Johann Gottfried Herder
Philosopher, Theologian & Critic
German philosopher, theologian, and critic born in 1744, one of the founders of German Romanticism and the philosophy of nationalism. He argued that each culture has its own unique genius expressed through its language, literature, and folk traditions, challenging Enlightenment universalism. His Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity was enormously influential on 19th-century European nationalism.