A 'Temple of Liberty'? Alexander von Humboldt and the French Revolution.
This article sheds new light on Alexander von Humboldt's political position in the revolutionary decade between 1789 and 1799. The young naturalist interacted with both supporters and opponents of the revolution. In July 1790, he even participated in the preparations for the Festival of the Federati...
| Publicado en: | Annals of Science Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 326 - 352 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Apr2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=192371526&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 192371526 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00033790 7J1 jtl: Annals of Science issn: 00033790 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 83 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 192371526 10.1080/00033790.2024.2433232 ppf: 326 ppct: 26 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 704KB tig: atl: A 'Temple of Liberty'? Alexander von Humboldt and the French Revolution. aug: au: Daum, Andreas W. affil: Department of History, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY, USA su: Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859 French Revolution, 1789-1799 Liberty Liberalism Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, 1743-1819 sug: subj: Humboldt, Alexander von, 1769-1859 French Revolution, 1789-1799 Liberty Liberalism Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, 1743-1819 keyword: Alexander von Humboldt conservatism French Revolution Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Georg Forster liberalism Wilhelm von Humboldt ab: This article sheds new light on Alexander von Humboldt's political position in the revolutionary decade between 1789 and 1799. The young naturalist interacted with both supporters and opponents of the revolution. In July 1790, he even participated in the preparations for the Festival of the Federation in Paris together with Georg Forster. However, Humboldt remained detached from Europe's polarized politics. He avoided taking a firm stance and distanced himself from revolutionary violence. Continuous emotional and physical crises, in addition to his immersion into scientific studies, fuelled this retreat. While steeped in Enlightenment ideas and committed to a cosmopolitan understanding of liberty, Humboldt absorbed the critique of the French Revolution and the skeptical take on rationalism that the philosophers Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi and Wilhelm von Humboldt, Alexander's brother, articulated. By recognizing these influences and reexamining autobiographical sources, we can identify the various intellectual and political contexts in which Alexander von Humboldt operated during the 1790s. This polycentric approach leads to a nuanced understanding of Humboldt's political thinking in revolutionary Europe. It explains his caution in political matters and revises the conventional image of Humboldt as a fervent supporter of the French Revolution. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Annals of Science is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Annals of Science holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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