born Aug. 25, 1744, Mohrungen, East Prussia
died Dec. 18, 1803, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar
German critic and philosopher.
Trained in theology and literature, he initially worked as a teacher and preacher at Riga. As court preacher at Bückeburg, he produced works, including Plastik (1778) and Essay on the Origin of Language (1772), that made him the leading figure of the Sturm und Drang literary movement. In 1770 he met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who would be his associate for many years and with whom he would help lay the groundwork for German Romanticism . With Goethe's help, he received an appointment at Weimar in 1776; his Sporadic Papers (178597) and the unfinished Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (178491), attempting to show that nature and history obey one system of laws, mark him as an innovator in the philosophy of history and an early proponent of the idea that a common culture, rather than political boundaries, defines a people. His later estrangement from Goethe resulted in a bitter enmity toward the whole Classical movement in German poetry and philosophy.