In the judgment of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, Johann Gottfried Herder was not a great original thinker. With some justification Nietzsche derided the "ehrgeizige Priester, der so gerne der Geister-Papst seiner Zeit gewesen wäre" (ambitious priest who would have liked to be intellectual pope of his time). Nowadays Herder leads a shadow existence, eclipsed by others whom he influenced decisively, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, or who surpassed him by building on his achievements, such as Wilhelm von Humboldt in linguistics and G. W. F. Hegel in the philosophy of history. Fresh appreciation of Herder's work is made difficult by his often breathless and rapturous style, by his stupendous grasp and diversity, and by his disregard for academic boundaries. The literary historian, presumably eager to acknowledge the critical role of Herder's theories in shaping a national German literature, is in the end more interested...