VANDA FIORILLO

L'identità nel cambiamento: la forza desiderante (Sehnsucht) 

come principium individuationis dell'uomo humboldtiano

N. 176

 

Summary — Compared with the tradition of the Enlightenment, the new subject sketched by Wilhelm von Humboldt expresses himself through a dynamic individuality. In other words, this energetic subject builds himself through the process of the Bildung (the formation of the individual personality).

Among the components of the human character, the Sehnsucht, as primeval desire, represents the motive force of the Bildung and the genetic centre of all the individual energies. But the original force of the human desire is not only a dynamic element: it is immutable too, because it stands for the building centre of the individual inwardness. It follows therefore, that the Sehnsucht vouches for the identity of the individual, as well as for the development of his character.