Herder Conference 2006

Enlightenment as a Challenge for the 21st Century:

Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried Herder is one of the most fascinating figures in the European Enlightenment; a radical, provocative, deeply learned and original thinker about the human condition and the human desire for knowledge; and a philosopher and scholar with an encyclopedic breadth of interests and knowledge in areas including history, theology, literature and the arts, language and human cognition, folklore, and anthropology.

Beginning in 1985, the International Herder Society (with currently about 130 members) has organized biennial conferences to foster international exchange about Herder and the Enlightenment. In 1998, the conference was held for the first time at the University of Madison, Wisconsin (organized by Professor Hans Adler, then president of the International Herder Society). After conferences in Weimar (Germany) at Rice University in Houston, and in Saarbrücken (Germany), Madison will once again host the conference in 2006.

Enlightenment as a Challenge for the 21st Century: Johann Gottfried Herder
Public Roundtable - Presentations and Discussion
Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 5-7 pm
Pyle Center, Alumni Lounge, 702 Langdon Street

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow.

"Herder and Scientific Authority: The Problem of Speaking Otherwise"
Katherine Arens, University of Texas, Austin

"Connecting the Humanities and the Natural Sciences:
Herder and the Question of the 'Two Cultures'"
John Zammito, Rice University

"Knowledge - Reason - Imagination - History. Herder's Concept of Human Cognition"
Hans Adler, University of Madison-Wisconsin

"Herder and the 'Wound' of Colonialism"
Anil Bhatti, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

"National Identity and Multiculturalism - Impulses from Herder"
Arnd Bohm, Carleton University, Ottawa

This Roundtable precedes the international conference on Enlightenment author Johann Gottfried Herder hosted by the UW-Madison on September 21-23, 2006 (Pyle Center). All presentations are free and open to the public. Program below (subject to change). Printed programs will be available at the Roundtable and conference.

Herder as Challenge - Herausforderung Herder
Biennial Conference of the International Herder Society
Konferenz der Internationalen Herder-Gesellschaft
Madison,Wisconsin (USA)
September 21-23, 2006
Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street

All presentations free and open to the public.

Conference program (subject to change) / Konferenzprogramm (Änderungen möglich)

Thursday, Sept 21:
8:30am Refreshments/Kaffee, Tee
8:45 Welcome/Begrüßung

9-10:30am: Kolonialism/Cosmopolitism I

Anil Bhatti (New Delhi/India - German and Comparative Literature):
"Herder's critique of colonialism. Reflections on some ambivalences"

Sonia Sikka (Ottawa/Canada - Philosophy):
"Shades of Imperialism: Herder's Negative Portrait of China"

Adrian Hsia (Montreal/Canada - German Studies):
"Herder über Indien"

Coffee break

11-12:30: Kolonialism/Cosmopolitism II

Helmut Peitsch (Potsdam/Germany - Germanistik):
"Die Rezeption von Reisebeschreibungen über den Pazifik in Johann Gottfried Herders
Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit"

Martin Momekam-Tassie (Douala/Cameroon - German Litereature/German Studies):
"Die Zukunft der Welt im 18. Jahrhundert. Eine Auseinandersetzung zwischen Kosmopolitismus und Kulturnationalismus"

Anne Löchte (Berlin/Germany - Germanistik):
"Relativismus, Pluralismus, Universalismus - Herder zwischen allen Stühlen?"

Lunch break

Thursday afternoon:
2:15pm-4:30pm (parallel sections A and B)

A: Theology and Natural Philosophy / Theologie und Naturphilosophie

Alexej Ponomarev (Hildesheim/Germany - German, Cultural Studies):
"Die Dekonstruktion des christlichen Gottesbegriffs. Auseinandersetzung Herders mit Spinoza"

Heinrich Clairmont (Castrop-Rauxel/Germany - German/Philosophy):
"'Menschliche Philosophie' und Dogmatik. Zur systematischen Theologie Herders zwischen 1774 und 1780"

15 min break

Johannes Schmidt (Clemson/USA - German):
"Naturphilosophie: Schelling and Herder?"

