In the 1760s, the young J. G. Herder writes several essays that help to define a humanistic orientation for the development of anthropology in the German states. The presentation will use Herder’s ideas to examine the goals and problems of establishing anthropology as a new discipline.
About the speaker
K. Scott Baker is currently a guest researcher in the German section of ILOS at the University of Oslo. He has published books on theater history and performance theory, and several essays on the playwright Bertolt Brecht.
His current book project, ‘Enacting History’, has expanded from a study on late-eighteenth century history plays and academic history writing to account for the concept of anthropology as a unifying discipline for historical and literary studies.