'Anthropologia dualis'. Ein Annäherungsversuch an Wilhelm von Humboldts Rede "Ueber den Dualis" im Kontext der Goethezeit

In grammar, the dual denotes pairs of entities that belong together and form a unity. Traditionally dismissed as a marginal phenomenon, the dual became a central issue in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s philosophy of language. Especially in his speech “Ueber den Dualis” (1827), Humboldt set out to chart the empirical occurrences of this category in the languages of the world and to bring into sharper focus the concept of duality and the imagery linked to it. He claimed that the study of the dual could grant access to the “ultimate foundations” of language and human community. To be sure, Humboldt’s text has been examined in a number of studies stating the seminal influence of its insights on future developments in modern linguistics and philosophy. Yet much less attention has been paid to the historical contingency and the specific context in which it was written. The article sets out to survey the cultural history of Humboldt’s ideas and tries to catch sight of the manifold connections whereby Humboldt’s enquiry on the dual crosses the boundaries of linguistics and meets literary practices and anthropological reflexions of its own time.