Silvio Vietta (Hildesheim/Germany - Literature and Cultural Studies):
"Mythopoetische Einbildungskraft und religiöse Kodierung bei Herder"

B: Writing, Reading, Narrating: Textual Form / Text- und Leseprozesse

Rainer Godel (Madison/USA - German Literature and Philosophy):
"Immanente Gnoseologie und fiktionale Rezeptionssteuerung. Aufklärung als Selberdenken bei Herder"

Daniel Weidner (Berlin/Germany - German and Comparative Literature):
"Deconstructing Herder? Ein methodischer Versuch zu Herders Ursprüngen"

15 min break

Stephan Jaeger (Winnipeg/Canada - German Literature/German Studies):
"Herders Erzählung zur Etablierung von Europa"

Staffan Bengtsson (Huddinge/Sweden - Philosophy):
"The Challenge of Herder: Aelteste Urkunde des Menschengeschlechts"

4:30 to 5 pm: Coffee break

5pm-6:30pm: Literary-historical challenges / Literaturhistorische Herausforderungen

Katherine Arens (Austin/USA - Germanic Studies/Intellectual History):
"Herder and a new 'Battle of the Books': Textuality and Periodization"

Dirk Kemper (Moscow/Russian Federation - Neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft, Kulturwissenschaft):
"Herder und die Individualitätsproblematik der Moderne"

John Zammito (Houston/USA - History/German Studies):
"Sturm und Drang in Revisionist Herder-Interpretation"

7 pm: Reception for conference participants


Friday, Sept. 22:

8:30 am Refreshments/Kaffee, Tee
8:45-10:15 (parallel sections A and B)

A: Gender / Weiblichkeit: Caroline Flachsland I

Gabriele Dürbeck (Rostock/Germany - German, Literary Anthropology):
"Weiblichkeit in der Briefkultur des Sturm und Drang. Der Brautbriefwechsel von J.G. Herder und Caroline Flachsland (1770-1773)"

Anke Gilleir (Leuven/Belgium - Literature):
"Cartesianischer Wirbel, Muttermilch und väterlicher Wein: Gendered Metaphorik in Herders literaturkritischem Diskurs"

Gerhard Sauder (Saarbrücken/Germany - Literature):
"Johann Gottfried und Caroline Herder - 'Jakobiner'?"

B: Imagination and Anthropology / Einbildungskraft und Anthropologie

Christiane Frey (Chicago/USA - German Literature):
"Genie, Empfindung, Geschichte. Zur Kulturgeschichte des menschlichen Verstandes bei Huarte, Bonnet und Herder"

Karl Fink (Northfield/USA - German):
"Herder's 'Mensch' as Stochastic Process"

Ulrike Zeuch (Wolfenbüttel/Germany - German Literature, 18th Century):
"Herders Konzept der Einbildungskraft - eine Herausforderung angesichts der Krise der Repräsentation in der Moderne?"

Coffee break

10:45-11:45am: (parallel sections A and B)

A: Gender / Weiblichkeit: Caroline Flachsland II

Pierre Pénisson (Paris/France - German):
"Herder und die Gender-Frage: Caroline Flachsland als wichtiger (An-)Teil der Herderschen Werkes"

Michael Maurer (Jena/Germany - Ethnology, Cultural History):
"Caroline Herders Haushalt. Handlungsräume von Frauen um 1800"		 B. Humanity / Humanität

Russell Arben Fox (Wichita/USA - Political Science/Political Theory):
"Humanität: Universalism without Globalism"

Harro Müller-Michaels (Bochum/Germany - Literature and Education):
"'Humanitas ist unsere res publica'. Konzepte der Humanität in einer Reihe von Reden und Briefen"

Lunch break

Friday afternoon: Conference excursion to Milwaukee Art Museum

Saturday, Sept. 23

8:30am Refreshments/Kaffee, Tee

8:45-10:45am (parallel sections A and B)

A: 19th-century Herder reception / Rezeption Herders im 19. Jhdt.

