The opposition to a central and superior governing power, which is found in the Social Contract, to be opposed to the natural method of community life, finds its echo in Herder in frequent tirades against the policirte Nationen. It is the unpolicirte Nationen to whom nature has given a certain solace that can scarcely be found in Menschliche Künsteleien.
The Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität carry a constant strain, which makes the interdependence between the individual and the group a requisite for well-being. This theory, we have seen, finds a distinct place in Shaftesbury’s philosophy before Rousseau had voiced it as his own.
Emile’s senses have been highly developed by his contact with nature, and it is this sharpness and exactness of the senses that Herder extols so much in primitive peoples. They are both cause and effect of the work which nature achieves by her most trusted handmaiden; namely, environment.
In discussing the origin of language, even though Herder at certain points takes issue with Rousseau, it is very clear that he is influenced by the latter and is in agreement with him to considerable extent.
Rousseau has pursued the question of the origin of language, not only in his essay bearing this title, but also in the Discourse on Inequality.
The first sentences of Herder’s essay Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache run not unlike a passage in Rousseau’s Discours just mentioned:
Schon als Thier, hat der Mensch Sprache. Alle heftigen, und die heftigsten unter den heftigen, die schmerzhaften Empfindungen seines Körpers, alle starken Leidenschaften seiner Seele äussern sich unmittelbar in Geschrei, in Töne, in wilde, unartikulirte Laute.
Le premier langage de l’homme, le langage le plus universel, le plus énergique et le seul dont il eut besoin avant qu’il fallût persuader des hommes assemblés est le cri de la nature. Comme ce cri n’était arraché que par une sorte d’instinct dans les occasions pressantes, pour implorer du secours dans les grands dangers ou du soulagement dans les maux violents, il n’était pas d’un grand usage dans le cours ordinaire de la vie, où règnent des sentiments plus modérés.
Further, in his own essay, Herder says, that as our tones of nature are for the purpose of expressing passion, it is natural that they should become also the elements of all that which is emotional, and if we call this immediate sound of feeling speech, then, says he, it is easy to find the origin of speech natural.
But although all animals have a speech by which they sound forth their feelings, such speech will never become human language until reason, understanding (Verstand), arises to use these tones with direct intention.