Johannes Schmidt, Ph.D.
Professor of German; Director of ML Program
Contact
Department of Languages
Office: 704 Strode
Website: https://schmidj.people.clemson.edu
Email: schmidj@clemson.edu
Education
Ph.D. in German Literature, University of Hamburg (1999); M.A. in Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Massachusetts/Amherst (1995); B.A. in Germanistics, Linguistics, and Economics, University of Konstanz (1992)
Research Interests
Johann Gottfried Herder, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, 18th century, German philosophy; Holocaust / Shoah studies
Dr. Schmidt's research interests range from 18th and 19th century German literature and philosophy to German drama and music. Together with Rainer Godel (Halle, Germany) he is the co-editor of the International Herder Yearbook, a bi-annual, peer-reviewed professional journal of the International Herder Society.
"Herr" Schmidt has taught a variety of different courses including German drama, 18th and 19th century German literature, the culture and literature of exile, humanities seminars on WWII, Shoah, and Drama, as well as German language and culture courses at all levels.
In September 2006, Johannes Schmidt was elected treasurer-secretary (North America) of the International Herder Society, and in 2013, Dr. Schmidt became co-editor of the Herder Yearbook, the bi-annual publication of the International Herder Society. He served as the president of the South Carolina Chapter of the AATG from 2003 to 2005, and again in 2006. He has been serving on department, college, and university committees (both in elected and appointed functions).
Selected Professional Works
Books (Published)
Jeff Love and Johannes Schmidt (annotated translation): F. W. J. Schelling’s Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006)
Johannes Schmidt: "Die klare, helle Wahrheit." Johann Gottfried Herders Christliche Schriften als Auseinandersetzung mit Gotthold Ephraim Lessings religionsphilosophischen Spätschriften (Hamburg 2000)
Books (Edited)
Rainer Godel and Johannes Schmidt (eds.): Herder Yearbook 16 (2022)
Eva Piirimäe, Liina Lukas, and Johannes Schmidt. Herder on Empathy and Sympathy. Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, Volume: 311 (2020)
Rainer Godel and Johannes Schmidt (eds.): Herder Yearbook 15 (2020)
Rainer Godel and Johannes Schmidt (eds.): Herder Yearbook 14 (2018)
Staffan Bengtsson, Heinrich Clairmont, Robert Norton, Johannes Schmidt, and Ulrike Wagner: Herder and Religion. Contributions from the 2010 Conference of the International Herder Society at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Heidelberg: Synchron, 2016
Rainer Godel and Johannes Schmidt (eds.): Herder Yearbook 13 (2016)
Rainer Godel, Karl Menges, and Johannes Schmidt (eds.): Herder Yearbook 12 (2014)
Journal Articles & Book Chapters (Published)
“Herder und die Oper: Pluralität der Sinne”, in: Stefan Greif (ed.): “‘Kunst kommt von Können oder von Kennen her’—Künste und Ästhetik bei Johann Gottfried Herder”. Synchron: Heidelberg, 2024, 21-32.
“Hannah Arendt über die Geschichtsphilosophie Herders und zur Weltentfremdung der Juden im 20. Jahrhundert”, in: Herder Yearbook 16 (2022): 81–111
“Johann Gottfried Herder: Misunderstood Romantic?”, in: Elizabeth Millán (ed.): The Palgrave Handbook of German Romantic Philosophy. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 177–203.
“‘I do desire no free will’: G.E. Lessing’s Peculiar View on Human Freedom”, in Eighteenth-Century Studies 52,3 (Spring 2019): 337-360.
“Herder’s Religious Anthropology in His Later Writings,” in: Nigel DeSouza, Anik Waldow (eds.): Herder. Philosophy and Anthropology. Cambridge (England): Oxford University Press, 2017: 185-202.
“Johann Gottfried Herder’s Adrastea: History in Relation,” in: Beate Allert (ed.): Herder: From Cognition to Cultural Science. Meeting of the International Herder Society 2014. Heidelberg: Synchron, 2016: 98-104.
“Light of Nature/ Light of Reason. Herder’s and Kant’s Religion Essays,” in: Bengtsson, et al.: Herder and Religion. Contributions from the 2010 Conference of the International Herder Society at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Heidelberg: Synchron, 2016: 153-166.
“‘Kein Publikum, das auf uns wirke?’ Herders Verkehrung des Publikums in den Christlichen Schriften”, in: Ralf Simon (ed.): Herders Rhetoriken im Kontext des 18. Jahrhunderts. Beiträge zur Konferenz der Internationalen Herder-Gesellschaft Schloss Beuggen nahe Basel 2012. Heidelberg: Synchron, 2014, 227-239.
“'So wäre alle Religion ihrem Wesen nach poetisch.' – Herders Wirkung auf Hölderlin", in: Michael Maurer (ed.): Herder und seine Wirkung. Heidelberg: Synchron, 2014: 121-134.
“‘I do desire no free will’: G.E. Lessings Peculiar View on Human Freedom”, in Eighteenth-Century Studies 52,3 (Spring 2019): 337-360.
“Naturphilosophie: Herder and Schelling?” Sabine Gross (ed.), Herder as Challenge (Heidelberg: Synchron, 2010, 83-94)
Journal Articles & Book Chapters (Accepted or Submitted)
“Auch ich liebe das Schöne mehr als das Häßliche” or “die Lüge von Schönheit“—Johann Gottfried Herder on Ugliness. De Gruyter; forthcoming
Reviews & Interviews
“The First Documented Account of Antisemitism”, in: Greenville News, The Post, and other newspapers in SC; May 1, 2024.
“Peter Wolfgang Becker Witness: Napola Student and Hitler Youth”, in: Greenville News, The Post, and other newspapers in SC; April 2023.
“Roger Paulin: The Life of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Cosmopolitan of Art and Poetry”, in Monatshefte (forthcoming; Fall 2017).
“Poetry As a Way of Live. Aesthetics and Askesis in the German Eighteenth Century”, by Gabriel Trop, in Monatshefe, vol. 108,3 (September 2016): 411-413.
“Elisabeth Décultot and Gerhard Sauder (eds.): Herder und die Künste. Ästhetik, Kunsttheorie, Kunstgeschichte” (with Gabriela Stoicea), in: Lessing Yearbook / Jahrbuch XLII (2015): 213-215.
“Claas Cordemann: Herders christlicher Monismus. Eine Studie zur Grundlegung von Johann Gottfried Herders Christologie und Humanitätsideal”, in: Herder Yearbook 12 (2014): 253-258.
“Arne Zerbst: Schelling und die bildende Kunst. Zum Verhältnis von kunstphilosophischen System und konkreter Werkkenntnis”, in: Monatshefte 105,3 (Fall 2013): 500-502.