Thomas Borgard (Bern/Switzerland - German and Comparative Literature, Philosophy):
"Das 19. Jahrhundert als Jahrhundert Herders? Rezeption und Neueinsatz der 'Geschichte der Menschheit' in der erzählten Anthropologie Hermann Lotzes"

Iulia-Karin Patrut (Trier/Germany - German and Comparative Literature):
"Herder und die Wissensproduktion über 'Zigeuner' im 19. Jahrhundert"

15 min break

Hans Adler (Madison/USA - German Literature, Philosophy, Comparative Literature):
"Humanität und Harmony. Herder in der Praxis in Pennsylvania und Indiana"

Ernest Menze (Rhinebeck/USA - History):
"Herder's Reception and Influence in the U.S.A.: Some Unexplored Aspects"

B: Herder's Theory of Language / Herders Sprachtheorie

Marion Heinz (Siegen/Germany - Philosophy):
"Merkworte der Seele vs. Metaschematismus tönender Gedankenbilder. Zur Entwicklung der Herderschen Sprachphilosophie von der Ursprungsabhandlung zur Metakritik"

Angelica Nuzzo (Brooklyn/USA - Philosophy):
"Herder on Language as Embodied Thinking"

15 min break

Nigel de Souza (Cambridge/UK - History of Philosophy):
"Herder on Language, Reason, and Sociability"

Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (Chicago/USA - Philosophy):
"Herder and Senghor on Language"

15 min Coffee break

11:15am Membership meeting

Lunch break

Saturday afternoon:
2:30 pm-4 pm: (parallel sections A and B)

A: Rezeption/Anticipation: Philosophy, Politics, Poetry

Stefan Greif (Paderborn/Germany - German and Comparative Literature):
"Herder und die radikal moderne Philosophie"

Otto Dann (Köln/Germany - History):
"Herder als Herausforderung für die Nationalismus-Theorie im 20. Jahrhundert"

Rüdiger Singer (Göttingen/Germany - German and Comparative Literature):
"Herder als Herausgeber als Herausforderung: 'Kinderton' und Kunstlyrik"

 B: Images of Herder / Herder-Bilder

Günter Helmes (Flensburg/Germany - German Literature and Media Studies):
"Herder? Wer soll das sein? Persönlichkeitsentwürfe in Wort, Bild und Ton"

Wulf Koepke (Boston/USA - German Literature):
"Goethes Schatten auf Herders Bild. Goethes Herder-Porträt und seine Wirkungen auf die Forschung"

David Simmons (Whitewater/USA - Philosophy and Religious Studies):
"Counter-Traditions in Herder Reception: Hermann Cohen, the Marburg School, and Herder's Study of the Hebrew Bible"

4:30-5:30pm: Globalism and World Peace / Globalismus und Weltfrieden

Michael Forster (Chicago/USA - Philosophy):
"Herder's Importance as a Philosopher: on Imagination and Epistemology in Herder"

Arnd Bohm (Ottawa/Canada - English/German):
"Herder and World Peace: The Greatest Challenge"

Roundtable and conference supported by the Department of German, the International Institute, the Center for German and European Studies, the Center for European Studies, The Dean of International Studies, the Anonymous Fund, and the Evjue Foundation.
Co-sponsored by the Departments of History, Anthropology, English, Hebrew and Semitic Studies, Comparative Literature, and the Center for the Humanities.

Konferenzsprachen/conference languages: English and German
format: 20-minute presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion
All presentations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street

Contact: Professor Sabine Gross, sgross@wisc.edu,
Dept. of German, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
818 Van Hise (262-2192)