The Forgotten Seminar: Friedrich Creuzer and Classical Philology at the University of Heidelberg, 1800–1830

Abstract

This article broadens and challenges our understanding of the philology seminar and its history by focusing on Friedrich Creuzer’s philology seminar at the University of Heidelberg. It analyzes how and why this philology seminar constituted a unique site of knowledge creation, transmission, and training in the early nineteenth century. It examines the philological practices, research methods, scholarly ideals, and epistemic virtues the philology seminar instilled in its members. It also underscores the complex pan-German history of the seminar as an institution by tracing the impact of early nineteenth-century political developments. In so doing, this article reveals that Creuzer’s seminar facilitated the emergence of a distinctive ethos that undergirded the cultivation of original, independent researchers and the production of new knowledge.