Johann Georg Hamann - Metaphysics of Language and Vision of History

This study discusses how J.G. Hamann, the Magus of the North, who stood godfather to Goethe's generation, delved into language and history. His view of language was mediated by the depths and power of the Kabbalah; his treatment of history was activated by the suffering and endurance of the Jews. Language embodied a people's deeper history for Hamann and as such unified his perspective. His concrete approach, directed towards the creative word, went against the grain of received opinion and stirred Benjamin's speculations in the twentieth century. In Hamann's conversion vision, Cain slew Abel: as fratricide would end German Kultur.