Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts [The Education of the Human Race]

Friederike von Schwerin-High
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Published in its entirety in 1780, Lessing’s treatise

Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts

[

The Education of the Human Race

] was printed in the form of one hundred numbered paragraphs. Consisting of the first 53 paragraphs, its first part was originally published separately in 1777. The treatise employs three important strategies: it draws a sweeping analogy between revelation and education, – “Was die Erziehung bey dem einzelnen Menschen ist, ist die Offenbarung bey dem ganzen Menschengeschlechte” [“That which education is to the individual, revelation is to the race”] –, it correlates human reason and divine revelation as co-constitutive (76-77), and it presents its subject matter throughout in an historical and poetological context.

Using an evolutionary, organic,

1525 words

Citation: von Schwerin-High, Friederike. "Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 February 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16338, accessed 28 March 2024.]

16338 Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.