English summary: Hamanns anthropological thinking examines the tensions between freedom and dependence. Man, though always shaped by a specific environment, is endowed with a capacity for self-determination. Correspondingly, Hamann has a normative answer to the question of man's nature and develops his own natural law theory: since man naturally loves himself and others, he does not need a superior authority to live in society. His duties are made known to him through 'nature' in the sense of creation and a normative instance. Important to Hamann is the idea of revelation, in 'nature' and...

English summary: The author Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) from Konigsberg was a dialogical thinker. He was inspired and challenged in diverse ways by contemporary literature, but his thoughts were also an inspiration and a challenge to his dialogue partners. This is reflected particularly in his correspondence with Kant, Herder, Jacobi, Lavater, Claudius and others. Hamann and his correspondents struggled with fundamental questions of human existence between the poles of everyday experience and wisdom, sensuality and reason. The contributions to this volume examine his correspondence from a...