"See the things of the world as the words of a great book": Knowledge and Language in Herder's Metacritique
Abstract
The study explores the relationship between knowledge, language and being in Herder's Metacritique of the Critique of Pure Reason. On the background of a critique of Kant's dualism of thought and being, Herder develops his conception of being, which is not transcendent to human knowledge but is essentially revealed to it.
On the side of the cognizing subject, Herder then insists on the unity of the cognitive powers (sensibility, understanding and reason) and on the mediating significance of the sign. The study shows that Herder's monistic concept, in which language plays a central role, is ultimately based on theological premises: the idea of God who creates the world through his Word and thereby communicates himself, and humans who are the image of God in their creating of their world through language.