On Humboldt, on his 250th Birth Anniversary

Alexander von Humboldt. Image: Wikipedia

Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769–6 May 1859) was a celebrated German explorer and polymath. Many facts that we take it for granted today are his original ideas, for example, southern continents across the Atlantic Ocean were once congruent (African West Coast and South American East Coast), and climate is changing due to human activities. He laid the foundation to the discipline biogeography. To know more about his journeys (especially in South America) and philosophy, my recommended reading is The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf.

Humboldt had a tremendous influence on me to craft my own personal worldview which is centred on action and education rather than validation and status. His famous “weltanschauung” (worldview in German) quote sums it all:

‘The most dangerous worldviews are the worldviews of those who have never viewed the world

This “weltanschauung” quote is on my coffee mug too

The quote means we should explore all the options and different viewpoints before formulating our own worldview. The quote exposes the folly of blindly following a pre-packed ideology of any particular politics or religion or blind nationalism. Nat Eliason’s essay bolsters this concept further in which she synthesizes three levels of thinking, in increasing order of philosophical enlightenment.

• Level 1: Blind ideology, because you were born in such a mindset (for example, “I am Christian because my parents were Christian!”) or confirm to the group in which you identify yourself with (“I am communist because my friends are communists!”). Level 1 individuals are ‘passive slaves’, they don't think or exercise their volition. They ‘fall like an autumn leaf’ (Hermann Hesse’s allegory in Siddhartha) with winds blowing in different directions-vicissitude of the blind ideology they follow. They have neotony (childishness) and rather like to follow a boss with servitude. They are puppets in the life’s game, under the control of their bosses. In one sense, all of us are born in level 1, but only a very few of us get past this level and progress to level 2 or level 3.
• Level 2: The chosen Ideology. You travel like Humboldt (or read), familiarize yourself with a smörgåsbord of ideas and choose the one you like most. For example, you chose to be a Hindu albeit born in a Christian family because you prefer Hindutva religious concepts. Or, you chose to be a BJP supporter even though your family and all of your friends are anti-BJP. The only difference from Level 1 is that in this level you broke from your initial filter bubble and got in another filter bubble, like a frog jumping from one well to another! (Here is my related article entitled “The frog in a well: Why it is unwise to be a party affiliate?”: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/9ghmr)
• Level 3: The ideology transcendence. this is the highest form of philosophical enlightenment. Instead of following any packed ideology (=cheap fast food), you synthesize your own (=cook a nutritious and delicious meal yourself). You live like a free bird, with a zoomed-out perspective. You expose yourself with contrasting viewpoints and break free of the filter bubble. That would mean reading across religions, politics, and nations. You pick the best and create a Mélange, like a restaurant à la carte menu. You integrate across different ideologies and synthesize your own personal worldview. This is what Humboldt meant by “Weltanschauung.”

Humboldt’s Weltanschauung concept is especially relevant in today’s world where social media acts like giant echo chambers of any particular viewpoint (political ideology/religion etc.); the echo of a lie repeated thousands of times to engrain in our minds as truth (“the illusion of truth”). This is indeed a dangerous predicament. Political and religious stalwarts adopt the route of violence to suppress differences in opinion. Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA, famously said:

The dangerous man is the one who has only one idea, because then he’ll fight and die for it.

Perfectly resonating Humboldt’s philosophy (perhaps he read Humboldt’s writings).

To break this filter bubble we should educate ourself, expose ourselves with contrasting worldviews. This would enable us to escape the tentacles of confirmation bias. Mark Twain famously said:

“travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Yes, travelling is the best cure for racism. You really don't have to physically travel (not practical during this post-COVID-19 era); travelling through books saves much of the time and carbon footprint, my preferred way of travelling. Let Humboldt’s Weltanschauung be a guiding light!