Perfecting the Individual: Wilhelm von Humboldt's Concept of Anthropology, 'Bildung' and Mimesis

In the works of Wilhelm von Humboldt education took on a new quality, focusing firmly on the importance of the individual. "Bildung" was to become the principal task with a view to preparing the individual for the requirements of future life. In this article, the author investigates two aspects relating to the "Bildung" of the individual. First, the significance of Humboldt's outline of a "comparative anthropology" for historico-educational anthropology; second, Humboldt's idea of the connection between "Bildung" and mimesis. The following sets of relations will play a central role in the pursuit of these themes: the relationship between the individual and society, between old and new, between reality and the powers of imagination, between the inner and outer realms, the particular and the general, that which is historical as opposed to universal. In order to analyse these themes and problems, the author pays close attention to some of Humboldt's earlier works. (Contains 1 note.)