The character and frequency of the references which Herder makes in his writings to the philosophers of the eighteenth century show that he knew the predominant lines of thought which characterized the entire period of the enlightenment. The outstanding eighteenth-century theories which seem to have a place in Herder’s conception of _das Volk_ are well epitomized in the teachings of Leibniz, Shaftesbury, and Rousseau. Herder’s own exposition of a part of Leibniz’ contribution to thought shows how he found here some things which were in agreement with his own fundamental ideas concerning innate potentialities. The praise given to Shaftesbury’s principal ideas of the harmonious development of the individual and of humanity lead us to believe that Shaftesbury had exercised an influence on the German writer. The numerous eulogistic outbursts over Rousseau, the coinciding in many writings by both men of details concerning the essential elements in man’s nature, concerning primitivism, liberty, and the ideal state, show that Herder was fully imbued with the spirit of Rousseau, expressed in the cry, “back to nature.” CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION Both the word _Volk_ and the various ideas for which it stands are old and are to be found among many peoples. The parent tongue, the Indo-European, seems to have had a form which meant “full,” “many.” The “many” easily became the “common,” so that the “many” as opposed to the “few” was parallel with the “common,” “vulgar” as opposed to the “upper classes,” the “aristocracy.” This meaning seems to have been a fundamental one in both ancient and modern times. The shift in meaning of the Germanic word _Volk_, which extends the sense to that of “nation,” has been more general and more permanent in German than in English. It is with these two main conceptions, that is _Volk_, the common people, and _Volk_, nation, that we are concerned in this study of Herder. Many examples of Herder’s use of the term _Volk_ show that he makes the word an exact synonym for nation. In many other examples it is used as an equivalent term for nation. In both of these uses “nation” with Herder means those bound together only by the same laws and customs whether related by consanguinity or not. But Herder frequently makes _Volk_ stand more specifically for those who are of the same blood, and in that sense identifies it with “race.” We have seen that these are common uses of the term _Volk_ and the idea conveyed by it, uses which occur in many languages and among many civilized peoples. Now Herder, while using the term _Volk_ in the commonly accepted sense of nation, has always firmly in mind certain attributes and powers which characterize groups as such. They have power to rule; they have power to express themselves in peculiar ways; they have _Nationalgeist_. This _Nationalgeist_ in the final analysis is the outgrowth of physical and social environment and conforms to the dictates of these in all its peculiarities.