Herder and Philosophy of Culture

Johann Gottfried von Herder''s thought has a wide range and in order to roam in his views we should deal with the issues such as humanity، history and philosophy of history، anthropology، culture and philosophy of culture as he has proposed. Concerning the conditions of the contemporary world and the importance of such questions as nature of culture، relation between cultures and the future of culture، it seems necessary to read out the works of Herder. The least benefit of reading out Herder''s ideas is that we get familiar with a suitable paradigm for a deep study and analysis of culture and the existing questions around it; a paradigm that is essential for perusing theoretical studies about culture. In this paper Herder''s ideas about culture have been discussed and the point which has been particularly emphasized here is that it is through Herder''s works that culture as a subject for philosophy is put into the mind and «philosophy of culture» is formed. Concerning Herder''s paradigm، this paper proceeds to survey the relation between cultures in the contemporary world. The issue of the relation between cultures is an issue which has been greatly prominent in recent three decades، and it seems that Herder''s insight and treatment is one of the best paradigms to enter into such an issue.