«Quand’anche l’errore sia stato smascherato…». La genesi estetica della filosofia della storia in J.G. Herder

Adopting a morphological paradigm based on the equidistance of any art form from the concept of beauty, Herder explicitly subverts normative aesthetics and its claim to impose an everlasting canon and to measure all cultural products by the very same yardstick. Focusing on Herder’s early writings about ancient sculpture, poetry and mythology, I point out how they will later influence his philosophy of history, as it developed in works such as This too a Philosophy of History for the Formation of Humanity and Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Humanity.