%0 Journal Article %A Laura Anna Macor %T Die Herausforderung der Sprache. Die umstrittene ,Bestimmung des Menschen‘ (1748–1800) %D 2014 %R 10.1353/mon.2014.0111 %J Monatshefte %P 547-562 %V 106 %N 4 %X This article deals for the first time with the history of the concept ‘Bestimmung des Menschen’ from a linguistic point of view. Since its coinage in the 1730s and its official introduction in 1748, it assumed a central role which it maintained until the very end of the 18th century. In fact, it represented a central issue not only from a general theological and philosophical perspective, but also from a genuinely linguistic one. For the noun ‘Bestimmung’ was assumed to mean different things, depending on whether it was applied as a general religious or Christian—and precisely protestant—term, or in the ethical or logical realm. Not least thanks to this linguistic potential, its charm survived both Criticism and Idealism. (LAM; in German) %U https://mon.uwpress.org/content/wpm/106/4/547.full.pdf