Zwischen Transdisziplinarität und Transkulturalität. Ein Versuch, Herder im Zeitalter der ‚Digital Humanities‘ zu interpretieren.

The starting-point of this contribution is Herder’s definition of ‘Humanität’. This is aimed at suggesting connections with current issues such as the sustainability of life, the relationship mankind/nature and mankind/culture, the integration of peoples and tolerance among them. Herder’s arguments are often rhizomatically structured, as exemplified by the “Anlage” to the essay "Wie die Philosophie zum besten des Volks allgemeiner und nützlicher werden kann" (1765). In the interfacing of different areas of scientific knowledge one can identify the transversal stance of Herder’s thought, which relies on a cross-cultural and inter-discursive approach to the fields of investigation. Therefore, if his thought cannot be one-sidedly classified, Herder’s interest in an empirical verification of the problems, along with his attention to new forms of knowledge, may lead towards a definition of global thinking. To the cognitive dimension of asking and answering pertaining to the procedures of digital humanities, the “open” structure of Herderian thought responds by dividing the parts of a problem or a text in a dialogical way and by continually shifting the point of observation.