Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also US: , UK: ; German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm fɔn ˈhʊmbɔlt]; 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. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Wilhelm von Humboldt has received more than 572,203 page views. His biography is available in 64 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 61 in 2019). Wilhelm von Humboldt is the 102nd most popular philosopher (up from 104th in 2019), the 128th most popular biography from Germany (up from 129th in 2019) and the 15th most popular German Philosopher.

Wilhelm von Humboldt is most famous for his work in linguistics, philosophy, and education. He was a professor of philology at the University of Berlin and one of the first proponents of the idea that language is an organic part of culture.