Humboldt, Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1767-1835

Dates

• Existence: 1767 - 1835

Biography

Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after him in 1949 (and also after his younger brother, Alexander von Humboldt, a naturalist).

He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language, ethnolinguistics and to the theory and practice of education. He made a major contribution to the development of liberalism by envisioning education as a means of realizing individual possibility rather than a way of drilling traditional ideas into youth to suit them for an already established occupation or social role.[12] In particular, he was the architect of the Humboldtian education ideal, which was used from the beginning in Prussia as a model for its system of public education in the United States and Japan.

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