Wilhelm von Humboldt's rhetorical theory of language

by Christian Stetter

This paper deals with Wilhelm von Humboldt's philosophy of language. The question to bei dealt with is if there is in fact a rhetorical theory of language in Humboldt's work. The answer is provided in several steps.
There are three different sources of Humboldt's approach to language. The basis of his philosophy goes back to Herder's anthropology. Herder, in his treatise on the origin of language (1770), concieved language as a substitute for the lack of instincts in mankind. Language thus becomes a necessary condition for human thinking an acting. In Herder's conception the evolution of mankind results in a diversification of different nations, and accordingly the evolution of language results in different languages and language types.
The second source of Humboldt's philosophy consists of Kant's and Fichte's transcendentalism. Humboldt argues against Kant with Kant's esthetics that there cannot be any kind of thinking without applying visible signs, that is to say words. According to Fichte the first cognitive act of the self (das Ich) consists of separating the non-self (Nicht-Ich) of the self. In Humboldt's conception that must be done by linguistic means: In each language there is a differentiation of a first, second, and third person of pronoun. Humboldt regards the distinction between ich (I) and du (you) as the differentiation between of self and non-self on the level of action. Accordingly the distinction of ich and es (it) as the differentiation of self and non-self on the level of knowledge. This pronoun-structure („Urtypus aller Sprachen“) can be regarded as a basic rhetorical structure of language.
This approach concludes that any system of language is a product of human interaction. So from Humboldt's point of view there cannot be a universal grammar of language. This philosophical perspective has been supported by the discovery of different language types, e. g. native american languages, chinese language, sanskrit etc.
Humboldt is possibly the first philosopher in modern times to realize the categorial difference between oral speech and writing. According to Kant's esthetics the feed back of oral speech and thinking on the one hand and writing and thinking on the other hand must be different, because the effect of written, that is to say rigid signs on our perception and feeling must be different from the influence of oral speech. The consequences of this distinction can be regarded as a second rhetorical aspect of Humboldt's philosophy of language.
This philosophy of language thus can be regarded as an anthropological perspective on language including in its very center a rhetorical approach.