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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

enterprise designed to prepare younger generations for particular ways of
earning a living. In addition, the two World Wars and increasing anti-German
17
sentiment in the English-speaking world, especially after the First World War.
18
made Humboldt become irrelevant.

Humboldt’s Legacy Today

Interestingly, the problems we face today are those pointed out by
Humboldt. Our warming planet can no more be understood as a series of isolated
issues. We need a more integrated perspective to realize the interconnectedness
of every organism, geological phenomenon, chemical element or human action.
And for this Humboldt can equip us with ability to see the Earth as a dynamic
complex system. It is the Humboldtian science, a scientific methodology of

combining data, precise observation and a holistic view of nature. We have to
accept that all knowledge is never complete; the best we can do is to create a
living network of knowledge, cooperate with all the best minds, dare to move
forward and learn more.

Humboldt’s inspiration to fight for human rights is still relevant. He
campaigned against social injustices, such as slavery and inhuman working
conditions in colonial Mexico. This is comparable to today’s human trafficking,
exploitation of migrant workers, etc. It was Humboldt who pointed out that
colonization and slavery, monoculture and excessive exploitation of nature
created a system of injustice; abuse of economic forces and climate change led
to abuse of humanity.

Humboldt can be connected to our time of overflowing news and
increasing digitalization, in the sense that he realized that his work would never
finish. The important point is that after including the most recent discoveries
into his works, he always pointed out the tentative, work-in-progress nature of
all his publications. This makes the point that knowing is always a learning
process.

17 See: Hohendahl, Peter Uwe, 2011. Humboldt Revisited: Liberal Education, University Reform,
and the Opposition to the Neoliberal University, in: New German Critique, 113, 159-196.
18 See: Wulf, op. cit., 335; See also Nichols, op. cit., p.409 ff. In Cincinati the public library ordered
all German books to be removed from shelves, in Cleveland a bonfire of German books was planned.

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