In certain academic and societal circles everyone talks about it, and everyone loves it. And here at Studium Generale, we embrace it wholeheartedly: the German concept of Bildung. A word at the heart of our mission, Bildung stands for the lifelong quest for intellectual growth and broadening your view of the world.
But what is Bildung actually? Our guest today, Dr. Ansgar Mohnkern, dedicates this lecture to this question which is, as simple as it sounds, by no means easy to be answered. Bildung is often translated as "education" or "personal development," but its meaning runs much deeper—and it’s more connected to technical studies than you might think. Dr. Mohnkern traces the roots of the concept back to late 18th-century biology, revealing how Bildung first emerged in the natural sciences. From there, we journey through history to the early 19th century, where thinkers like Goethe and Humboldt shaped the classical semantics of Bildung as education and improvement of the individual, —an idea that still influences schools and universities today.
What role does Bildung play in our modern world, with its highly specialized knowledge and increasing social complexity? This lecture invites you to reflect on that—and on your own position in society—as we explore how Bildung remains a vital compass for navigating both education and life.
Broaden your horizon: build your Bildung.
About the speaker
Dr. Ansgar Mohnkern is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Amsterdam since 2012. He studied in Bonn and Yale (Ph.D. 2011) and his work focuses on German and European literature, intellectual history, and their relationship to knowledge, society and politics. He is also an author of books and essays. Recent books include an “essay on the political semantics of soccer”, “a critique of the ideological practice of narrative in the age of capitalism” and “a metaphorological study on the problem of ground”. He published critical articles on literature and philosophy (including Goethe, Kant, Hölderlin, Marx, Stifter, Robert Walser, Kafka, Rilke, Blumenberg).
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