The Sociology of Philosophies

Humboldt, one of Fichte’s audience in 1808, put into effect. The University of

Berlin was made a privileged corporation with self-government; professors

were given the right to choose their own subjects, without restrictions of a

standard syllabus. The philosophical faculty received full equality in status and

pay with the other faculties, and could now award advanced degrees. Fichte

was appointed first rector. After Fichte’s death, the leading Idealist theologian,

Schleiermacher, took over as rector, and Hegel was brought to Berlin as Fichte’s

successor in philosophy.

This is not to say that the University of Berlin bore the brunt of reform

alone. Göttingen, founded in 1737, had already pioneered in the reorientation

toward creative research. Both Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt were

German Universities, 1348–1900

(Boundaries are those of German Empire in 1872;

9.1 University Foundations and Failures, 1000–1600

648 •^ Intellectual Communities: Western Paths