobody, the Well Known (1786).