Both Shaftesbury and Rousseau relate the development of the individual to the group but neither makes the altruism or interdependence such an impelling force as does Herder. His _Volk_, conscious of their own frailty, will have sympathy and a general regard for the needs and interests of mankind. This consciousness will be not merely a passive altruism nor an interdependence of material and economic necessity, but it will be heightened by an ideal love for humanity, which will force to active and positive efforts to make humanity the highest possible. When we eliminate details, when we regard only those elements upon which Herder’s thought seems to be continuous, those qualifications of which he never seems to loose sight, whether he idealizes his _Volk_ through his philosophy, his song collections, his study of the works of other philosophers, or through the analysis of concrete examples, we come to the following as essentials in Herder’s _Volk_: _Das Volk_ is a group whose innate, natural tendencies have been allowed to unfold and develop unhindered and unwarped by civilization. They are people who have come into contact with various forces of nature in the physical world and have been strongly influenced by their natural environment. They, as an entity, possess: (1) Individuality, personality; (2) a sense of that which is universal and fundamental among mankind; (3) common feelings of relationship to humanity; (4) strong religious sentiments. They are wont to express themselves freely, fully, truthfully, in various forms of art, the individual specimens of which find their test of genuineness in the response which they receive from the group out of which they arose. In this ideal conception Herder sees the best that mankind can produce. FOOTNOTES [1] Schiller, _Jungfrau von Orleans_, I, p. 3. [2] _Piccolomini_, II, p. 7. [3] _Kampf mit dem Drachen._ [4] Wildenbruch. [5] Goethe, _Faust_, I. [6] Fénélon, _Télémaque_, XXIV. [7] Bible, _Jérémie_, XXXI, 33. [8] _La Bruyère_, IX. [9] Dr. Martin Schütze has analyzed this feature of Herder’s philosophy, “Fundamental Ideas in Herder’s Thought,” _Modern Philosophy_, XVIII; June, October, 1920. [10] References to these discussions: Herder’s _Sämmtliche Werke_, Suphan, volume and page: I, 437; II, 119, 132, 168, 182, 203, 259, 322, 324, 331, 387, 416; VI, 21; VIII, 99, 216, 391; IX, 317, 543; XI, 297; XII, 334; XIV, 103, 263; XVI, 323; XVIII, 446; XXIII, 569; XXIV, 232, 301, 302; XXVII, 180. [11] References to these discussions: Herder’s _Sämmtliche Werke_, Suphan, volume and page: I, 258; VI, 1; XI, 215; XII, 1. [12] Ossian, V, 325. [13] Ancient Hebrews, XI, 173. [14] Ossians Gedichte, _Lieder_ .... V, 196. [15] Ossians Gedichte, V, 197. [16] Ancient Hebrews, XII, 28. [17] Ancient Hebrews, I, 258. [18] Ossian, V, 326. [19] Ancient Hebrews, XII, 27. [20] Ossian, V, 324. [21] Ancient Hebrews, XII, 22. [22] Ossian, V, 324. [23] Ancient Hebrews, XI, 292.