VI, 128: “Ich bleibe bei den Umwandlungen dieser Philosophie bei spätern benachbarten Völkern, und dünkts mich kein Traum.”
“Aber dass sich die Geheimnisse mit Ideen dieser Gattung unter allen Völkern beschäftigt.”
III
Volk, a special group, less cultured, unaltered in certain respects by the influence of civilization. There are marked implications of theories of universalism and democracy here. The largest part of the people are the most important and respectable.
In the following two passages we have a degree of characterization of the rabble:
XVII, 91: “den leider ist es nur Ein Ding, Poebelsinn und Tyrannei, mit zwei Namen genannt, wie die rechte und linke Seite.”
XXV, 323: “Volk heisst nicht der Poebel auf den Gassen, der singt und dichtet niemals, sondern schreyt und verstümmelt.”
These characterizations of Poebel suggest not a lack of culture but culture of a sort that has had a warping effect. If Volk is not this rabble and, yet, not the learned class, it must stand in some respects, at least, between the two. It is more dignified and respectable than the rabble; it has certain intellectual aptitudes and moral traits found among primitive peoples, but which are usually effaced by a high degree of civilization and culture.
I, 392: “O eine Schrift, die das ist, was eine Erbauungs—eine Bildungsschrift für den grössten, nutzbarsten und ehrwürdigsten Theil der Menschen, das Volk sein soll.” The author has been regretting that the weekly journals, religious books, and sermons are not suited to the common man, and suggests the kind of literature that would meet his needs. Volk is here the largest, most useful, and most respectable part of mankind. These people are to be edified and cultivated.