Wilhelm von Humboldt

Educational influences

Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt were the sons of the Prussian gentleman-in-waiting, Alexander

Georg von Humboldt, by his second marriage. Their father had served at the court of Friedrich II in

Potsdam and his second marriage was with the widowed Baroness von Holwede, whose son by a first

marriage had been tutored by Johann Heinrich Campe. Campe, who was later to become a

representative of the German philanthropic school, was now appointed tutor to the two brothers, first

in Potsdam and, after their father had resigned from his official duties, in Tegel near Berlin.

In a letter to Mrs Campe, Wilhelm von Humboldt later wrote (on 12 September 1801) that he

owed a debt of gratitude to Campe for much of his own education (Letters, p. 403). He was not

referring solely to his Tegel years, but also to the journey made by Campe, accompanied by his former

pupil, to Paris immediately after the storming of the Bastille.

The fact that the brothers must have enjoyed a very liberal education emerges from the

judgement that the private tutors who took over from Campe are reported to have voiced: they

expressed the view that something might perhaps still be made of 12-year-old Wilhelm, but that

Alexander was a lost cause. Mistaken verdicts by educators are not uncommon, but a conclusion that

was so manifestly wrong as the opinion on Alexander, who later became Grand Master of the Society

of Natural Scientists, does seem curiously wide of the mark.

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The fact that the two brothers were very different emerges from a letter written by a lady friend

of their mother after a visit in 1785: ‘As to your sons, I can only say that Wilhelm is anything but a

pedant, despite his erudition. On the contrary, he always has le mot pour rire [...] Alexander on the

other hand is a shrewd little fellow—un petit esprit malin. What is more, he is extraordinarily talented

[...]’ (Letters, p. 33/34). Wilhelm himself explained their differences in a letter written to his wife on 9

October 1804: ‘Since our childhood, we have moved poles apart although we have always remained

fond of each other [...] From an early age, his inclination has been to the outside world, while I

preferred the inner life, even when I was very young’ (Letters, p. 531).

Wilhelm von Humboldt must surely have had Campe’s personality in mind when he described

the qualities of a good tutor in the letter to Campe’s wife referred to earlier, written in 1801 at the time

when he was on the lookout for a teacher for his own children: the tutor must be a man ‘who takes

pleasure in contacts with young children and has the necessary skills, who not only manages to find the

right teaching methods but at the same time makes sure to take them out walking, to organize and

familiarize the children with concepts that are right and appropriate’. He need not be an ‘accomplished

scholar’, but he must have ‘a thorough knowledge of all that he teaches and insist on the same

thoroughness in his pupils’. The remark which followed implies criticism of the philanthropic method

of education: ‘Without this desire for thoroughness, everything remains a game and nothing good can

come of it in theoretical or practical life’ (Letters, p. 422). This already makes it abundantly clear that

Humboldt’s idea of general education has nothing in common with a mere superficial knowledge of a

great many subjects.

The premature death of their father in 1779—he was described as ‘a man of understanding and

good taste’, a ‘great friend to other men, sociable and a benefactor’—proved a traumatic experience

for the boys; Wilhelm in particular found it particularly hard to come to terms with his loss.

Responsibility for the further intellectual development of the brothers now lay with Christian Kunth

who was employed as a house tutor to the Humboldts between 1777 and 1778, and remained a friend

to the family afterwards when he was appointed to a civil service position in Berlin. (Wilhelm von

Humboldt granted his wish to be buried in the grounds of Tegel Castle in 1829.) He also proved to be

an outstanding educational organizer and knew how to impart a constant desire for learning in his

pupils. Prominent representatives of Berlin intellectual life were also called upon to give tuition in some

subjects. The scholars who were invited to give lectures in Tegel included Johann Jakob Engel, a

teacher at the Joachimsthal Grammar School and who enjoyed a high reputation at the time as a

philosophical author (Der philosoph für die Welt, 2 vols., Leipzig 1775–77). ‘Engel gave me my first

education of real quality. He has a very astute and lucid mind; he may not be particularly profound, but

he has a quicker grasp of facts and a better ability to put them across than I have encountered in anyone

else [...]’, he wrote from Berlin on 12 November 1790 to Karoline who was later to become his wife

(Letters, p. 143).

From an early age, the brothers took part in the cultural life of the nearby Prussian metropolis;

they attended the Berlin salons in which the spirit of enlightenment prevailed. The Tugendbund or

Virtuous Circle, used to meet in the house of the Jewish doctor, Dr. Herz; the focal point of the circle

was his wife, Henriette, whom Wilhelm referred to by the endearing diminutive of ‘Jettchen’ in many of

his letters. She did much to shape Wilhelm von Humboldt’s emancipatory view of women which was

apparent in his later work. His unprejudiced attitude to Jewish members of society was also influenced

by these ties with the Herz family.

In the family tradition, the brothers were destined for a civil service career. Wilhelm was

expected to study law and Alexander the art of finance, known at the time as ‘cameralistics’. Kunth

accompanied the brothers to the University of Brandenburg in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder in the autumn of

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1787. However, this university was already in a state of decline and was soon to be wound up after the

foundation of the University of Berlin. (A new university is being built today in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder

and is intended to resume the old tradition as a centre for European education.) The Humboldts only

stayed in Frankfurt for one semester; they moved to Göttingen University that was locked in a struggle

for preeminence with the alma mater in Halle in this era of neo-humanist renewal of university

education. Immediately after his arrival in May 1788, Alexander called Göttingen ‘Our German

Athens! My brother is quite at home here because he has found ample nourishment for his mind [...]’

(Letters, p. 46). In his Bruchstück einer selbsbiographie (Fragment of an autobiography, 1816),

Wilhelm von Humboldt stated his intention to ‘study on my own and in the greatest detail and depth

everything that can broaden my view of the world and of man’ (GS, XV, p. 452 ff.).