Originally published in 1852, this book argues against state promotion of citizen welfare and state interference with private acts. The book is timely, with the US reexamining many of its social policies, and Eastern European countries redesigning their political and social structures.

This text is important both as one of the most interesting contributions to the liberalism of the German Enlightenment, and as the most significant source for the ideas which John Stuart Mill popularized in his essay On Liberty. Humboldt's concern is to define the criteria by which the permissible limits of the state's activities may be determined. His basic principle, like that of Mill, is that the only justification for government interference is the prevention of harm to others. He discusses in detail the role and limits of the state's responsibility for the welfare, security and morals of...

Wilhelm von Humboldt's classic study of human language was first published posthumously in 1836 and influenced generations of scholars of language including Boas, Sapir and Chomsky. In the later twentieth century, Humboldt's pioneering philosophical and linguistic works began once again to attract scholarly attention in their own right, and in the context of Humboldt's lively communication with other leading scholars of his day. This book, now reissued, summarises the author's theoretical views of language, its universal structures and its relation to mind, education and culture. It ranges...

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 1835) was a German philologist, diplomat and philosopher. While Minister of Education he was responsible for reforming the Prussian education system. His pioneering achievements in linguistics influenced many later scholars including Chomsky. This monumental three-volume study of Kawi, a traditional formal and literary language of Java belonging to the Austronesian language family, was posthumously published in 1836 9. The manuscript was prepared for the press by J. K. E. Buschmann, a protege of Humboldt's friend and colleague Bopp (also reissued in this series)....

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 1835) was a German philologist, diplomat and philosopher. While Minister of Education he was responsible for reforming the Prussian education system. His pioneering achievements in linguistics influenced many later scholars including Chomsky. Written in 1830 3, this monumental three-volume study of Kawi, a traditional formal and literary language of Java belonging to the Austronesian language family, was published posthumously in 1836 9. The manuscript was prepared for the press by J. K. E. Buschmann, a protege of Humboldt's friend and colleague Bopp, whose work is...

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767 1835) was a German philologist, diplomat and philosopher. While Minister of Education he was responsible for reforming the Prussian education system. His pioneering achievements in linguistics influenced many later scholars including Chomsky. This monumental three-volume study of Kawi, a traditional formal and literary language of Java belonging to the Austronesian language family, was published posthumously in 1836 9. The manuscript was prepared for the press by J. K. E. Buschmann, a protege of Humboldt's friend and colleague Bopp, whose work is also reissued in...

Nachdruck des Originals von 1921.